Mircea Cărtărescu

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

He is a graduate of Cantemir Vodă National College. During his school years, he was a member of literary groups led by Nicolae Manolescu and Ovid S. Crohmălniceanu. His first poetry was written 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 The Chimaeric Dream. That same year, some of his works were published by Cartea Românească.

Between 1980 and 1989 he 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 Faculty of Letters. As of 2010, he is an associate professor there. Between 1994–1995 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.

He is married to the poet, Ioana Nicolaie [ro]. His works have been translated into most European languages.

His debut as a writer was in 1978 in România Literară 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

Prose

• Desant '83 (volum colectiv/collection), Cartea Românească, 1983.
• Visul ("The Dream"), Cartea Românească, 1989 – Romanian Academy Prize, 1989; translated into French and Spanish; Latin Union Prize nominee.
  • Le rêve, Climats, 1992, ISBN 2-907563-55-6 – nominated for the Medicis prize (Best foreign book).
• Nostalgia ("Nostalgia"), full edition of "Visul", Humanitas, 1993.
  • New Directions Publishing Corporation, Translation by Julian Semilian, Introduction by Andrei Codrescu 2005, ISBN 0-8112-1588-1
• Travesti, Humanitas, 1994 – Writers Union Prize 1994; ASPRO Prize 1994; translated into French, Dutch and Spanish
• Orbitor (Blinding), vol. 1, Aripa stângă (Volume 1, "The Left Wing"), Humanitas, 1996
  • Gallimard, Translation (French) by Alain Paruit, 2002, ISBN 2-07-042265-8
• Jurnal ("Diary"), Humanitas, 2001, ISBN 973-50-0095-4
  • Jurnal I, 1990–1996, Humanitas, 2005, 2nd Ed., ISBN 973-50-0985-4
• Orbitor (Blinding), vol. 2, Corpul (Volume 2, "The Body"), Humanitas, 2002
• Enciclopedia zmeilor (The Encyclopedia of Dragons), Humanitas, 2002
• De ce iubim femeile (Why We Love Women), Humanitas, 2004, ISBN 973-50-0869-6
• Jurnal II, 1997–2003, ("Diary II, 1997–2003"), Humanitas, 2005, ISBN 973-50-0986-2
• Orbitor (Blinding), vol. 3, Aripa dreaptă (Volume 3, "The Right Wing"), Humanitas, 2007
• Frumoasele străine (Beautiful Strangers), Humanitas, 2010
• Solenoid, Humanitas, 2015

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, înfăşurat în pixeli ("Forever young, wrapped up in pixels"), Humanitas, 2003
• Baroane! ("You Baron!"), Humanitas, 2005

Audiobooks

• Parfumul aspru al ficţiunii ("The Rough Fragrance of Fiction"), Humanitas, 2003

• 1980: Romanian Writers' Union Prize
• 1989: Romanian Academy's Prize
• 1990: Romanian Writer's Unions Prize, Flacăra magazine Prize, Ateneu magazine Prize, Tomis magazine Prize, Cuvântul magazine Prize
• 1992: Le Rêve nominee for: Prix Mèdicis, Prix Union Latine, Le meilleur livre étranger
• 1994: Romanian Writer's Union Prize, ASPRO Prize, Moldavian Writers' Union Prize
• 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 ofiţer), 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

Testament – Anthology of Modern Romanian Verse (1850–2015) second edition – bilingual version English/Romanian. Daniel Ionita – editor and principal translator, with Eva Foster, Daniel Reynaud and Rochelle Bews. Minerva Publishing House. Bucharest 2015. ISBN 978-973-21-1006-5