{"product_id":"solenoid-9781646052028","title":"Solenoid","description":"\u003cb\u003eA highly-acclaimed master work of fiction from Cărtărescu, author of Blinding: an existence (and eventually a cosmos) created by forking paths.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003eBased on Cărtărescu's own role as a high school teacher, \u003ci\u003eSolenoid\u003c\/i\u003e begins with the mundane details of a diarist's life and quickly spirals into a philosophical account of life, history, philosophy, and mathematics. One character asks another: when you rush into the burning building, will you save the newborn or the artwork? On a broad scale, the novel's investigations of other universes, dimensions, and timelines reconcile the realms of life and art.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe novel is grounded in the reality of late 1970s\/early 1980s Communist Romania, including long lines for groceries, the absurdities of the education system, and the misery of family life. The text includes sequences in a tuberculosis sanatorium, an encounter 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.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eCombining fiction with autobiography and history-- the scientists Nicolae Tesla and George Boole, for example, appear alongside the Voynich manuscript--\u003ci\u003eSolenoid\u003c\/i\u003e ruminates on the exchanges possible between the alternate dimensions of life and art, as various, monstrous dimensions erupt within the Communist present.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Deep Vellum Publishing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/25\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781646052028\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 672","brand":"Mircea Cartarescu","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42353107796149,"sku":"9781646052028","price":21.21,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_fe6d649d-19f7-4c5a-ab17-db204113947f.jpg?v=1661843705","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/solenoid-9781646052028","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}