Sașa Pană


Sașa Pană was a Romanian avant-garde poet, novelist, and short story writer.

Biography

Born to a Jewish family in Bucharest, he trained as a physician in Iași and Bucharest, becoming a qualified combat medic in 1927. He was more interested in a literary career, which he had begun in 1925, after publishing several Symbolism-inspired poems under the title Răbojul unui muritor. He was to be more attracted to Dada themes, moving on to Surrealism soon after. Pană financed and edited the 1928 avant-garde magazine named unu. The magazine was the basis for a publishing house of the same name, which Pană used for printing works by the likes of Urmuz, Tristan Tzara, Stephan Roll, Ilarie Voronca, as well as his own. His prose took the form of very short pieces that merged the short story form with poem, reportage, and manifesto.
He adapted André Breton's pure psychic automatism technique to his own creations - Diagrame, Echinox orbitor, Viața romanțată a lui Dumnezeu. In later volumes such as Cuvântul talisman, Călătorie cu funicularul, Sașa Pană expanded on the style, doubling automatism with apparent elegies of a more traditional format.
Many of Pană's writings were combined with drawings by notable artists such as M. H. Maxy, Man Ray, Victor Brauner, Pablo Picasso, and Marcel Janco.
He also authored the 1973 novel Născut în '02. Memorii, file de jurnal.
Pană died in Bucharest.