The National Museum of Romanian Literature invites you on Saturday, October 31, 2026, from 5:00 p.m., to a double book launch dedicated to the writer Andrei Codrescu. The event brings to the public's attention the volumes Oaspetele lui Pan. Trei în-o barcă, published by the Școala Ardeleană Publishing House, and Şapte ani de acasă, signed by Andrei Codrescu.
The guests of the meeting are Ruxandra Cesereanu, Cristina Matilda Vănoagă, Andrei Codrescu and Călin-Andrei Mihăilescu. The discussion will be moderated by Ioan Cristescu, director of the National Museum of Romanian Literature.
Pan's Guest. Trei în-o barcă is a playful and homage-filled book, dedicated to Andrei Codrescu and his multiple writing roles: poet, prose writer, essayist, actor and performer. Friendship and memories meet here with photographs, biographies, dialogues, comments, dedications, footnotes and cultural interferences, in a construction with carnival accents, in which the bookish game naturally intertwines with human experience. The title, with its mythical and literary references, announces the free spirit of the volume: from the Dadaist atmosphere suggested by the figure of Pan to the comic verve of the famous Three in a Boat. The result is a portrait made up of voices, images and memories, a celebration of friendship and of a personality that refuses to be contained in a single definition.
In the volume Seven Years at Home, Andrei Codrescu proposes a vision of poetry that goes beyond the conventions of writing and language. Poetry can exist without memory, punctuation or writing instruments, it can be born in the middle of the night, on a rainy street, or it can be inscribed on the most unexpected materials. It does not even depend on words or the physical gesture of writing: it finds its own ways of existing and transmitting meaning. Thus, poetry becomes the answer to what we do not yet know how to name, the trace of a past experience and, at the same time, a form of resistance in the face of disappearance. The idea that it will continue to exist even after the end of the world focuses, with humor and seriousness, the author's confidence in the vitality of poetic language and in its ability to capture what escapes ordinary definitions. The two volumes thus open complementary perspectives on Andrei Codrescu's universe: on the one hand, the portrait of a writer built through friendship, memories and the play of interpretations; on the other hand, reflection on poetry as a form of freedom, capable of overcoming the limits of support, language and time.
The double launch at the National Museum of Romanian Literature proposes a meeting with an author for whom literature means both experiment, critical spirit, humor and the willingness to look at the world from unexpected angles. An opportunity for dialogue about friendship, memory and the power of poetry.
We look forward to seeing you!
AI translation of event listing
