The astonishing debut in English of one of Romania's foremost writers.
Mircea Cartarescu, born in 1956, is one of Romania's leading novelists and poets. This translation of his 1989 novel "Nostalgia," writes Andrei Codrescu, "introduces to English a writer who has always had a place reserved for him in a constellation that includes the Brothers Grimm, Franz Kafka, Jorge Luis Borges, Bruno Schulz, Julio Cortazar, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Milan Kundera, and Milorad Pavic, to mention just a few." Like most of his literary contemporaries of the avant-garde Eighties Generation, his major work has been translated into several European languages, with the notable exception, until now, of English.
Readers opening the pages of "Nostalgia" should brace themselves for a verbal tidal wave of the imagination that will wash away previous ideas of what a novel is or ought to be. Although each of its five chapters is separate and stands alone, a thematic, even mesmeric harmony finds itself in children's games, the music of the spheres, humankind's primordial myth-making, the origins of the universe, and in the dilapidated tenement blocks of an apocalyptic Bucharest during the years of communist dictatorship.

'Cartarescu is one of the great literary voices of Central Europe' Olga Tokarczuk, Nobel Prize winner and author of Flights 'A Danubian Narnia. . . his writing delivers a rainbow-hued riot of fantasy, imagination and invention' Boyd Tonkin, Spectator A dreamlike novel of memory and magic, Nostalgia turns the dark world of Communist Bucharest into a place of strange enchantments. Here a man plays increasingly death-defying games of Russian Roulette, a child messiah works his magic in the tenements, a young man explores gender boundaries, a woman relives her youth and an architect becomes obsessed with the sound of his new car horn - with unexpected consequences. Blending reality and symbolism, time and myth, this is a cult masterwork from Romania's most celebrated writer.

Shifting viewpoints, magic realism, and narrative mastery are all integral parts of "Nostalgia," Romanian author and perennial Nobel Prize favorite Mircea Cartarescu's masterpiece. The book is comprised of five unrelated stories: "The Roulette Player," in which a desperately unlucky man manages to amass a fortune by taking part in dangerous games of Russian roulette; "Mentardy" narrates the travails of a prepubescent messiah who loses his powers with the advent of his sexuality; "The Twins," a brave exploration of youthful rage; "REM," in which a middle-aged woman falls in love with a university student in a nightmarish Bucharest; and "The Architect," in which a man who cannot silence his car horn becomes obsessed with sound--an obsession that will have cosmic consequences. Readers eager to acquaint themselves with one of the most important voices in modern European literature will not want to miss this sophisticated, haunting collection of stories.
"Puntos de vista variables, el realismo magico y la maestria narrativa son facetas integras de "Nostalgia," la obra maestra del autor rumano y favorito perenne para el Premio Nobel, Mircea Cartarescu. El libro consta de cinco cuentos no relacionados: "El ruletista," en el que un hombre al que nunca le ha sonreido la suerte hace fortuna participando en letales sesiones de ruleta rusa; "El Mendebil," el cual narra los infortunios de un mesias impuber que pierde sus poderes magicos con el advenimiento de su propia sexualidad; "Los gemelos," una bizarra exploracion de la ira juvenil; "REM," en el cual una mujer de mediana edad se enamora de un estudiante de instituto en una Bucarest pesadillesca; y "El arquitecto," en el cual un hombre que no logra silenciar el claxon de su coche se obsesiona con el sonido--una obsesion que tendra consecuencias cosmicas. El lector interesado en conocer a una de las voces mas importantes de la literatura europea moderna no se querra perder esta sofisticada, inolvidable coleccion de historias."

Banned for years in Romania, this brilliant narrative of European literature tells the unlikely story of an unlucky man who, surprisingly, makes a fortune in deadly sessions of Russian roulette. Feverish crowds get in line to participate in the ceremonies of death and redemption that give way to mass hysteria. This novel attempts to explain how a dull man ends up as someone seemingly immortal and impregnable when, in fact, he only breeds the desperate spirit of self-destruction. "Prohibido durante anos en Rumania, este relato brillante de la literatura europea cuenta la historia poco probable de un hombre de mala suerte que, sorprendentemente, gana una fortuna en sesiones mortales de la ruleta rusa. Multitudes febriles se ponen en fila para participar en las ceremonias de muerte y redencion que ceden a la histeria colectiva. Esta novela trata de explicar como un hombre aburrido termina siendo una persona aparentemente ""inmortal e invulnerable cuando, en realidad, solo engendra el espiritu desesperado de la autodestruccion."