Felix Aderca
Felix Aderca was a Romanian writer born in 1891 in Puiesti, Vaslui County, who passed away in 1962 in Bucharest. Of Jewish ancestry, Aderca had a complex relationship with his heritage, choosing not to write in Yiddish while simultaneously celebrating his inner Jewish identity. He spent significant years in Craiova and was particularly active in the literary scene between the two World Wars and after World War II, producing poetry, short stories, novels, and literary critiques. Aderca is best known for his contributions to the science fiction genre in Romania, with his notable work, "The Drowned Cities," being serialized in 1932 and later published as a novel in 1936. His writing often explored themes such as humanism, ethnic otherness, and the aversion to war, aligning him with modernist and dystopian literary traditions. Aderca's influence is recognized in Romania, where he has streets named after him, and in 1990/1991, literary awards were established in his honor to promote cultural ties between Romania and Israel. His works, while not widely available in the United States, continue to be of interest for their psychological and sociological insights within the science fiction framework.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Felix Aderca
Fiction Writer
- Born: 1891
- Birthplace: Puiesti, Vaslui department, Romania
- Died: 1962
- Place of death: Bucharest, Romania
Biography
Felix Aderca was born in Romania in 1891, in Puiesti, a community within the “department” (county) of Vaslui, which lies along the eastern border of the country. Little information is available in English about his education and upbringing. It is known that he lived in Craiova, Romania, for twenty-two years, and that he died in 1962 in Bucharest, Romania. He had a son named Marcel Aderca, who wrote a book about his father called: Felix Aderca Si Problema Evreiasca.
Aderca was a writer of Jewish ancestry, although he sometimes appeared to have a conflicted relationship with his heritage. He refused to use Yiddish in his writing, and considered his Jewish “religious” heritage to be a strictly formal designation. At the same time, however, he glorified his “inner” Jewishness, despite living within a Romanian culture that had experienced periods of intense anti- Semitism.
Aderca’s major period of productivity lay between the two world wars and just after the World War II. He wrote poetry, short stories, and novels, and was also a literary critic. Although Aderca wrote in various genres, he was a tireless promoter of the science fiction (SF) genre in Romania. His biggest SF work was a novel which was first serialized in 1932 in the Romanian magazine Realitatea Ilustrata (illustrated reality). The serialization was published under the pseudonym Leone Palmantini. In 1936, the work was published as a novel under the title The Drowned Cities, and under Felix Aderca’s real name. It is virtually impossible to find in the United States.
Aderca’s work, like much Romanian SF, downplayed the hard sciences in favor of investigating sociological or psychological concepts. Some of the themes found in his work are humanism, ethnic otherness, and a hatred of war. He is generally called a “modernist” writer, and is often linked with dystopian authors such as Ray Bradbury with his Fahrenheit 451.
In 1990/1991, the “Union of the Israeli Writers’ Association” and “The Association of Israeli Writers in Romania” (AIWR) organized a “Felix Aderca” prize in literature, which is given to writers who make substantial contributions toward enhancing the cultural connections between Romania and Israel. Aderca also has a number of streets named after him in Romania.