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Solenoid

By Mircea Cartarescu
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4.25 goodreads logo

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Check link for latest rating. ( 5,887 ratings, 1,229 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Solenoid by Mircea Cartarescu is a profound exploration of an unnamed Romanian teacher's life, caught between mundane daily routines and surreal experiences. Set in Bucharest, this introspective narrative delves into the protagonist's inner world, unveiling mysterious manifestations and philosophical musings that blur reality and fantasy. It is a richly detailed journey through human consciousness, late 20th-century Eastern European society, and metaphysical inquiries.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're drawn to a blend of surrealism and philosophical exploration. This richly layered narrative immerses you in a dreamlike reality where the boundaries between life and imagination blur. Ideal for readers who appreciate complex, reflective storytelling that dives into the depths of consciousness and existence.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A highly-acclaimed master work of fiction from Crtrescu, author of Blinding: an existence (and eventually a cosmos) created by forking paths.

Based on Crtrescu's own role as a high school teacher, Solenoid begins with the mundane details of a diarist's life and quickly spirals into a philosophical account of life, history, philosophy, and mathematics. One character asks another: when you rush into the burning building, will you save the newborn or the artwork? On a broad scale, the novel's investigations of other universes, dimensions, and timelines reconcile the realms of life and art.

The novel is grounded in the reality of late 1970s/early 1980s Communist Romania, including long lines for groceries, the absurdities of the education system, and the misery of family life. The text includes sequences in a tuberculosis sanatorium, an encounter with an anti-death protest movement, a society of dream investigators, and an extended visit to the miniscule world of dust mites living on a microscope slide.

Combining fiction with autobiography and historyβ€”the scientists Nicolae Tesla and George Boole, for example, appear alongside the Voynich manuscriptβ€”Solenoid ruminates on the exchanges possible between the alternate dimensions of life and art, as various, monstrous dimensions erupt within the Communist present.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu is lauded for its intricate blend of different literary styles, reminiscent of Kafka, García MÑrquez, and others, creating a rich, surreal narrative. The book is praised for its hypnotic prose and ambitious narrative scope, crafting a literary labyrinth that transfigures the mundane into the fantastical. Translators and critics commend its skilful rendering into English, highlighted for maintaining the original's depth and beauty.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781646052028

Publisher: Deep Vellum Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 08 December 2022

Country: United States

Imprint: Deep Vellum Publishing

Illustration: Illustrations

Contributors:

  • Translated by Sean Cotter
  • Translated by Sean Cotter

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 672

Collections

Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction Mircea Cartarescu

About the Author

Mircea Crtrescu is a writer, professor, and journalist who has published more than twenty-five books. His work has received the Formentor Prize (2018), the Thomas Mann Prize (2018), the Austrian State Prize for Literature (2015), and the Vilenica Prize (2011), among many others. His work has been translated in twenty-three languages. His novel Blinding was published by Archipelago in Sean Cotter's English translation.

Sean Cotter is a translator and professor of literature and translation at the University of Texas at Dallas. A previous National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellow, Cotter is the translator of 11 books, including T.O. Bobe's Curl and Nichita Stnescu's Wheel with a Single Spoke and Other Poems, which was awarded the Best Translated Book Award for Poetry. His translation of Magda Crneci's FEM, a finalist for the PEN Translation Award, was published by Deep Vellum in 2021.

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