Solenoid
“Solenoid” by Mircea Cărtărescu is a master work of fiction published by Deep Vellum Publishing in 2022. This 639-page novel, written in English, explores the intricate connections between life, history, philosophy, and mathematics through the lens of a high school teacher’s experiences in Romania during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The narrative begins with the ordinary details of a diarist’s life but quickly evolves into a philosophical journey that delves into the absurdities of the education system, the challenges of healthcare, and the complexities of family life.
Readers will encounter a rich tapestry of themes as “Solenoid” intertwines fiction with autobiography and historical references, featuring elements such as tuberculosis preventoriums and anti-death protest movements. The novel investigates alternate dimensions and universes, prompting reflections on the nature of existence and art. Cărtărescu’s work includes a variety of intriguing sequences, from dream investigators to the microscopic world of dust mites, all while posing profound questions about choices and priorities in life. This edition invites readers to engage with a narrative that seeks to reconcile the realms of reality and imagination.
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WINNER of the Dublin Literary Award 2024 and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize 2022
LONGLISTED for the International Booker Prize 2025
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2022 by the New Yorker, Publishers Weekly, Financial Times, Words Without Borders
A highly-acclaimed master work of fiction from Mircea Cărtărescu, author of Blinding, Solenoid is an existence (and eventually a cosmos) created by forking paths.
Based on Cărtărescu’s own experience 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. The novel is grounded in the reality of Romania in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including frightening health care, the absurdities of the education system, and the misery of family life, while on a broad scale Solenoid‘s investigations of other universes, dimensions, and timelines attempt to reconcile the realms of life and art. The text includes sequences in a tuberculosis preventorium, encounters 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. One character asks another: When you rush into the burning building, will you save the newborn or the artwork?
Combining fiction with autobiography and history–Nikola Tesla and Charles Hinton, for example, appear alongside the Voynich manuscript–Solenoid searches for escape routes through the alternate dimensions of life and art, as various monstrous realities erupt within the present.
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