The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed in New Orleans

Codrescu's New Orleans is a layered world of masks that he removes without shrinking from either their horror or their demonic joy. This scented, vibrant, corrupt, dreamy city that "habla suneos" (speaks dreams) is Codrescu's fertile ground. New Orleans, background and foreground, dressed and undressed, is the story-source of Codrescu's novels, "Messi@," "Wakefield," and "The Blood Countess." You may have heard some of this on NPR, or seen some of the lacier underthings in Codrescu's fiction. NPR commentator and writer, Andrei Codrescu has also written "The Poetry Lesson," "The Posthuman Dada Guide: Tzara and Lenin Play Chess," and "whatever gets you through the night: a story of sheherezade and the arabian entertainments." New Orleans breathes slyly or quickly in all his stories.