Assembled by Sean Cotter and Deep Vellum
A collection of companion texts, produced by Deep Vellum in conjunction with the release of Solenoid.
**Solenoid sold separately**
Follow this link to BUY A COPY OF SOLENOID, by Mircea Cărtărescu, translated by Sean Cotter
Formats:
1. eBook: Offered as a complimentary PDF. You will receive a digital download of the Reader to your email inbox. Papercrafts will require the user to have the following:
- A printer
- Scissors
- Two pieces of cellophane, one red, one blue
2. Papercrafts: An envelope comprised solely of the papercraft pages. This envelope will include instructions, cardstock pages with papercrafts, and two pieces of cellophane. You will receive a digital download of the Reader to your email inbox.
Description
A Solenoid Reader is the opposite of a book of sources, because the novel’s networks do not lead backward. Reading all the texts mentioned in Solenoid would do nothing to unravel its mysteries. We move from Solenoid forward to the texts, searching, in the manner of the novel. We read more, not to unravel but to revel in the perception of mystery.
A Solenoid Reader embodies two senses: it is both “a reader,” a collection of companion texts, as well as a personification, a demonstration of what Solenoid’s readers do. The excerpts and images collected here are companions for the journey that begins with the novel and continues for the rest of the reader’s existence. The texts lie just on the other side of the novel, in a palimpsestic, graphic arrangement that allows us to palpitate, to mentally manipulate the distinction between the novel’s fiction and our reality. Likewise, the reader includes passages from the Romanian text for us to physically manipulate, transforming two-dimensional text into three-dimensional cubes and spirals, which, under the right light and through the correct translucent veil, reveal further meanings. Solenoid readers follow these raveling threads through this group of texts toward other texts, searching for further coincidences and still further constellations of meaning, reading in the shelter of these frightening stars.
-Sean Cotter
Follow this link to BUY A COPY OF SOLENOID, by Mircea Cărtărescu, translated by Sean Cotter