The Poetics of the Hypercycle in Mircea Cărtărescu’s Solenoid

Abstract

ABSTRACT This essay analyses the most recent novel of Romanian author Mircea Cărtărescu (Solenoid, 2015). To this end, I will use a specific extension of career construction theory in the field of literary research that focuses on the notion of a ‘late-career novel’. After a short presentation of the theoretical framework and the evolution of Cărtărescu’s career, my approach turns to the hybrid nature of Solenoid, which reveals the complex (meta)narrative strategy its author deploys in order to attain an ever more prestigious position within the international literary canon. On the one hand, through the continuous interplay of his roles as Teacher, Writer, and Seeker, alternatively regarded as profession and vocation, Cărtărescu rewrites his own biography in order to dispose of any trace of institutionalised ‘literature’ in his discourse; on the other hand, the Romanian author ostentatiously exhibits his own marginal geo-cultural status, implying that it would grant him access to a more authentic and substantial understanding of life. These actions are part of a broader metanarrative pattern, which I denominate ‘hypercycle’ and whose conceptual background could not only offer a better understanding of Cărtărescu’s career, but also pave the way for further development of career construction theory.