Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu | BOOK REVIEW
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- Опубліковано 13 лип 2024
- “Solenoid” by Mircea Cărtărescu
Translated by Sean Cotter
BUY IT HERE: bit.ly/3AaRh6b
First published by Humanitas, 2015
Published by Deep Vellum, 2022
Paperback, 672 pages
ISBN: 0140110879
Goodreads: bit.ly/3hGF7M1
Storygraph: bit.ly/3TwKU3R
Today Episode in Audio: spoti.fi/3OHeO4J
Today’s Episode in Text: wastemailinglist.substack.com...
Sections:
00:00 Intro & Preamble
03:19 The Find
06:16 Publication and Translation
11:51 The Fall
19:58 The Exhumed Reality: Taxonomic Considerations
33:04 The Borina Solenoid
39:02 Flatland and the Fourth Dimension: An Intertextual Investigation
01:00:50 Mail Call
01:02:30 The Other Side
01:16:49 Iron and Crystal
01:34:10 Diaries, Dreams, and Departures
01:54:31 Afterword
Readings from p. 1, 32, 37, 39, 42, 70, 71, 79, 98, 107, 108, 156, 164, 209, 212, 356, 378, 379, 434, 445, 456, 487, 492, 596, 673, 675, ∞
Secondary Resources:
1. Solenoid - The Untranslated Review: bit.ly/3UAYxAa
2. Blinding Vol 1 - Video Review: bit.ly/3UUx6RJ
3. Poesia esencial: bit.ly/3tsGpwD
4. Romanian Literature Now - Solenoid: bit.ly/3tt28Ve
5. Nicolae Manolescu: bit.ly/3GdUR3h
6. De Reactor Interview via The Untranslated: bit.ly/3AeML6t
7. The Dimensions of Solenoid (II): bit.ly/3EDQTjj
8. Your Surrealist Literature Starter Kit: bit.ly/3tvtNF3
9. Maica Domnului Google Pin: bit.ly/3UWnGW3
10. Solenoid Coil: bit.ly/3hECxWJ
11. Smale-Williams Solenoid: bit.ly/3E8f0oH
12. Edwin Abbott - Flatland .pdf: bit.ly/3Epul4v
13. Il Manifesto Interview: bit.ly/3Gi1KjU
14. Arnolfini Portrait: bit.ly/3UQuuEu
15. Trompe l’Oeil: bit.ly/3O0GQb3
16. Escaping Criticism: bit.ly/3txmv3m
17. Blackwood - A Victim of Higher Space .pdf: bit.ly/3WRPHQa
18. A Victim of Higher Space Review: bit.ly/3AcUoue
19. The Poetics of the Hypercycle: bit.ly/3E2GhZD
20. Seeking the Doom of Self-Annihilation: bit.ly/3Gj29Tr
21. From Blinding to Solenoid: bit.ly/3hJq6IY
22. Socialist Paradise or Tower of Total Surveillance: bit.ly/3huAnZw
23. Hinton Cubes: bit.ly/3WYGUvZ
24. DeWitt - Moral Authority: bit.ly/3E1XhPE
25. Balcanu - Real and fantastic Bucharest: bit.ly/3g5p21O
Tangentially Related:
1. Beyond the Zero - Sean Cotter Interview: bit.ly/3UZQcWN
2. Travel Through Stories - SOLENOID Preview: bit.ly/3UUxsrx
3. B.O.S.S. Episode 90 Guest Spot: bit.ly/3UzM6F5
INSTAGRAM: / wastemailinglist
TWITTER: / wastemailing
EMAIL: wastemailinglist@gmail.com
SUBSTACK: wastemailinglist.substack.com/
ANCHOR.FM: anchor.fm/wastemailinglist
Music: “I Hate That” by ThisKidsNoGood
/ thiskidsnogood
Music: “Reading Music Vol. 4” by Christopher Charles Robinson
bit.ly/3O5xVF6
Video Editing by Nick Brodie (Instagram): / brodie.nich
Thank you to Sean Cotter, Andrei (The Untranslated), Will Evans, Linda Stack-Nelson, Walker Rutter-Bowman, Nick Brodie, Sean (Travel Through Stories), and Ben (Beyond the Zero).
