Description

‘Cartarescu is one of the great literary voices of Central Europe’ Olga Tokarczuk, Nobel Prize winner and author of Flights

‘A Danubian Narnia. . . his writing delivers a rainbow-hued riot of fantasy, imagination and invention’ Boyd Tonkin, Spectator

A dreamlike novel of memory and magic, Nostalgia turns the dark world of Communist Bucharest into a place of strange enchantments. Here a man plays increasingly death-defying games of Russian Roulette, a child messiah works his magic in the tenements, a young man explores gender boundaries, a woman relives her youth and an architect becomes obsessed with the sound of his new car horn – with unexpected consequences.

Blending reality and symbolism, time and myth, this is a cult masterwork from Romania’s most celebrated writer.

Publisher Review

Romania's leading novelist and poet. . . Cartarescu's phantasmagorical world is similar to Dali's dreamscapes * Kirkus * If mind-warping literature is your thing, read this book, then read it again -- Christopher Byrd * San Francisco Chronicle * A timeless invitation to dream and embrace the comforting power of personal memory, the only sure bulwark against the effects of totalitarian control. . . Gripping, impassioned, unexpected -- the qualities that the best in literature possesses -- Thomas McGonigle * Los Angeles Times * Creator of a universe that's caught between dream and reality, Cartarescu is a revelation * El Pais * A bright star on the firmament of European literature * Le Monde * Cartarescu is one of the great literary voices of Central Europe. He daringly questions our usual way of looking at the world, suggesting that rationalism is merely an attempt to create order. In fact, the world is made up of the nuances of our fantasies -- Olga Tokarczuk, author of Flights