Forms of Postmodernism in the Short Fiction of Mircea Cartarescu

Author : Laura Gheorghita

Abstract : Mircea Cărtărescu's short fiction provides a significant framework for examining contemporary narrative strategies and the subversion of traditional literary conventions. His texts are distinguished by fragmentation, metafiction, multiple narrative voices and fluid identities, features that converge into a discourse shaped by ontological uncertainty. Rather than simply adopting the themes and narrative strategies of American postmodernism, Cărtărescu reconfigures them through a distinctive poetics informed by oneiric imagery, while foregrounding Bucharest, corporeality and autobiographical experience. This paper examines Cărtărescu's short fiction as part of a coherent textual universe characterized by continuous transformation and self-renewal. Within this fictional space, meaning and narrative structure remain open to constant reconfiguration. Reality is persistently questioned, identities overlap and dissolve, space and time lose their stability, and characters disappear only to re-emerge in new forms. Through metafictional strategies, the texts challenge their own representational limits, constructing a postmodern vision in which singular truths are replaced by multiple possibilities of existence and interpretation. Mircea Cărtărescu's short fiction not only exemplifies key features of postmodernism but also offers a distinctive reinterpretation of the postmodern paradigm within contemporary Romanian literature. By combining postmodern narrative strategies with a metaphysical perspective, his prose suggests new possibilities for understanding the evolution of postmodern writing.

Keywords : Postmodernism, fragmentation, metafiction, multiple narrative voices, fluid identities.

Conference Name : International Conference on Contemporary Literature and Global Voices (ICCLGV-2026)

Conference Place : Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Conference Date : 16th Jul 2026