Andrei Codrescu - Wikipedia Page 1 of 4

Andrei Codrescu
De la Wikipedia, enciclopedia liberă

Andrei Codrescu (născut Andrei Perlmutter în 1946, Sibiu,

România) este un eseist, poet și prozator evreu american originar din
România.

Cuprins
■ 1 Biografie
■ 2 Opera poetică
■ 3 Volume de eseuri
■ 4 Romane și povestiri
■ 5 Antologator
■ 6 Cărți traduse în limba română
■ 7 Premii și distinctii
■ 8 Referințe critice Andrei Codrescu
■ 9 Legături externe

Biografie
A debutat ca poet de limbă română iar după emigrarea în SUA (1966) s-a afirmat ca scriitor în limba
engleză, publicând poezii, lucrări cu caracter memorialistic și eseuri. Este colaborator la National Public
Radio. În 1989 s-a întors în țara natală ca să transmită Revoluția Română în direct pentru programul de
știri ABC's Nightline (articolele sale au fost reluate în revista Dilema). A descris această experiență în
cartea Gaura din steag (The Hole in the Flag) desemnată de suplimentul literar al ziarului New York
Times drept Notable Book of the Year. Romanul său, Contesa sângeroasă (The Blood Countess) (Simon
and Schuster, 1995), a devenit best seller în America de Nord. Un al doilea roman, Mesi@ a avut aceeași
soartă. Volumul de versuri se numește Alien Candor: Selected Poems. 1970-1996 (Santa Rosa; Black
Sparrow Press, 1996). Toate volumele au fost traduse în limba română.

A publicat în The Baltimore Sun, The Chicago Tribune, Playboy Magazine și The New York Times.

Predă cursuri de creative writing la Louisiana State University în Baton Rouge, Louisiana, și editează
revista de avangardă poetică Exquisite Corpse: A Journal of Letters and Life. Locuiește în New Orleans.
Este căsătorit și are doi fii.

Opera poetică
Este autorul următoarelor volume de poezie:

■ Comrade Past and Mister Present (Tovarășul Trecut și Domnul Prezent), 1991,

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Andrei Codrescu - Wikipedia Page 2 of 4

■ Belligerence (Beligeranță), 1993,

■ Alien Candor: Selected Poems (Candoare străină, poeme alese, 1970 - 1995), 1996.

Volume de eseuri
A publicat următoarele volume de eseuri:

■ The Life and Times of an Involuntary Genius (1975),

■ In America's Shoes (1983),
■ A Craving for Swan (1986),
■ Raised by Puppets Only to Be Killed by Research (1989),
■ The Disappearance of the Outside: a Manifesto for Escape (1990),
■ The Hole in the Flag: A Romanian's Exile Story of Return and Revolution (1991),
■ The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed in New Orleans (1995; 1996),
■ Zombification: Essays from NPR (1995; 1996),
■ The Dog with the Chip in His Neck: Essays from NPR & Elsewhere (1996),
■ Hail Babylon! Looking for the American City at the End of the Millenium (1998),
■ The Devil Never Sleeps & Other Essays (2000),
■ An Involuntary Genius in America's Shoes: (And What Happened Afterwards) (2001),
■ Ay, Cuba! A Socio-Erotic Journey, cu fotografii de David Graham (2001),
■ The Posthuman Dada Guide - Tzara & Lenin Play Chess (2009).
■ Candoarea străină, București, Editura Fundației Culturale Române, 1997.

Romane și povestiri
A publicat, de asemenea, volumul de proză scurtă Monsieur Teste in America & Other Instances of
Realism (1987) și romanele:

■ The Repentance of 1994,

■ The Blood Countess (Contesa sângeroasă, 1995; 1996),
■ Messiah(Mesi@) (1999),
■ A Bar in Brooklyn: Novellas & Stories, 1970-1978 (1999),
■ Wakefield (2004), traducere românească 2006.

Antologator
A realizat antologiile: American Poetry Since 1970: Up Late (1988), The Stiffest of the Corpse: An
Exquisite Corpse Reader, 1983-1990 (1990), American Poets Say Goodbye to the 20th Century (1996),
Thus Spoke the Corpse: An Exquisite Corpse Reader 1988-1998. Volume One, Poetry and Essays (1999).
A scris scenariul și a jucat în filmul autobiografic The Road Scholar (regizat de Roger Weisberg, 1994).

