Mircea Cărtărescu

Mircea Cărtărescu (; born 1 June 1956 ) is a Romanian novelist, poet, short-story writer, literary critic, and essayist.

Biography Born in Bucharest 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 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, Jimi Hendrix, and The Doors. He commenced writing poetry in 1978.

Later, he studied at the University of Bucharest'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 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 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. He is a full professor at the University of Bucharest within the Department of Literary Studies.

Work His debut as a writer was in 1978 with poetry published in România Literară magazine. Two years later, he published his first book, , which earned him the Romanian Writers' Union award for debut. The post-modern epic poem The Levant appeared in 1990, written at a time of heavy censorship by the communist regime, without much hope of being translated, and published after the fall of communism, it is a parody that encompasses writing styles touching on several other Romanian writers, most notably Mihai Eminescu, from whose poem, "Scrisoarea III", he borrowed the metrical pattern and even some lines.

In 2010, Blinding was voted novel of the decade by Romanian literary critics.

His works have been translated into most European languages (including Spanish, French and English) and published in Europe, Hispanic America, and the United States.

Cărtărescu has been rumoured to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature multiple times, and has been considered one of the favorites to win the award. In 2023, when Swedish journalist Carsten Palmer Schale had included him on a short list of favourites for the award, Cărtărescu himself said that he is thankful for being included in such a list, and that he doesn't wish for anything more. Poetry Faruri, vitrine, fotografii..., ("Headlights, shop windows, photographs...") Cartea Românească, 1980 – Writers Union Prize for debut, 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 Melancolia (Humanitas, 2019). Melancholy Theodoros (Humanitas, 2022). Theodoros, trans. Sean Cotter (Deep Vellum, 2026)

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 Texistența (“Text Existence”), Humanitas, 2026

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'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, 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: Orbitor'''s 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 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, 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 2022: FIL Award 2023: Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Solenoid 2024: Dublin Literary Award for Solenoid 2025: longlisted for the International Booker Prize for Solenoid, translated by Sean Cotter