Andrei Codrescu

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox writer Andrei Codrescu (Template:IPA; born December 20, 1946) is a Romanian-born American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and commentator for National Public Radio.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He is the winner of the Peabody Award for his film Road Scholar and the Ovid Prize for poetry. He was the MacCurdy Distinguished Professor of English at Louisiana State University from 1984 until his retirement in 2009.

Biography

Codrescu was born in Sibiu.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His father was an ethnic Romanian engineer; his mother was a non-practicing Jew. Their son was informed of his Jewish background at age 13.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Codrescu published his first poems in Romanian under the pen name Andrei Steiu. In 1965 he and his mother, a photographer and printer, were able to leave Romania after Israel paid US$2,000 (or US$10,000, according to other sources<ref name="Los Angeles Times">Template:Cite news</ref>) to the Romanian communist regime for each of them.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After some time in Italy, they moved 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. There 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 Poetry Award".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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. During this time he wrote 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.

Codrescu was a regular commentator on National Public Radio's news program, All Things Considered, from 1983 until 2016.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He won the 1995 Peabody Award for the film Road Scholar, an American road movie that he wrote and starred in, and is a two-time winner of the Pushcart Prize.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His book So Recently a World: Selected Poems, 1968-2016 was a National Book Award nominee.

In 1989, Codrescu covered the Romanian Revolution for National Public Radio and ABC News's Nightline. His renewed interest in the 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 collaboration with poet Ruxandra Cesereanu, which won the 2008 Radio România Cultural award. His books have been translated into Romanian by Ioana Avadani, Ioana Ieronim, Carmen Firan, Rodica Grigore, and Lăcrimioara Stoie. In 2002 Codrescu returned to Romania with a PBS Frontline World video crew to "take the temperature" of his homeland and produced the story, "My Old Haunts".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a journal of "books and ideas". He reigned as King of the Krewe du Vieux for the 2002 New Orleans Mardi Gras season.

Codrescu's archives and much of his personal library are now part of the Louisiana State University Libraries Special Collections,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> University of Iowa Libraries, New Orleans Historical Society, and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

Family

His first wife was Aurelia Munteanu.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His second wife was Alice Henderson,<ref name="Los Angeles Times" /> the mother of his two sons, Lucian Codrescu<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Tristan Codrescu.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> His third wife, Laura Rosenthal<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (née Cole), was an editor at Exquisite Corpse: a Journal of Books & Ideas and coeditor of three poetry anthologies.

Awards and honors

Works

Books

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  • 2013: So Recently Rent a World: New and Selected Poems, translated into Swedish by Dan Shafran (Coffee House Press)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 2011: Whatever Gets You through the Night: A Story of Sheherezade and the Arabian Entertainments (Princeton University Press, Template:ISBN)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 2010: The Poetry Lesson (Princeton University Press)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 2009: The Posthuman Dada Guide: Tzara and Lenin Play Chess (Princeton University Press)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 2008: Jealous Witness: New Poems (with a CD by the New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars) (Coffee House Press)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 2007: Submarinul iertat, with Ruxandra Cesereanu, Timişoara, Romania: Editura Brumar; translated by Andrei Codrescu, as The Forgiven Submarine, Black Widow Press, 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 2007: Femeia neagră a unui culcuş de hoţi, Bucharest: Editura Vinea.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 2006: New Orleans, Mon Amour: Twenty Years of Writing from the City, New York and Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 2006: Miracol şi catastrofă: Dialogues in Cyberspace with Robert Lazu, Timişoara, Romania: Editura Hartman.
  • 2005: Instrumentul negru. Poezii, 1965-1968, (Editura Scrisul Romanesc)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 2004: Scandal of Genius: How Salvador Dali Smuggled Baudelaire into the Science Fair (Dali Museum)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 2004: Wakefield: a novel, New York and Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 2003: It Was Today: New Poems Minneapolis: Coffee House Press<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 2002: Casanova in Bohemia, a novel New York: The Free Press<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 2000: The Devil Never Sleeps & Other Essays. New York: St. Martin's Press. Essays.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 2000: Poezii alese/Selected Poetry, bi-lingual edition, English and Romanian Bucharest: Editura Paralela 45.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1999: A Bar in Brooklyn: Novellas & Stories, 1970-1978 Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1999: Messiah, a novel. New York: Simon & Schuster.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1997: The Dog With the Chip in His Neck: Essays from NPR & Elsewhere. New York: St. Martin's Press, New York and London: Picador.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1996: Alien Candor: Selected Poems, 1970-1995, Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1995: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed in New Orleans. New York: St. Martin's Press. New York and London: Picador, 1996. Essays.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1995: The Blood Countess. New York: Simon & Schuster. New York: Dell.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1995: Zombification: Essays from NPR. New York: St. Martin's Press. New York and London: Picador.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1994: The Repentance of Lorraine, New York: Rhinoceros Books. Reprint with new introduction of 1976 Pocketbooks edition by Ames Claire)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1993: Belligerence, Minneapolis: Coffee House Press.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1991: The Hole in the Flag: a Romanian Exile's Story of Return and Revolution (New York: Morrow. New York: Avon.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1991: Comrade Past and Mister Present, Minneapolis: Coffee House Press.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1990: The Disappearance of the Outside: a Manifesto for Escape. Boston: Addison-Wesley Co.1990; reissued by Ruminator Press, 2001<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1988: A Craving for Swan, Columbus: Ohio State University Press.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1987: Monsieur Teste in America & Other Instances of Realism, Minneapolis: Coffee House Press.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1987: Raised by Puppets Only to Be Killed by Research, Boston: Addison-Wesley.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1983: In America’s Shoes, San Francisco: City Lights.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1983: Selected Poems 1970-1980, New York: Sun Books.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1982: Necrocorrida. San Francisco: Panjandrum Books.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1979: The Lady Painter, Boston: Four Zoas Press.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1978: For the Love of a Coat, Boston: Four Zoas Press.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1975: The Life & Times of an Involuntary Genius. New York: George Braziller.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1974: The Marriage of Insult & Injury. Woodstock: Cymric Press.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1973: The History of the Growth of Heaven. New York: George Braziller.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1973: A Serious Morning. Santa Barbara: Capra Press.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • 1971: Why I Can’t Talk on the Telephone, San Francisco: kingdom kum press.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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Editor/founder

Anthologies edited

As translator

Presence in English Language Anthologies

Controversial comments

Codrescu was a commentator for NPR,<ref name="sleestak">Template:Cite web</ref> and on the December 19, 1995, broadcast of All Things Considered, Codrescu reported that some Christians believe in a "rapture" and four 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."<ref name="CurrentJan1996">Template:Cite news</ref>

NPR subsequently apologized for the anti-Christianity of Codrescu's comments, saying, "Those remarks offended listeners and crossed a line of taste and tolerance that we should have defended with greater vigilance."<ref name="CurrentMay1996">Template:Cite news</ref>

Further reading

References

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