The following story is a fictional reimagining of a meeting between the acclaimed Romanian writer Mircea Cărtărescu and a mysterious figure named Theodoros. It blends the magical realism and metaphysical themes often found in Cărtărescu's work.
Theodoros rules. Theodoros dreams. And somewhere, in a feverish room in a crumbling Bucharest, a boy is coughing, and his cough is the birth-cry of an empire.
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of Ethiopia. Cărtărescu traces his journey from a humble servant in Wallachia to the throne of an empire. However, the author is less interested in chronological facts and more in the internal architecture of a man "stuck in his past," using long monologues and philosophical digressions to build a deeply layered character study. Themes and Style A Plea for World Literature
The Etymology of a Revelation
The "Solenoid" Bridge
Cărtărescu has finally escaped his Bucharest apartment. He has found the ocean. And he has discovered that the ocean is merely the dream of a giant, sleeping eye—which happens to be his own.