Solenoid is a 2015 novel by Mircea Cărtărescu. The English translation by Sean Cotter was published in 2022. It was named one of the best books of 2022 by the New Yorker, Publishers Weekly, The Financial Times, and Words Without Borders. And it is currently a nominee on the 2024 Longlist for the Dublin Literary Award.
Based on the author's own experience as a high school teacher, the book tells the story of a Romanian teacher who was once an aspiring author. It begins with the mundane details of the teacher's life leading into a philosophical account of life, history, philosophy, and mathematics. Part autobiography, part history and part fiction, the book covers real issues faced in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Communist Romania while escaping existence by exploring life and art in alternate universes, dimensions and timelines. The title comes from the massive, subterranean electromagnetic coils (solenoids) the teacher discovers at his home and around his city, each of which allows him to experience an altered existence. Historical figures such as Nikola Tesla and Charles Hinton make appearances as does the Voynich Manuscript.
The Dublin Literary Award, established in 1994 and first awarded in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely sponsored by Dublin City Council in Ireland. The prize is €100,000 and if the winning book is a translation, the prize is divided between the author (€75,000) and the translator (€25,000). Nominations are submitted by public libraries worldwide and a rotating international panel of judges narrows the selection down first to a longlist in October or November then down to a shortlist of up to ten titles announced in March or April the following year with the winner usually announced in June. To be eligible, a work must be published two years prior to the award. Translations are eligible if the work was first published in its original language between two and six years prior to the translation.
For 2024, the longlist, which was only just announced this week, includes 70 books nominated by 80 libraries in 35 countries. Of the 70 nominated, 31 are translations, including
Solenoid. The shortlist will be announced the 26th of March. The winner will be announced the 23rd of May.
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