Andrei Codrescu  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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Biography

Born to a Jewish Romanian family in Sibiu, he published his first poems in 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, where he immediately sought out Allen Ginsberg and was part of the East Village art scene.

In 1981, Codrescu became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He is an editor of the online journal Exquisite Corpse, and is a MacCurdy Distinguished Professor of English at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He lives in New Orleans.

Codrescu's coverage of the Romanian Revolution of 1989 for National Public Radio was critically acclaimed. He was featured in the film Road Scholar which won a 1995 Peabody Award. He reigned as King of the Krewe du Vieux for the 2002 New Orleans Mardi Gras season.

Works

Essays

• The Life and Times of an Involuntary Genius, G. Braziller, 1975 (ISBN 0-8076-0773-8)
• In America's Shoes, City Lights Publishers, 1983 (ISBN 0-87286-148-1)
• A Craving for Swan, Ohio State University Press, 1986 (ISBN 0-8142-0415-5)
• Raised by Puppets, Only to Be Killed by Research, Addison-Wesley, 1989 (ISBN 0-201-12183-2)
• Disappearance of the Outside: A Manifesto for Escape, Addison-Wesley, 1990 (ISBN 0-201-12194-8)
• The Hole in the Flag: A Romanian Exile's Story of Return and Revolution, William Morrow and Co., 1991 (ISBN 0-688-08805-8)
• Road Scholar: Coast to Coast Late in the Century, co-authored with David Graham, Hyperion Books, 1993 (ISBN 1-56282-878-9)
• The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed in New Orleans : and Other Essays, St. Martin's Press, 1993 (ISBN 0-312-09354-3)
• Zombification: Stories from National Public Radio, St. Martin's Press, 1994, (ISBN 0-312-11107-X)
• The Dog With the Chip in His Neck: Essays from NPR and Elsewhere, St. Martin's Press, 1996 (ISBN 0-614-95760-5)
• Hail Babylon!: NPR's Road Scholar Goes in Search of the American City, St. Martin's Press, 1999 (ISBN 0-312-18107-8)
• The Devil Never Sleeps: And Other Essays, St. Martin's Press, 2000 (ISBN 0-312-20294-6)
• An Involuntary Genius in America's Shoes: (And What Happened Afterwards), Black Sparrow Books, 2001 (ISBN 1-57423-160-X)
• Ay, Cuba: A Socio-Erotic Journey, co-authored with David Graham, St. Martin's Press, 2001 (ISBN 0-312-19831-0)

Prose fiction

• Monsieur Teste in America & Other Instances of Realism, Coffee House Press, 1987 (ISBN 0-918273-32-3)
• The Blood Countess: A Novel, Simon & Schuster, 1996 (ISBN 0-684-80244-9)
• A Bar in Brooklyn: Novellas & Stories 1970-1978, Black Sparrow Books, 1999 (ISBN 1-57423-098-0)
• Messiah, Simon & Schuster, 1999 (ISBN 0-684-80314-3)
• Casanova in Bohemia : A Novel, Free Press, 2002 (ISBN 0-684-86800-8)
• Wakefield, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2004 (ISBN 1-56512-372-7)

Poetry

• The History of the Growth of Heaven, G. Braziller, 1973 (ISBN 0-8076-0692-8)
• A Serious Morning (Yes! Capra Chapbook Series; no. 9), Capra Press, 1973 (ISBN 0-912264-61-6)
• Necrocorrida, Panjundrum Press, 1980 (ISBN 0-915572-53-2)
• Diapers on the Snow, Crowfoot Press, 1981 (ISBN 0-936462-52-3)
• Selected Poems: 1970-1980, 1983, Sun Books
• Comrade Past and Mister Present, Coffee House Press, 1986 (ISBN 0-918273-21-8)
• Belligerence: New Poems, Coffee House Press, 1991 (ISBN 0-918273-85-4)
• Alien Candor: Selected Poems, 1970-1995, Black Sparrow Press, 1993 (ISBN 1-57423-013-1)
• Candoare străină: Poeme alese, 1970-1996, Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Române, 1997 (ISBN 973-577-123-3)
• License to Carry a Gun, Carnegie-Mellon University Press, 1998 (ISBN 0-88748-280-5)
• It was Today, Coffee House Press, 2003 (ISBN 1-56689-150-7)

Editing

• American Poetry Since 1970: Up Late, Four Walls Eight Windows, 1988 (ISBN 0-941423-04-2)
• The Stiffest of the Corpse: An Exquisite Corpse Reader, Consortium Book Sales & Dist., 1989 (ISBN 0-87286-213-5)
• American Poets Say Goodbye to the Twentieth Century, co-edited with Laura Rosenthal, Four Walls Eight Windows, 1996 (ISBN 1-56858-071-1)
• Thus Spake the Corpse: An Exquisite Corpse Reader 1988-1998. Volume 1, Poetry & Essays, co-edited with Laura Rosenthal, Black Sparrow Books, 1999 (ISBN 1-57423-102-2)
• Thus Spake the Corpse: An Exquisite Corpse Reader 1988-1998. Volume 2, Fictions, Travels and Translations, co-edited with Laura Rosenthal, Black Sparrow Books, 1999 (ISBN 1-57423-101-4)

Other contributions

• Big River Blues, Doubleday Production
• Christopher Felver, The Importance of Being, Arena Editions, 2001 (ISBN 1-892041-48-0)
• Introduction to John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces. 20th anniversary edition, Louisiana State University Press, 2000 (ISBN 0-8071-2606-3)
• David Graham: Land of the Free: What Makes Americans Different, Aperture, 1999 (0893818712)