Solenoid
LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2025
WINNER OF THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD AND THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FOR FICTION
'An instant classic' New York Times
Based on Cartarescu's own experience as a teacher, Solenoid submerges us in the mundane details of a diarist's life and spirals into an existential account of history, philosophy and mathematics. Grounded in the reality of communist Romania, it grapples with frightening health care, the absurdities of the education system and the struggles of family life, while investigating other universes and forking paths.
In a surreal journey like no other, we visit a tuberculosis preventorium, an anti-death protest movement, a society of dream investigators and a minuscule world of dust mites living on a microscope slide. Combining fiction with autobiography and history, Solenoid searches for escape routes through the alternate dimensions of life and art, as various monstrous realities erupt within the present.
PRAISE FOR SOLENOID
'Cartarescu is no longer writing novels. He is officiating a cult' TLS
'A bravura performance' The Nation
'Surreal and viscerally political' FT'Nothing short of remarkable' Los Angeles Review of Books
'A masterpiece' Astra Magazine