A alcătuit și a tradus în limba engleză volumul At the Court of Yearning: Poems by Lucian Blaga (La
curțile dorului, poeme de Lucian Blaga), Ohio State University Press, 1989.

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Andrei Codrescu - Wikipedia Page 3 of 4

Cărți traduse în limba română

În limba română a publicat volumul de proză scurtă: Domnul Teste în America (1993), antologia bilingvă
de poezie Alien Candor / Candoare străină. Poeme alese 1970-1996 (1997), Prințesa sângeroasă (1999),
Mesi@ (1999, 2006), Casanova in Boemia (2005) și Scrisori din New Orleans (2006).

Premii și distinctii
A obținut următoarele premii:

■ National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship;

■ Premiul pentru poezie Big Table; premiul pentru literatură acordat de Towson State University;
■ Premiul ACLU Freedom of Speech (1995); premiul Mayor's Arts (New Orleans, 1996);
■ Premiul pentru literatură al Fundației Culturale Române (București, 1996).

Este inclus în enciclopedia Români în știința și cultura occidentală (Academia Româno-Americană de

Arte și Științe, Davis, 1992) și în Contemporary Authors, Autobiografic Series.

Referințe critice
■ Gabriel Stănescu în România literară, 13-14/1999;
■ Andreea Deciu în România literară, 35/1999;
■ Iulian Băicuș (Observator cultural, 21/2000);
■ Daniel Lee Butcher , Andrei Codrescu: A Bibliography;
■ Richard Collins, Andrei Codrescu's Mioritic Space (Melus, volume 23, number 4);
■ George Cziscery (San Jose Mercury News);
■ Francis X. Clines (The New York Times Book Review);
■ Joe Leydon (The Los Angeles Times);
■ Bruce Shlain (New York Times Book Review);
■ Frances Taliafero (Harper s);
■ Stephen Kessler (San Francisco Review of Books);
■ Alex Kozinski (The New York Times Book Review);
■ Philip Martin (The Oxford American, martie / aprilie 2000);
■ Andrei Oișteanu (Revista 22, 17 iunie 2008);
■ Andrei Oișteanu, Narcotice în cultura românǎ. Istorie, religie și literatură, Polirom, Iași, 2010;

Legături externe
■ Revista Exquisite Corpse, editată la New Orleans de Andrei Codrescu (http://www.corpse.org/)

Adus de la http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Codrescu
Categorii: Nașteri în 1946 | Americani în viață | Eseiști americani | Evrei români | Poeți americani | Poeți
români | Poeți evrei | Romancieri americani | Români americani | Scriitori americani | Scriitori români |
Scriitori evrei | Sibieni

■ Ultima modificare 18:54, 9 august 2010.

■ Acest text este disponibil sub licența Creative Commons cu atribuire și distribuire în condiții
identice; pot exista și clauze suplimentare. Vedeți detalii la Termenii de utilizare.

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Andrei Codrescu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Page 1 of 4

Andrei Codrescu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Andrei Codrescu is a Romanian-born American poet, novelist,

essayist, screenwriter, and commentator for National Public
Radio. He was Mac Curdy Distinguished Professor of English at
Louisiana State University from 1984 until his retirement in 2009.

Contents
■ 1 Biography
■ 2 Chronological Publications List
■ 2.1 Books
■ 2.2 Editor/Founder
■ 2.3 Anthologies Edited
■ 3 Controversial comments
■ 4 References
■ 5 External links

Andrei Codrescu
Biography
Born on December 20, 1946 in Sibiu, Romania, he published his first poems in the Romanian language
under the pen name Andrei Steiu. In 1965 he left the country to escape from the communist regime. After
time in Italy, he emigrated to the United States in 1966, and settled in Detroit where he became a regular
at John Sinclair’s Artists and Writers’ Workshop. A year later he moved to New York where he became
part of the literary scene on the Lower East Side, where he met Allen Ginsberg, Ted Berrigan, and Anne
Waldman, and published his first poems in English.

In 1970, his poetry book, License to Carry a Gun, won the "Big Table Award". He moved to San
Francisco in 1970, and lived on the West Coast for seven years, four of those in Monte Rio, a Sonoma
County town on the Russian River. He also lived in Baltimore (where he taught at Johns Hopkins
University), New Orleans and Baton Rouge, publishing a book every year, and actively participating in
literary life by writing poetry, stories, essays and reviews for many publications, including The New York
Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Harper's, and the Paris Review. He had regular
columns in The Baltimore Sun, the City Paper, Architecture, Funny Times, Gambit Weekly, and Neon.
He has been a regular commentator on National Public Radio’s news program, All Things Considered,
since 1983. He won the 1995 Peabody Award for the film Road Scholar, an American road saga that he
wrote and starred in, and is a two-time winner of the Pushcart Prize. He has been called “one of our most
magical writers” by The New York Times.