Whoa, Seth! You have absolutely outdone yourself with this one. I've only skipped through it to get a sense of your coverage (the way I peruse the index of academic books), and I am seriously blown away by your comprehensiveness here. Plus, a few of the visuals you've included take this to the next level. My workday has started, but I've decided I'm going to watch this in its entirety for my Friday movie night. Outstanding work. I'll be back!
How interesting that you and I both filmed clips of ourselves reading the book. I think I've only done that in one other video!
This is exceedingly kind of you to say Chris. As one of my role models in this space, it truly does mean a lot coming from you. My video will act as a lovely companion to yours, and I feel between the two of us, we've examined quite a few (though likely not every) angles of Cartarescu's Opus. You can thank my editor @brodie.nich on IG for the visuals
@@LeafbyLeaf Your Miss Macintosh video, as memory serves?
I can only remember the excitement, joy, wonder, tears in my eyes when i finished Solenoid back in 2015. I wish i could relive that moment of almost levitation again. Thank you for this much deserved review of one of the greatest books ever written.
"Levitation" is an appropriate choice of words given the narrative function of the Solenoids. What an incredible head trip it's been. I really appreciate your viewership!
Romanian here. Thank you for reading and promoting a great Romanian author! Mircea Cartarescu just launched another book ;)
Incredible work, Seth. I can only imagine the amount of work that went into this. Solenoid is quite easily in my top 10 of all time and this video (30 minutes in, so far), has only helped solidify that spot. I love that you were able to correspond with Cotter and Evans too - secondary resources that like really elevate your videos!
It's too early for me to make big statements about it's status in my top 10, but I'm strongly anticipating this being in my Top 10 long term. I'm so glad you loved it as well - hoping you'll take the time to tackle it yourself down the track!
I’m about 150 pages into it right now. I’m reeling. I’m transformed already. I simply cannot fully comprehend what’s going on. I love it.
Second note: I apologise for the image artifacting that occurred at various points in the video. It was the biproduct of some different editing software and an issue we're troubleshooting to correct in future videos. Hopefully it doesn't spoil the whole thing for you.
"Singularities that even the laboratory of my mind cannot reproduce." The thing sitting at the top of my spinal cord has become a dog chasing its tail. Excellent video!
First time here! This is a fantastic review! Read the book a couple years ago (Spanish version) and your insight has brought me back to it and to some parts I loved, thanks.
Looking forward to hearing what’s on your real pipeline
I just started reading this. Stunning. BTW, your voice is perfection.
Bought the book on your recommendation and loved every minute of it. Great book, great video.
Hi, I just discovered your channel and I'm impressed. Your review is amazing, I'm so happy you enjoyed Cărtărescu's book. I recommend reading Nostalgia, it is the best start to enter the magical world of Cărtărescu. I'm a native Romanian speaker, so I was lucky enough to read it in the original language, but the English translation is splendid. Thank you for your work in promoting quality literature. I greet you with love from Romania 🤗
Pre-ordered this book already. Can't wait. Against the Day by Pynchon and Jerusalem by Moore are wonderful novels too.
"Fatalism and alternative possibilities:
The making of decisions is a characteristic feature of human life. Much of our time is consumed in considering and deliberating about what to do, and our emotions are much engaged with questions of the correctness of our past, present, and future choices. The practice of making choices seems to presuppose that the future could take any one of many alternative courses, and that which course it takes is to some extent up to each of us. This presupposition is metaphysical in nature. Suppose that we inhabit the one and only one possible world-that is, suppose that nothing has happened in the past or could happen in the future other than the one way in which things must, of necessity, unfold. On such a fatalistic picture, human decision-making would seem to be pointless and devoid of significance.
If the future is indeed open, this fact would raise further metaphysical questions:
How and why is the future open in a way that the past is not?
Why does it make sense to deliberate about what to do in the future, but not to deliberate about what to have done in the past?
