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A reprint from the publisher is expected soon and copies of Solenoid will be made available at the event.Ĭlick here for more about our COVID-19 policies for in-person events. Please note: Solenoid is currently out of stock. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book, or request a hold at your local library. Registration is required in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. This event is free and open to the public. Venue: Seattle Public Library (Central Branch), Microsoft Auditorium, 1000 Fourth Ave., Seattle, WA 98104

University of Washington scholar Ileana Marin, co-founder and President of the American Romanian Cultural Society, will join in conversation. This event is made possible by Cărtărescu's American publisher Deep Vellum, the Romanian Cultural Institute, and the American Romanian Cultural Society based in Seattle.

Third Place Books and the Seattle Public Library welcome Romanian author Mircea Cărtărescu-often rumored to win the Nobel Prize for Literature-for a reading of his new novel Solenoid, translated by Sean Cotter. Solenoid synthesizes and subtly mocks elements of autofiction and history fiction by way of science fiction… The mesmerizing beauty of creation, of reality giving way to itself: that, above all, lies behind the doors of Solenoid.' -Federico Perelmuter, Astra Magazine 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 history- the scientists Nicolae Tesla and George Boole, for example, appear alongside the Voynich manuscript-Solenoid ruminates on the exchanges possible between the alternate dimensions of life and art, as various, monstrous dimensions erupt within the Communist present.'omething of a masterpiece. 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. 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. A highly-acclaimed master work of fiction from Cărtărescu, author of Blinding: an existence (and eventually a cosmos) created by forking paths.Based on Cărtărescu'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.

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