"Messiah"

April 09, 1999

From Andrei Codrescu, the author of the acclaimed and ravishing “The Blood Countess,” comes “Messiah,” a novel chronicling the onset of millennial fever and the universal yearning for a “Messiah.” Set against a backdrop of warring religious fundamentalist factions, social upheaval, and mystical inspiration, “Messiah” combines Codrescu's sonorous prose with mordant social commentary and incandescent characters.

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CCCheer: Welcome to NetCafeLive where we host authors and celebrities throughout the month. Thanks for joining us! Borders NetCafeLive is a joint production of Borders.com(tm) & TalkCity(tm), a Talkcity, Inc. Production. Tonight's guest is Andrei Codrescu here to talk about his new novel: "Messiah." Andrei is an NPR essayist and the author of the acclaimed "The Blood Countess." He has written several great books including "Alien Candor- Selected Poems 1970-1995," "American Poets Say Goodbye to the Twentieth Century," "Comrade Past & Mister Present," "Craving for Swan," etc. Borders.com and Talkcity.com is pleased to welcome tonight's guest, Andrei Codrescu. Welcome to TalkCity!

Andrei Codrescu: Thank you!

CCCheer: Its great to have you with us Andrei, could you tell us about

Your Latest Novel: "Messiah"?

Andrei Codrescu: "Messiah" is about two young women, one a refugee from war-torn Yugoslavia who is in Jerusalem when the novel opens. The other heroine, Felicity, is from New Orleans. They meet in New Orleans, and become a combined Messiah-type entity. They don't know they are the Messiah, and it is their discovery of this that is the book's tale. It is also about religion and technology. Sometimes they are partners who intersect with cyberspace and spiritual yearning and the change of the millennium when human beings' own definitions are changing.

CCCheer: How do you compare "Messiah" with your highly regarded book "The Blood Countess"?

Andrei Codrescu: "Messiah" is just as sexy as "The Blood Countess," but my characters are not violent or cruel in this one. Rather, they are innocent and healing. "The Blood Countess" was a book about the relation of power and sexuality and the birth of nationalism in Eastern Europe. "Messiah" is about an earnest effort by lost souls to transcend historical stupidity.

CCCheer: What can you please shed light on the attempts of Felicity to 'be more manly every day'?

Andrei Codrescu: Felicity tries to conquer what she sees as her weakness, her need for others, because she has had a disappointing lovelife. She wants to be tough, a "girl dick" as she calls it. She fancies herself a private eye. She does not want to be limited by traditional definitions of femininity, and she senses obscurely that she has a great destiny ahead of her. And she needs to be tough.

CCCheer: So, are you giving an indication to girls to follow Felicity's footsteps?

Andrei Codrescu: (laughing) I would hope that readers will identify with both girls, but if they follow them in their adventures with pleasure, I, as a writer, would be perfectly content.

CCCheer: The events of the novel are said to occur from December 1999 into 2000. Do you expect these events to happen?

Andrei Codrescu: I fully expect them to happen, but the dates are arbitrary. It may be another five or ten years. I chose these dates to force the hand of history a little bit. In some measure, some of these events have already happened. The S&M crucifixion towards the end of the book took place in New Orleans during Mardi Gras in 1997. I also think that cyberspace is now a medium for spirits, ghosts and other supernatural beings, which are using this medium by impersonating people like myself and thousands of other subscribers (he says ominously).

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