In 1989, Codrescu's coverage of the Romanian Revolution of 1989 for National Public Radio and ABC
News’ Nightline, was critically acclaimed, and his renewed interest in Romanian language and literature
led to new work written in Romanian, including “Miracle and Catastrophe”, a book-length interview
conducted by the theologian Robert Lazu, and “The Forgiven Submarine”, an epic poem written in

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Andrei Codrescu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Page 2 of 4

collaboration with poet Ruxandra Cesereanu, which won the 2008 Romania Radio Cultural award. His
books were translated into Romanian by Ioana Avadani, Ioana Ieronim, Carmen Firan, Rodica Grigore,
and Lacrimioara Stoie. In 2005 he was awarded the prestigious international Ovidius Prize (also known
as the Ovid Prize), previous winners of which include Mario Vargas Llosa, Amos Oz, and Orhan Pamuk.

In 1981, Codrescu became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He is the editor and founder of the
online journal Exquisite Corpse (http://www.corpse.org/) , a journal of “books and ideas”. He reigned as
King of the Krewe du Vieux for the 2002 New Orleans Mardi Gras season. He has two children, Lucian
and Tristan, from his marriage to Alice Henderson, and is currently married to Laura Cole.

Chronological Publications List

Books
■ 2009: The Posthuman Dada Guide: Tzara and Lenin Play Chess (Princeton University Press)
■ 2008: Jealous Witness: New Poems (with a CD by the New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars) (Coffee
House Press)
■ 2007: Submarinul iertat, with Ruxandra Cesereanu. A long collaborative poem, Timişoara,
Romania: Editura Brumar. Translated into English by Andrei Codrescu, as “The Forgiven
Submarine,” published by Black Widow Press in 2009.
■ 2007: Femeia neagră a unui culcuş de hoţi, Bucharest: Editura Vinea. An art-book of early poetry
recovered via the Rare Books collection at Emory University.
■ 2006: New Orleans, Mon Amour: Twenty Years of Writing from the City, New York and Chapel
Hill: Algonquin Books. Essays, stories.
■ 2006: Miracol şi catastrofă: Dialogues in Cyberspace with Robert Lazu, Timişoara, Romania:
Editura Hartman. A book-length interview in Romanian.
■ 2004: Wakefield: a novel New York and Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books.
■ 2003: It Was Today: New Poems Minneapolis: Coffee House Press
■ 2002: Casanova in Bohemia, a novel New York: The Free Press
■ 2001: An Involuntary Genius in America’s Shoes (and What Happened Afterwards) Santa Rosa:
Black Sparrow Press, Re-issue of The Life & Times of an Involuntary Genius, 1976, and In
America’s Shoes, 1983, with new forward and coda-essay..
■ 2000: The Devil Never Sleeps & Other Essays. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Essays.
■ 2000: Poezii alese/Selected Poetry, bi-lingual edition, English and Romanian Bucharest: Editura
Paralela 45. Poetry.
■ 1999: A Bar in Brooklyn: Novellas & Stories, 1970-1978 Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press.
■ 1999: Messiah, a novel. New York: Simon & Schuster.
■ 1999: Hail Babylon! Looking for the American City at the End of the Millennium. New York: St.
Martin's Press 1999, New York and London: Picador, 1999. Essays.
■ 1999: Ay, Cuba! A Socio-Erotic Journey. With photographs by David Graham. New York: St.
Martin's Press, New York and London: Picador. Travel/Essay.
■ 1997: The Dog With the Chip in His Neck: Essays from NPR & Elsewhere. New York: St. Martin's
Press, New York and London: Picador.
■ 1996: Alien Candor: Selected Poems, 1970-1995 Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press.
■ 1995: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed in New Orleans. New York: St. Martin's Press. New York
and London: Picador,1996. Essays.
■ 1995: The Blood Countess, a novel. New York: Simon & Schuster. New York: Dell.
■ 1995: Zombification: Essays from NPR. New York: St. Martin's Press. New York and London:
Picador.
■ 1994: The Repentance of Lorraine, a novel. New York: Rhinoceros Books. Reprint with new
introduction of 1976 Pocketbooks edition by “Ames Claire”)

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Andrei Codrescu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Page 3 of 4

■ 1993: Belligerence, poems. Minneapolis: Coffee House Press.

