Medical Language and Literary Expression

Abstract

Saşa Pană, “(…)walking and ubiquitous archive, ready to reestablish both archeology and history of the Romanian avant-garde” (Ierunca, 1993:190), is the pen name of Alexander Binder - the physician and he is known to the vast majority of Romanian readers for his contribution within the avant-garde movement, being one of “the most competent theoreticians of surrealism.” (Rotaru, 1997:87) In Saşa Pană’s case, the nihilistic language specific to avant-garde was influenced by his profession: physician. In a more careful analysis of his texts we can notice the influence of medical terminology, actually this was the purpose: to shock, to vex and take out the reader from the previous literature routine. If other avant-garde representatives found appealing the city and industrial language, Saşa Pană managed to create the same novel images by using medical vernacular which was at hand.

Note: Downloadable document is in Romanian and English.

Keywords: physician, medicine, medical vernacular, theoretician, avant-garde, nihilism

JEL Classification: A10, A30