Mircea Cărtărescu (; born 1 June 1956) is a
Romanian novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...
,
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...
,
short-story writer,
literary critic, and
essayist
An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...
.
Biography
Born in
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
in 1956, he attended
Cantemir Vodă National College during the early 1970s. During his school years, he was a member of literary groups led by
Nicolae Manolescu
Nicolae Manolescu (; b. 27 November 1939, Râmnicu Vâlcea) is a Romanian literary critic. As an editor of '' România Literară'' literary magazine, he has reached a record in reviewing books for almost 30 years. Elected a corresponding member ...
and
Ovid S. Crohmălniceanu. At that time, along with many teenagers of his generation, Cărtărescu was tremendously influenced by the legacy of the
1960s American counterculture, including artists such as
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
,
Jimi Hendrix, and
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts ...
. He commenced writing poetry in 1978.
Later, he studied at the
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...
's Faculty of Letters, Department of Romanian Language and Literature. He graduated in 1980 with a thesis that later became his book on poetry, more specifically ''The Chimaeric Dream''. That same year, some of his works were published by
Cartea Românească.
Between 1980 and 1989, Cărtărescu worked as a
Romanian language
Romanian (obsolete spellings: Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: ''limba română'' , or ''românește'', ) is the official and main language of Romania and the Republic of Moldova. As a minority language it is spoken by stable communities in ...
teacher, then worked at the
Writers' Union of Romania and as an editor at ''Caiete Critice'' magazine. In 1991, he became a lecturer at the Chair of Romanian Literary History, part of the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Letters. As of 2010, he was an associate professor there, where he still lectures to this date. Between 1994 and 1995, he was a visiting lecturer at the
University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...
and currently holds the same position at the
University of Stuttgart. In 2012, he received the
International Literature Award for his novel ''The Body''.
Cărtărescu is married to the Romanian poet , with whom he has a son. His works have been translated into most European languages. He is a full professor at the
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...
within the Department of Literary Studies.
Work
His debut as a writer was in 1978 in ''
România Literară ''România Literară'' is a cultural and literary magazine from Romania. In its original edition, it was founded on 1 January 1855 by Vasile Alecsandri and published in Iași until 3 December 1855, when it was suppressed. The new series appeared o ...
'' magazine.
Poetry
*''Faruri, vitrine, fotografii...'', ("Headlights, shop windows, photographs...")
Cartea Românească, 1980 – Writers Union Prize, 1980
*''Poeme de amor'' ("Love Poems"), Cartea Românească, 1982
*''Totul'' ("Everything"), Cartea Românească, 1984
*''
Levantul'' (''The Levant''), Cartea Românească, 1990 – Writers Union Prize, 1990, republished by
Humanitas in 1998
*''Dragostea'' ("Love"), Humanitas, 1994
*''50 de sonete de Mircea Cărtărescu cu cincizeci de desene de Tudor Jebeleanu'' ("50 Sonnets by Mircea Cărtărescu With Fifty Drawings by Tudor Jebeleanu"), Brumar 2003
*''Nimic, Poeme (1988-1992)'' ("Nothing, Poems, 1988-1992"), Humanitas, 2010
*''Nu striga niciodată ajutor'' ("Never Call For Help"), Humanitas, 2020
Prose
*''Desant '83'' (
Cartea Românească, 1983)
*''Visul'' (Cartea Românească, 1989). ''The Dream''
*
''Nostalgia'' (
Humanitas, 1993; full edition of ''Visul''). Trans. Julian Semilian (New Directions, 2005; ), with introduction by
Andrei Codrescu
*''Travesti'' (Humanitas, 1994)
*''
Orbitor'', vol. 1, ''Aripa stângă'' (Humanitas, 1996). ''Blinding, Book One: The Left Wing'', trans. Sean Cotter (Archipelago Books, 2013)
*''Jurnal'' (Humanitas, 2001). 2nd ed.: ''Jurnal I, 1990–1996'' (Humanitas, 2005, )
*''Orbitor'', vol. 2, ''Corpul'' (Humanitas, 2002). ''Blinding, Book Two: The Body''
*''
Enciclopedia zmeilor'' (Humanitas, 2002). ''The Encyclopedia of Dragons''
*''
De ce iubim femeile'' (Humanitas, 2004). ''Why We Love Women'', trans. Alistair Ian Blyth (University of Plymouth Press, 2011; )
*''Jurnal II, 1997–2003'' (Humanitas, 2005). ''Diary II, 1997–2003''
*''Orbitor'', vol. 3, ''Aripa dreaptă'' (Humanitas, 2007). ''Blinding, Book Three: The Right Wing''
*''
Frumoasele străine'' (Humanitas, 2010). ''Beautiful Strangers''
*''Zen, Jurnal 2004-2010'' (Humanitas, 2011). ''Zen, Diary 2004-2010''
*''Solenoid'' (Humanitas, 2015). Trans. Sean Cotter (Deep Vellum, 2022)
*''Un om care scrie, Jurnal 2011-2017'' (Humanitas, 2018). ''A Man Who Writes, Diary 2011-2017''
*''Melancolie'' (Humanitas, 2019). ''Melancholy''
*''Theodoros'' (Humanitas, 2022). ''Theodoros''
Essays
*''Visul chimeric (subteranele poeziei eminesciene)'' ("Chimerical Dream – The Underground of Eminescu's Poetry"), Litera, 1991
*''Postmodernismul românesc'' ("Romanian Postmodernism"), Ph.D. thesis, Humanitas, 1999
*''Pururi tânăr, înfășurat în pixeli'' ("Forever Young, Wrapped in Pixels"), Humanitas, 2003
*''Baroane!'' ("You Baron!"), Humanitas, 2005
*''Ochiul căprui al dragostei noastre'' ("Our Love's Hazel Eye"), Humanitas, 2012
*''Peisaj după isterie'' ("Landscape, After Histrionics"), Humanitas, 2017
*''Creionul de tâmplărie'' ("A Carpenter's Pencil"), Humanitas, 2020
Audiobooks
*''Parfumul aspru al ficțiunii'' ("The Rough Fragrance of Fiction"), Humanitas, 2003
Anthologies
* ''Testament – Anthology of Modern Romanian Verse'' (1850–2015) second edition – bilingual version English/Romanian.