■ 1993: Road Scholar: Coast to Coast Late in the Century, with photographs by David Graham. A
journal of the making of the movie Road Scholar. New York: Hyperion.
■ 1991: The Hole in the Flag: a Romanian Exile's Story of Return and Revolution (New York:
Morrow. New York: Avon.
■ 1991: Comrade Past and Mister Present, poetry Minneapolis: Coffee House Press.
■ 1990: The Disappearance of the Outside: a Manifesto for Escape. Boston: Addison-Wesley
Co.1990; reissued by Minneapolis: Ruminator Press, 2001, with new essay)
■ 1989: At the Court of Yearning: Poems by Lucian Blaga, translation of Romania's modern poet.
Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
■ 1988: A Craving for Swan, essays. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
■ 1987: Monsieur Teste in America & Other Instances of Realism, stories. Minneapolis: Coffee
House Press.
■ 1987: Raised by Puppets Only to Be Killed by Research Boston: Addison-Wesley.
■ 1983: In America’s Shoes San Francisco: City Lights.
■ 1983: Selected Poems 1970-1980 New York: Sun Books.
■ 1982: Necrocorrida, poems. San Francisco: Panjandrum Books.
■ 1979: The Lady Painter, poems. Boston: Four Zoas Press.
■ 1978: For the Love of a Coat, poems. Boston: Four Zoas Press.
■ 1975: The Life & Times of an Involuntary Genius, memoir. New York: George Braziller.
■ 1974: The Marriage of Insult & Injury. Poems. Woodstock: Cymric Press.
■ 1973: The History of the Growth of Heaven, poems. New York: George Braziller.
■ 1973: A Serious Morning, poems. Santa Barbara: Capra Press.
■ 1971: Why I Can’t Talk on the Telephone, stories San Francisco: kingdom kum press.
■ 1970: license to carry a gun, poems. Big Table Poetry Award. Chicago: Big Table/Follet.
Reprinted by Pittsburgh: Carnegie-Mellon University Press.

Note: Most of the fiction, poetry, and several of the essay books were published in translation in
Romanian, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Greek, Czech, Slovak, and Russian.

Editor/Founder
■ 1983-1997 Exquisite Corpse: a Journal of Books and Ideas
■ 1997-ongoing corpse.org, the online version
■ 2009-ongoing: The Exquisite Corpse Annual

Anthologies Edited
■ 2000: Thus Spake the Corpse: an Exquisite Corpse Reader 1988-1998. Volume Two, Fictions,
Travels, and Translations. Co-edited with Laura Rosenthal, Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press.
■ 1999: Thus Spake the Corpse: an Exquisite Corpse Reader 1988-1998. Volume One, Poetry and
Essays. Co-edited with Laura Rosenthal, Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press.
■ 1996: American Poets Say Goodbye to the 20th Century. Co-edited with Laura Rosenthal, New
York: 4 Walls/8 Windows Press.
■ 1988: American Poetry Since 1970: Up Late. New York: 4 Walls/8 Windows Press.
■ 1990: The Stiffest of the Corpse: an Exquisite Corpse Reader, 1983-1990. San Francisco: City
Lights Books.

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Andrei Codrescu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Page 4 of 4

Controversial comments
On the December 19, 1995, broadcast of All Things Considered, Codrescu reported that some Christians
believe in a "rapture" and 4 million believers will ascend to Heaven immediately. He continued, "The
evaporation of 4 million who believe this crap would leave the world an instantly better place."[1]

NPR subsequently apologized for Cordrescu's comments, saying, "Those remarks offended listeners and
crossed a line of taste and tolerance that we should have defended with greater vigilance."[2][3] NPR did
not fire or suspend Codrescu.

References
1. ^ "NPR apologizes for Codrescu's remark that 'crossed a line of tolerance'". Washington, D.C.: [[Current
(newspaper)|]]. 1996-01-15.
2. ^ "NPR replies to 40,000 complaints about Codrescu broadcast". Washington, D.C.: [[Current (newspaper)
|]]. 1996-05-27.
3. ^ "Andrei Codrescu" (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2100359) . NPR. 2010.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2100359. Retrieved 2010-10-22.