What does the direction of time consist in, and how do we know which direction is which?
What does it mean to say that something is possible, impossible or necessary?
Are there merely possible things that do not actually exist, but might have existed?
These are questions in the area of metaphysics known as modality."
-Timothy Pickavane, Robert C. Koons
Seth! How would you compare this work with Blinding. More engaging or just more dense or both.
all we have is ourselves and our relations to other people. everything else are accoutrements; tools, resources, distractions. many are necessary and many are enjoyable, and they expand us and our relations. but in the end, we only have ourselves, our relations, and what we gain and give to them in exchange. losing the notebooks is not a tragedy. a tragedy would have only been to never have written them.
Just started on the Portuguese translation of Orbitor after watching this super eloquent homage to a seemingly unfairly unknown writer. And I must say I'm already feeling the mental storm from his brilliant and artful command of language, like poetry at the service of some fundamental personal concepts. Can't wait to go on and devour the rest of the book and maybe push for the translation of Solenoid next. Thanks for your passion in talking about this author!
Seldom do I subscribe with such enthusiasm to a channel, but the depth of your analysis, your penetrative insights and exquisite digressions made me do it. Solenoid sounds and feels incredible and I’m urging to read it. It’s enticing to see careful dedication to reviewing and talking about books, I’m already looking forward to your next one!
At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, but out of many book reviews/analyses I’ve seen, this may be one of, if not, the greatest. And I’m familiar with the great names in booktube. I think this is due to the fact that you’re able to transmit your deep love for the book with your thoughtful approach. You’re able to combine sincerity and simplicity, with intellectual, historical, and literary depth, and great sensibility.
The video has great artistic qualities in itself, it approaches a documentary like film, you sound not like a reviewer but a narrator committed to Mircea’s great work and dedicated to its diffusion.
Incredible and intense.
@@lxjunius9276 Apologies on the delayed response - I 've taken some time away from the space but am working on new material to post in the coming months. I really appreciate your generous and thoughtful replies. I'm not being obsequious when I say that community encouragement is a major part of what keeps me motivated to continue producing content. So thank you and I hope you enjoy what is to come.
Would love to get my hands on that book and read it! And same goes for that cult of the cactus book! I’m sold!!! ☮️👍
I don't always comment on videos, but I wanted to say that I finished Solenoid the other day actually, boosted by my excitement to watch your video on the novel. I actually bought the Audiobook to read/listen along with and found it both engaging and enjoyable as well. I am already eager to revisit after finishing your wonderful video on this book. I love surrealism, and Kafka and Borges are some of my favorite authors in that regard. In mentioning them, I read Borges Collected Fictions at age 17 and it has become a huge influence on my way of thinking about literature. The Library of Babel probably being my favorite of his stories. I plan on purchasing a copy of the diaries of Kafka to read as well. I also wanted to take time to say that I found the digressions on the fourth dimension really insightful and interesting. I have read Jerusalem by Alan Moore (it deserves a reread) and Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon (along with the rest of Pynchon's discography) and have to agree that Solenoid is up there with the greatest of maximalist novels talking about the 4th dimension. I read Flatland in high school, but do not remember a lot about it, except the main premise, which I found myself reflecting upon a lot during my read through of Solenoid. I do plan on revisiting Solenoid if not in the latter half of this year than again next year, if not just to fully immerse myself in the surreal word of Bucharest again, with new insights and probably a slower reading pace the next time, as I kind of have a bad habit of reading books too fast, mainly because I get so invested and excited to read them, but then of course reading fast I miss out on some minor details as well. I want to also agree that Solenoid definitely reaches into the void of cosmic horror, and I found myself reading late at night some nights during and some of the dream sequences became physically...disturbed? I don't know if that's the right word for it, but definitely... on edge at times. Your insights into the socialist aspect of the novel connecting to Dostoyevsky made me want to revisit Dostoyevsky again as well, and I was actually planning on rereading The Brothers Karamazov as my next book, but I might need to intersperse my book reading with something lighter. Overall, your video is of astounding quality, and I plan on checking out the suggested links linked into the description box, and you have earned yourself a new subscriber. I feel like there is more I can say about this video, but I've already written a pretty hefty block, so I will probably end it here, otherwise it will seem like my thoughts are just getting too tangential. Anyways, a fantastic video!