Daniel Ioniță – editor and principal translator, with Eva Foster,
Daniel Reynaud and Rochelle Bews. Minerva Publishing House. Bucharest 2015.
Awards and honours
* 1980: Romanian Writers' Union Prize
* 1989:
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life.
According to its byl ...
's Prize, for ''Visul''
* 1990: Romanian Writer's Unions Prize, ''Flacăra'' magazine Prize, ''Ateneu'' magazine Prize, ''Tomis'' magazine Prize, ''Cuvântul'' magazine Prize
* 1992: ''Le Rêve'' nominee for:
Prix Médicis
The Prix Médicis is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by and . It is awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match his talent."
The award goes to a work of fiction in the French language. In 19 ...
, Prix
Union Latine, Le meilleur livre étranger
* 1994: Romanian Writer's Union Prize, ASPRO Prize, Moldavian Writers' Union Prize, for ''Travesti''
* 1996: ASPRO Prize, ''Flacăra'' magazine Prize, ''Ateneu'' magazine Prize, ''Tomis'' magazine Prize, ''Cuvântul'' magazine Prize
* 1997: ''Flacăra'' magazine Prize, ''Ateneu'' magazine Prize, ''Tomis'' magazine Prize, ''Cuvântul'' magazine Prize
* 1999: ''Orbitors French translation nominee for Prix
Union Latine
* 2000: Romanian Writers Association Prize
* 2002: ASPRO Prize, AER Prize
* 2006: Grand Officer of the ''Cultural Merit'' Order (Ordinul "Meritul cultural" în grad de mare ofițer), awarded by
Romanian Presidency
* 2011:
Vilenica Prize
Vilenica International Literary Festival ( sl, Mednarodni literarni festival Vilenica) is a festival dedicated to literature that was founded in 1986 in Slovenia. It takes place annually in several locations on the Karst Plateau in the Slovene Lit ...
* 2012: International literatur prize "Haus der Kulturen der Welt 2012", Berlin
* 2013: Spycher – Literary Prize Leuk, Switzerland
* 2013: Grand Prix of the Novi Sad International Poetry Festival
* 2014:
Best Translated Book Award
The Best Translated Book Award is an American literary award that recognizes the previous year's best original translation into English, one book of poetry and one of fiction. It was inaugurated in 2008 and is conferred by Three Percent, the onlin ...
, shortlisted for ''Blinding'', translated from the Romanian into English by Sean Cotter
* 2014:
Premio Euskadi de Plata to the Best Book of 2014 for ''Las Bellas Extranjeras'' (Frumoasele străine), translated from the Romanian into Spanish by Marian Ochoa de Eribe (Editorial Impedimenta)
* 2015:
Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding for ''Blinding''
* 2015:
Austrian State Prize for European Literature
* 2016:
Premio Gregor von Rezzori for ''Blinding''
* 2018:
Thomas Mann Prize
* 2018:
Prix Formentor
The Prix Formentor (also known as Premio Formentor de las Letras, Formentor Literature Prize and The Formentor Prize) is an international literary award given between 1961 and 1967, and, after a long break, from 2011. In the 1960s, the Formentor Gr ...
* 2022:
FIL Award
The FIL Literary Award in Romance Languages (previously Juan Rulfo Prize for Latin American and Caribbean Literature),
is awarded to writers of any genre of literature (poetry, novels, plays, short stories and literary essays), having as a means o ...
[https://www.fil.com.mx/prensa/boletin.asp?ids=1&id=2773]
References
External links
* Excerpt from ''The Roulette Player'' (original title: "Ruletistul"), story from ''Nostalgia'', by Mircea Cărtărescu, at WordsWithoutBorders.or
* Mircea Cărtărescu's page at
Humanitas publishing housebr>
* Mircea Cărtărescu's page at
Zsolnay/Hanser Verlage publishing hous
* A review of ''Nostalgia'' by Joshua Cohen at
New Haven Reviewbr>
New Haven ReviewCartarescu meets his readers at the International Book Fair of Turin, Italy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cartarescu, Mircea
1956 births
Living people
University of Bucharest alumni
International Writing Program alumni
University of Bucharest faculty
Romanian essayists
20th-century Romanian poets
Romanian novelists
Romanian male novelists
Postmodern writers
Male essayists
21st-century Romanian poets
Romanian male poets
20th-century Romanian male writers
21st-century male writers
Writers from Bucharest