External links
■ Andrei Codrescu's webpage (http://www.codrescu.com/livesite/)
■ Exquisite Corpse, Codrescu's online literary magazine (http://www.corpse.org)
■ Andrei Codrescu, NPR Biography (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?
storyId=2100359)
■ Video: Andrei Codrescu - The Posthuman DADA Guide: Tzara and Lenin Play Chess
(http://www.pdxjustice.org/node/59) , presentation in Portland, Oregon, on April 30, 2009, from
the recent book tour.
■ Voices on Antisemitism Interview with Andrei Codrescu
(http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/antisemitism/voices/transcript/?content=20090827)
from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Codrescu"
Categories: 1946 births | Living people | American essayists | American novelists | American poets |
American radio journalists | American screenwriters | Jewish American writers | Jewish novelists | Jewish
poets | Louisiana State University faculty | National Public Radio personalities | Naturalized citizens of
the United States | People from Sibiu | Romanian American Jews | Romanian essayists | Romanian Jews |
Romanian immigrants to the United States | Romanian journalists | Romanian novelists | Romanian poets

■ This page was last modified on 30 October 2010 at 21:49.

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may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
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Road Scholar (1993) - IMDb Page 1 of 3

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Road Scholar (1993) More at IMDbPro » Quick Links:

overview
82 min - Documentary

Watch it
6.6/10
Buy it from Amazon »
Users: (109 votes) 7 reviews | Critics: 7 reviews

Andrei Cordescu, NPR journalist, Romanian immigrant,

naturalized American citizen, and newly-licensed driver,
sets out on a cross- country road trip. He travels from-sea-
to-shining-sea in a red 1968 Cadillac ragtop, exploring the
meaning of freedom to a variety of Americans in this gently
comic, yet poignant... See full summary »

Director: Roger Weisberg

Release Date: 16 July 1993 (USA)

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2 wins & 1 nomination See more awards »

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Cast
Credited cast:

Andrei Codrescu

Allen Ginsberg ... Himself

Full cast and crew »

Storyline
Andrei Cordescu, NPR journalist, Romanian immigrant, naturalized American citizen, and
newly-licensed driver, sets out on a cross- country road trip. He travels from-sea-to-shining-
sea in a red 1968 Cadillac ragtop, exploring the meaning of freedom to a variety of Americans
in this gently comic, yet poignant, documentary. Highlights include stops in New York,
Camden, Detroit, Chicago, Taos, Arizona, Las Vegas, and San Francisco.
Written by Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Plot Keywords: Road | Independent Film

Genres: Documentary

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Road Scholar (1993) - IMDb Page 2 of 3

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for diverse thematic elements. See all certifications »
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Details User Reviews

Country: USA Whatever....
13 October 2002 | by nochturne (United States) – See
Language: English all my reviews

Release Date: 16 July 1993 (USA) See more »

Hmmm...Well, I watched this movie for extra
Filming Locations: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA See more »
credit in a lit class. I wanted to give it a
chance. Unfortunately, the more days that
Box Office
have passed since I saw Road Scholar, the
Gross: $594,768 (USA)
more I have grown to detest it. Mr. Codrescu
See more »
himself was at the screening, but even his
presence could not change my current feelings
Company Credits
toward this movie. Allow me to start by saying
Show detailed company contact information on IMDbPro » that this movie is essentially Mr. Codrescu's
journey across America in a quest to find the
Technical Specs weirdest people he can put a camera on, all
Runtime: 82 min the while comparing absolutely everything to
Sound Mix: Mono how life was for him in his home country. I
Color: Color suppose this movie could be called a
See full technical specs » documentary, if it was about anything worth
documenting. At any rate, Mr. Codrescu is an
MOVIEmeter: Up 3% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro IMMIGRANT- I have written this in all caps for
it is something that he desperately wants us
all to know, for in the movie his every last breath is spent telling us that he's an immigrant, and boy, life sure was hard back home. On second
thought, his every breath is not spent telling us that he is an immigrant. In between this he spends his time making fun of some really bizarre
and eccentric people in his little trip cross county in his convertible. He is about as subtle as a tractor trailer. I think what bothered me the
most about this is not just the fact that he made a movie on what he considered to be his "witty" observations on the fringe folks in our fine
land, but that it was just too easy. He actually had crews go about & search out the absolute weirdest people they could find for him to go and
"interview". Now, if his visits had been spontaneous ones with random people he met, & he still managed to make the exchange witty &
humorous, even if he was still making fun of them, that would have been one thing. But the way he did it was like taking candy from babies. I
honestly could find more interesting people in my own hometown. There are certain people who are witty, humorous, and can even make fun
of others and still be well liked. Lewis Grizzard comes to mind. Mr. Codrescu, on the other hand, is someone who puts way too much stock in
his own words. I suppose his idea of Heaven is being locked in a room with recordings of his own voice. At any rate, this movie in no way
deserves anything above a 4. Why? It was trying so hard to be witty and different that the cardboard cutouts of the same ol' tricks of
nonconformity sucked all the originality out of the film. If you are unfortunate enough to obtain a copy of this, please mail it to Mr. Codrescu
right away. By the way, I really like my lit teacher, even if she did suggest seeing this! :)

