Mircea Cărtărescu Invited to Scena Gândirii – National Opera Conferences

On May 13, 2025, starting at 4:30 PM, the Bucharest National Opera will host a new edition of the SCENA GÂNDIRII dialogue series, featuring a special guest: writer Mircea Cărtărescu.

Moderated by Daniel Nica, the talk is titled “Why Do I Write? What Do I Believe In?” and promises to be more than just a conversation about life and literary work—it will offer a direct and personal reflection on writing as a way of life, along with the inner tensions that both precede and follow it.

Writing is not merely an aesthetic act. It is an encounter with the world, but also an escape from it. It is the writer’s struggle with the limits of language and their own illusions. Writing becomes a way to confront restlessness, silence, and absurdity—not always with hope, but always with the lucidity that only writers seem to possess.

But what is the writer truly seeking? Truth about oneself? Or a deep forgetting? Freedom, salvation? Or perhaps just a way to remain clear-minded in a world that—for it to stay real and alive—needs fiction.

What does it mean for a writer to think, to feel, to create? Whom and what does a writer believe in? What responsibility do they have toward language, society, and their readers? What place do dreams, transformation, and imagination have in a world that seems increasingly surreal?

These are just some of the questions explored in this dialogue about how literature can become a transformative personal journey—and an act of resistance against ugliness.

As usual, the dialogue will be accompanied by musical moments performed by artists from the Bucharest National Opera.

What is SCENA GÂNDIRII?
SCENA GÂNDIRII means dialogue, insight, and emotion. This monthly event series brings together leading intellectual, artistic, and academic voices of our time. Topics span across music, literature, philosophy, theater, and history. Despite their diversity, all discussions share the same goal: to ask thought-provoking questions and offer meaningful answers to the deepest challenges of the human condition, both nationally and globally.

Tickets are available on the Opera’s website: http://tickets.operanb.ro and at the box office of the Bucharest National Opera.