Nostalgia, the brilliant prose debut by Mircea Cartarescu, tells the story of childhood and youth in Bucharest during the sixties and seventies. In the light of memory, which arises from the sensations of all senses, the settings gain an overwhelming presence. There is the rugged, marshy terrain behind the apartment block on Stefan-cel-Mare Boulevard, where the mysterious boy Mendibilus captivates an entire gang of children with somnambulistic acrobatics and profound stories. Or the slippery underground tunnel through which Gina and Andrei find themselves in the Natural History Museum, where they experience their first night of love. Finally, there is the bizarre, melancholic tower on the outskirts of the city and its gigantic inhabitants. It is no wonder that Der Spiegel has called Mircea Cartarescu a Proust of the prefabricated building. The extraordinary intensity with which he depicts the things and creatures of the outer world is remarkable.