0 of 6 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Review this title | See all 7 user reviews »

Recommendations

Hoop Dreams (1994) Sunset Murder Case American Harvest Horatio's Drive: Soda Can Love (2008) Finding Graceland
(1938) (2008) America's First Road (1998)
Trip (2003)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This Zagat-sized handbook, a Dadaist chop suey showcasing the astonishing intellectual range of English professor and NPR
commentator Codrescu (New Orleans, Mon Amour), is arranged alphabetically and topically, which permits one to dip in or to read it
all. The occasionally outrageous encyclopedic juxtapositions of entries give a firsthand experience similar to the effect of Dada cutups
and collages. The human and so-called posthuman are concepts best understood via Codrescu's imagined 1916 game of chess in
Zurich between Tristan Tzara, the founder of Dada (the art of the absurd), and Vladimir Ilych Lenin, avatar of the anti-Dada ethos of
communism. Exactly how this fictitious game, played on the metaphoric chessboard of history—with the author rooting for Tzara —
informs the rest of this book is murky. Yet, wending and blending their way through it all are dozens of people and subjects, among
them Ben Franklin (who, like Lenin, bristles at the royalist aspects of chess) and a Belgian eccentric named Paul Otlet (who more or
less envisioned the World Wide Web in the 1930s) and much else, japing and serious. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
One of our most prodigiously talented and magical writers. -- New York Times Book Review

Can't decide whether to cry or laugh? Laugh at absurdity, laugh at hardship, laugh at poverty, says Andrei Codrescu in his maddening,
enlightening, self-contradictory, highly amusing new book. . . . [Codrescu] has rolled into one slim guide a postmodern self-help
manual, a history lesson, a love letter to dissident poets, a hard jab at communism and a veiled autobiography. . . . The guide is,
beneath it all, a mournful celebration of the achievements of pre-communist Romanian Jews, such as Tzara and modernist painter and
architect (and Dadaist) Marcel Janco. -- Carly Berwick, Los Angeles Times

Any reader looking for a quirky, polemical, provocative introduction to Dada might like to try Andrei Codrescu's Posthuman Dada
Guide, in which the author's key terms are alphabetically listed and 'hermeneutically filleted'. His linguistic glee also means that this
dictionary can easily be read cover to cover. -- Peter Read, Times Literary Supplement

This Zagat-sized handbook, a Dadaist chop suey showcasing the astonishing intellectual range of English professor and NPR
commentator Codrescu, is arranged alphabetically and topically, which permits one to dip in or to read it all. The occasionally
outrageous encyclopedic juxtapositions of entries give a firsthand experience similar to the effect of Dada cutups and collages. --
Publishers Weekly

A hard-edged, rapier-like volume, perfect for sliding into a back pocket of skinny hipster pants or stabbing into the complacent
underbelly of bourgeois (or bourgeois-bohemian) society. It offers a headier-than-usual tour of the early-1900s avant-garde, sprinkled
with sex appeal for the would-be MySpace-age revolutionary. . . . As art theory, the Guide could even be preferable to a college
seminar on modernism. . . . [Codrescu] also places Dada on a broader historical stage than it usually receives, mingling it with world
politics. -- Eli Epstein-Deutsch, Village Voice

Even for professional provocateur Andrei Codrescu, he of the playful intelligence and sardonic wit, this new book is quite something.
It's out there--a chronicle of an imagined chess game between V.I. Lenin and Tristan Tzara, the founder of Dada, set in the cafe
culture of Zurich, Switzerland, in 1916, amid the ferment of bohemianism and revolution. It's a scholarly work, with extensive
footnotes; it's a work of imagination; it's a guidebook to a strange new era. It's a call to remember humanity in a post-human time,
and an incitement. To read it is to light a mental fuse. -- Susan Larson, New Orleans Times-Picayune

