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.jpg) 1993 Romanian edition | |
| Author | Mircea Cărtărescu |
|---|---|
| Translator | Julian Semilian |
| Cover artist | Sylvia Frezzolini Severance |
| Language | Romanian |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Cartea Româneasca Publishing House Humanitas |
Publication date | 1989 1993 |
| Publication place | Romania |
Published in English | 2005 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 317 |
| ISBN | 973-28-0403-3 |
| OCLC | 31046780 |
| 859/.335 22 | |
| LC Class | PC840.13.A86 N6713 2005 |
Nostalgia is a novel by the Romanian writerMircea Cărtărescu.
It was first published in Romania under the titleVisul ("The Dream") in 1989 with Cartea Româneasca Publishing House, having been mangled by censors. It appeared in its full form asNostalgia in 1993 underHumanitas. It was thereafter translated into French, German, Hungarian, Spanish and other languages, and was nominated for literary prizes across Europe, including theLatin Union Prize. In 2005, the novel was translated to English byJulian Semilian and published byNew Directions.
The first section, which is itself the prologue, describes the world of a pre-warBucharest, as narrated by an aging, potentially dying, author while focusing on the improbable and explicitly impossible story of a homeless young man who serves as the stubborn center of progressively more absurd games ofRussian Roulette which become progressively more peopled by the wealthy upper-crust of the capital.
The second section brings alive a universe of children through amagical realist writing style that focuses upon a prepubescent messiah who has begun to lose his magical powers while working wonders for his young followers. This section has a famous scene that makes the reader feel voyeur into the world ofProust when the main character falls into "unbearable nostalgia" by virtue of a bright pink lighter.
The third section is an exploration of the pinnacle of romantic love between two adolescents, culminating with them swapping souls after their first night together.
The final part of the main portion of this book is centered around Nana, a middle aged woman engaged in an affair with a college student, as well as her memories of being 12 years old, when she was visited by a mother and son pair of gigantic skeletons.
The last portion of this novel focuses on a man who becomes obsessed with his car horn, the repercussions of which spiral far beyond his control.
In the introduction to the New Directions edition of the English translation,Andrei Codrescu, writer, critic, andNational Public Radio host, described the book as an introduction to "a writer who has always had a place reserved for him in a constellation that includesthe Brothers Grimm,E. T. A. Hoffmann,Franz Kafka.Jorge Luis Borges,Bruno Schultz,Julio Cortázar,Gabriel García Márquez,Milan Kundera, andMilorad Pavić, to mention just a few."[1]
Laura Savu wrote about Cărtărescu inWorld Literature Today: "His intellectual fervor, dazzling linguistic play, and visceral prose...often touch a cultural nerve."[2]
