Mircea Cartarescu distinguished himself in Romanian literature as the leader of a group of writers who, during the most oppressive period of the communist regime, refused to accept the limitations imposed by social and cultural isolation and sought instead to create a literature of contemporary relevance and enduring importance. Admonished and rejected by the traditional literary establishment, the generation of the 1980s- referred to in the press in various capacities as "textualists," "the paratroopers," and derogatorily as the "blue jeans generation"-enjoyed an underground following and intellectual prestige that allowed them to challenge the official canons of poetry and prose. As a result, Cartarescu and other emerging writers-such as Liviu Ioan Stoiciu, Ion Stratan, Florin Iaru, Mariana Marin, and Bogdan Ghiu- forged a new artistic purposefulness and direction. Known in literary circles first as a poet and then as a prose writer, Cartarescu is now recognized as an...