A profoundly provocative look at dada. . . . If you're vaguely familiar with Codrescu's NPR essays or other writings, than you already
know that this is a book laced with wit and humor. He makes an erudite topic easy--and pleasurable--to follow. -- Robert L. Pincus,
San Diego Union Tribune

http://www.amazon.com/Posthuman-Dada-Guide-Public-Square/dp/0691137781 31/10/2010
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A dictionary, a history of art movements, a manifesto, and a joke book; [The Posthuman Dada Guide] traverses high and low, seeking
answers to our most persistent confusions about art, culture, and identity. . . . By the end, the reader has come to grips with
Codrescu's stoic, but darkly hopeful, vision for a future that is no future at all. -- D. Scot Miller, San Francisco Bay Guardian

Codrescu's analysis of the chess game is written with attitude--itself a Dada-like performance--balancing critique with reinvention,
aiming to reveal Dada's place in 'posthuman' life. This guide is true to its title, fitting comfortably in a pocket, ready to be deployed at
the slightest provocation. -- Alan Lucey, Bookforum

Erudite, witty, often demented, Codrescu's book is an excellent introduction to the matter and spirit of dada. -- Justin Clemens, The
Australian

A delicious book. . . . A fascinating mix of history, common and obscure . . . rigorously intellectual without being stuffy or dogmatic,
serious without being solemn and . . . obviously and sneakily playful at the same time. -- Michel Basilieres, Toronto Star

Peppered with warnings not to make Dada a guide for living, the Guide makes it all the more alluring. Readers of this book acquire a
delicious complicity with Dada. I can't stop intoning it. Dada dada dada dada. This is a subversive book. -- Helen Scully, ArtVoices
Magazine

Ever want to run naked across a convention floor, pie-hit a bishop, or show up at a job interview in a firecracker hat, screaming
poetry until security guards haul you away? Andrei Codrescu's The Posthuman Dada Guide may not be the literal how-to that the title
implies, but it will definitely give you the historical and philosophical basis you need to justify a stunt to your cell mates while the
authorities figure out what to do with you. . . . Fascinating and indispensible. -- John-Ivan Palmer, Rain Taxi Review of Books

He's all over the place, and no place in particular--almost the perfect definition of Dada. Best read as a poem pretending to be prose
(both Tzara and Lenin were pseudonyms, after all), The Posthuman Dada Guide gives a barbaric yawp in the best tradition of Walt
Whitman--and, in its own peculiar way, it's just as American. -- Ben Steelman, Star News

A roller-coaster ride of essay(s) and grab-bag of ideas, history, and recollections, The Posthuman Dada Guide is an appropriately loose
and shifting piece. It is informative and entertaining. -- M. A. Orthofer, Complete Review

The chess game (both fictitious and ongoing) puts politic and parody at one and at war. The scene is a fast flashing, nonlinear
montage taking us in, through and out of the 20th century and delivering us into the 21st, spinning. . . . It is recommended that you
carry this guide with you at all times. Consider reading it aloud in the most public of places. . . . The perfect prescription against the
posthuman condition--that place where our senses are all too well rehearsed and clearly limiting. -- Katherine Anders, Baton Rouge
Advocate

[A] literary event, a spectacular splash of intelligence and erudition, of clean style and magical impressionability. -- Nicholas Catanoy,
World Literature Today

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details
Paperback: 248 pages
Publisher: Princeton University Press (February 2, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0691137781
ISBN-13: 978-0691137780
Product Dimensions: 8 x 4.2 x 0.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: (6 customer reviews)
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #271,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#3 in Books > Arts & Photography > Schools, Periods & Styles > Dadaism

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Dada Made Comprehensible - And Relevant, April 19, 2009
By Mike - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase (What's this?)
This review is from: The Posthuman Dada Guide: Tzara and Lenin Play Chess (Kindle Edition)