"Winter came early, and was very cold. Ammi saw Nahum less often than usual, and observed that he had begun to look worried. The rest of his family, too, seemed to have grown taciturn; and were far from steady in their churchgoing or their attendance at the various social events of the countryside. For this reserve or melancholy no cause could be found, though all the household confessed now and then to poorer health and a feeling of vague disquiet. Nahum himself gave the most definite statement of anyone when he said he was disturbed about certain footprints in the snow. They were the usual winter prints of red squirrels, white rabbits, and foxes, but the brooding farmer professed to see something not quite right about their nature and arrangement. He was never specific, but appeared to think that they were not as characteristic of the anatomy and habits of squirrels and rabbits and foxes as they ought to be. Ammi listened without interest to this talk until one night when he drove past Nahum’s house in his sleigh on the way back from Clark’s Corners. There had been a moon, and a rabbit had run across the road, and the leaps of that rabbit were longer than either Ammi or his horse liked. The latter, indeed, had almost run away when brought up by a firm rein. Thereafter Ammi gave Nahum’s tales more respect, and wondered why the Gardner dogs seemed so cowed and quivering every morning. They had, it developed, nearly lost the spirit to bark.
In February the McGregor boys from Meadow Hill were out shooting woodchucks, and not far from the Gardner place bagged a very peculiar specimen. The proportions of its body seemed slightly altered in a queer way impossible to describe, while its face had taken on an expression which no one ever saw in a woodchuck before. The boys were genuinely frightened, and threw the thing away at once, so that only their grotesque tales of it ever reached the people of the countryside. But the shying of the horses near Nahum’s house had now become an acknowledged thing, and all the basis for a cycle of whispered legend was fast taking form.
People vowed that the snow melted faster around Nahum’s than it did anywhere else, and early in March there was an awed discussion in Potter’s general store at Clark’s Corners. Stephen Rice had driven past Gardner’s in the morning, and had noticed the skunk-cabbages coming up through the mud by the woods across the road. Never were things of such size seen before, and they held strange colours that could not be put into any words. Their shapes were monstrous, and the horse had snorted at an odour which struck Stephen as wholly unprecedented. That afternoon several persons drove past to see the abnormal growth, and all agreed that plants of that kind ought never to sprout in a healthy world. The bad fruit of the fall before was freely mentioned, and it went from mouth to mouth that there was poison in Nahum’s ground. Of course it was the meteorite; and remembering how strange the men from the college had found that stone to be, several farmers spoke about the matter to them."
-H.P. Lovecraft
"Modality is the name given by contemporary philosophers and logicians to the study of possibility and necessity. A modal claim (in English) is any claim which contains words such as ‘possibly’, ‘necessarily’ and cognate expressions such as ‘essential’, ‘accidental’, ‘might’, ‘must’, ‘could’, ‘would’, etc.
We are concerned here with metaphysical possibility and necessity, i.e. possibility and necessity grounded in the identity and nature of things. Metaphysical possibility contrasts with, for example, logical possibility (that which is not logically contradictory), physical possibility (that which is consistent with our laws of nature), epistemic possibility (that which is consistent with what one knows), legal possibility (that which does not contravene any law) and social possibility (‘I suppose I could live in Belconnen’)."
- Brian Garrett
everything you're mentioning about notes, memoirs, ideas, fiction - all coupled and mixed together ... 'the exhumed reality', i've got a small box of notebooks like that as well. it's all part of composing and saving the history of our thinking and learning, the lifelong process ... 'lovecraftian cosmic horror', that is the existential confrontation, and ultimately our relation to nature. but yes, i really like this understanding of jumbling our writings together and embracing it as a whole organic structure instead of staid fixations on genrefying everything. ty
I’m steadily savouring this video in little bits as I use it to try and stay grounded in a hectic workday.