Codrescu brilliantly and humorously shows how productive the "anti-art" of

Dada was - and is. He makes the best case I've read for the movement's
historical importance and continued relevance, and he does it with sustained
ebullience. Dada's stress on nonsense never made so much sense. By making
Dada clear and useful, Codrescu risks betraying Dada's own principled stance
of opposing all principles, but he remains true to Dada's negations while
affirming them. This is a neat trick; this is a great little book.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful: Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Welcome Remedy for the Digitized Soul, April 18, 2009
Posthumans of the World: Go
By D. B. Dawson (Memphis, TN) - See all my reviews
Dada!
If you are like me, you always pay attention
This review is from: The Posthuman Dada Guide: tzara and lenin play chess (The Public
Square) (Paperback)
when Andrei Codrescu recites a
commentary on National Public Radio.
I expected this slim volume, suitable (almost) for carrying in your hip pocket, Read more
to be more a work of sardonic humor or a collection of essays about the
Published 10 months ago by R. Hardy
absurdity of modern life. Instead, Andrei Codrescu has put together a book
that traces the Dada Non-Art Movement from its beginnings during WWI to
the present. It's also a work of sardonic humor (which is very funny when not for beginners, but good
Codrescu wants it to be), but rather than a series of brief essays, the book food for thought
follows its themes across almost an entire century. He lets us know that While most people might have heard of the
Dada, which eschewed the future and art, had the unintended impact of term "Dada," few could actually muster up
begetting all manner of art movements, from Surrealism to Abstract the courage to define it. Read more
Expressionism to the literary style wrongly known as "post-modernism" -- Published 19 months ago by Michele Bowman
Vonnegut, Barth, Heller, Barthelme, etc.
a guide for the 21st century
In the end, Codrescu assures us, art can remain a redemptive force in a world This is a guide for the 2st century that
in which the Posthuman has overtaken all other movements and philosophies. describes the epic battle between art and
As we watch our world steadily become digitized, the general stance of Dada ideology in breath-takingly beautiful and
might be exactly what we need. I love this book. simple prose. Read more
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Report abuse | Permalink Published 20 months ago by Andrei Codrescu

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: Only search this product's reviews

The Way of Andrei Codrescu, August 8, 2009

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By Bob J. Baker - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Posthuman Dada Guide: tzara and lenin play chess (The Public
Square) (Paperback)

The Posthuman DaDa Guide

by Andrei Codrescu

Codrescu's heroes are suitably Romanian: Tzara, Ionesco, Brâncusi, Eliade, &
perhaps E. Cioran. Although I've read too few of his books, he is in danger of
joining my line-up of dangerous heroes, a band of rebel Jewish exiles: Marx,
Freud, Trotsky. (Does the Diaspora never end? Good for Goys, bad for
Them?) These guys didn't go or rest easy.

How can we achieve Kensho, seek the True, the Beautiful & the Good while
doing DaDa, a risky mocking & collage making of the Present? It seems
desirable to have a life of Buddhist tranquility, to practice a Platonic
Orientation, & to show the nonsense in our sangsaric, kaleidoscopic world.
Codrescu does seem to be calm & to seek those ideals while pointing out the
dangerous necessity for smashing, cutting up & rearranging the pieces.
[Meditate, seek the Platonic, use Merzian scissors.] And all our postmodern
add-ons tend to make us posthumans in need of this unusual help. In the

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Guide he tells us that the Balkanization of his birthplace contributed to his

inclination toward collage [perhaps even to a world view of Welten Merz!].

I hardy dig Codrescu deep enough to locate, mine & put his thoughts & pieces
all together--the world's rearranged Mirz is certainly yet to be. For other
readers the prospect may be the exciting same. We have the box, we have
the pieces, we just don't have the picture. We put pieces down, we pick them
up. We slowly turn the rough edges in our hand. We try it here, we try it
there. No, not that way--well, turn it 90° or 180°--yes! And repeat & repeat
the loop. And partake. And learn. It's Andrei's better world, slowly turning on
a different not at all Fascist axis, coming our way, coming into view!

In 1916 his hero, the Romanian Dadaist & collagist Tristan Tzara plays chess
with Lenin for the world. Lenin seems to win. The rowdy life of the Zurich dive
in which those chess games played out repeats in New Orleans. As Tristan
with Vladimir, so Andrei with our incompetent masters. They seem to be
winning. But, as the text points out, so did Lenin.

Back in the 60's The Limelighters had a fun/fake "Romania, Romania" folk
song. Mamaliga was featured & mocked. I'm not sure now if this porridge is
not best eaten cold. Andrei serves his critiques hot & funny, thoughtful & sad.
This book is a brilliant examination of the origins & perils of DaDa, the
characters, their exile. All this by a multilingual literary genius, wit & social
critic. Highly recommended!

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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
life narrators, dada life, virgin microbe
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
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Francis Picabia, Second World War, Hans Arp, New World, American Woman, The Communist Manifesto, Carl Jung, James Joyce,
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