All that to say do I see Hogg by Delany on your shelves? Now that is a book that I would love to hear your opinion about!
Dhalgren too if you have read it
You deserve so many more subscribers! I was wondering if you also noticed the bitter humour sprinkled throughout the book? Unless it was lost in translation?
I'm not even finished with the video yet but I can't help wonder, could there be any potential inspiration from the tunnel by William Gass?
.
Such a great novel. Every and each line is breathtaking like a vault full of jewels.
Unbelievable. I can’t believe the quality of your contact.
I discovered Cartarescu through a chilean booktuber called Ricardo but then when I looked up the author online The Untranslated popped up first and it's just the amazing resource I found this year loved it
Wow! I just ordered this book and it will be arriving today. What a coincidence
Mate, get at it as soon as it arrives. It's a wonderful novel and singular reading experience.
Enjoyed this! Can you do Dan Delillo's Underworld or anything else by Delillo
I haven't read this book but became interested when I heard there was a great work of surrealism called Solenoid. I wonder if the author knows of the Aharonov-Bohm effect in electromagnetism which experiments require well-insulated solenoids ..it seems like he's influenced by this odd quantum mechanical effect in which am isolated solenoid can affect the motion of charged particles outside of its confinement space.
What a fantastic review, I am now saving my money to buy the book (it's expensive). By the way, I see Nightwood by Djuna Barnes, in your bookcase. Nightwood is my absolute favourite novel but I can't understand as to why it is so underrated and it is not talked about much. It would be wonderful if you could review it. That'd be so wonderful!
God damn. I've been itching to read Solenoid since I've seen you talk about it on IG. Now, I'm going through my second hearing of this magnificent video, being tempted to break my own promise of not buying any more books this year, as my TBR is massive.
I just have one question, Seth. Even though you haven't read The Fall, would you recommend reading Poesía Esencial (mainly for The Fall) first, then Blinding, and finally Solenoid? Or is it okay to just jump headfirst into Solenoid and hope for the best?
Maybe it's too late for a reply , but you can jump into Solenoid straight, without having ever read Carterescu. He said so himself in an interview.
Also in my opinion you can jump into Carterescu through any of his novels or short stories. He has a beautiful language and turn of phrase.
I want Mircea Cartarescu to watch this video
i could send it to him
I hope you can read it in Romance someday, it's much better.
Since you have reviewed Sorokin and Cartarescu and Krasznahorkai on your channel and most likely enjoyed them(I’ve only watched your review of Melancholy and this one) I imagine you’d enjoy Vilnius Poker by Ričardas Gavelis. I haven’t finished the book because I was reading it during exam season but it is another great Eastern European book that’s whittled down to a mere critique of Soviet bloc life and paranoia.
Update: I’m currently about two hundred pages into Solenoid. It’s a great book, possibly one of my favorites of the year. The structure reminds me of Vilnius Poker, almost to a point where I see a sort of correlation. The fragmented narrative, the jumbled plot that teeters on the edge of intricate and messy. The surreal acid trippy dreamscapes, though they are two separate books that do not relate to each other in page to page style nor artform, the similarity is intriguing to me.
Alexis Wright does it with Praiseworthy
This video is so incredible.
Just finished last night-found the constant recall to earlier occurrences a little tiresome, not to mention the complete transcription of the played out Thomas poem TWICE also not to my taste. Still a lot to think about, and glad I read it, but didn’t love it as much as I was ready to.
Since I don't yet have my hand on the book, I both do, and do not, want to listen to this. I mean I will, but do you provide mind-wiping services after?
Got my neurolyzer locked and loaded for Lee ;)
André
Just won the La Times award for Best Fiction.
Spaced out and completely forgot to link The Modern Novel & Socrates on the Beach in the description box. I've tossed links in here. TMN: www.themodernnovel.org/ and SotB: socratesonthebeach.com/
Rad
"100 pounds of analysis out of a 10 pound book" ROASTED
You do a disservice to yourself, your audience and the books you review when you use curse words.
Thank you for the feedback! The unsubscribe button is just up and to the right :)