Norman Manea (born July 19, 1936), is a Romanian Jewish writer and author of short fiction, novels, and essays about the Holocaust, daily life in a communist state, and exile. He lives in the United States, where he is a Professor and writer in residence at Bard College.He left Romania in 1986 with a DAAD-Berlin Grant and in 1988 went to the US with a Fulbright Scholarship at the Catholic University in Washington DC. He won the 2002 International Nonino Prize in Italy. Manea’s most acclaimed book, The Hooligan’s Return (2003), is an original fictionalized memoir, encompassing a period of almost 80 years, from the pre-war period, through the Second World War, the communist and post-communist years to the present. Manea has been known and praised as an internationally important writer since the early 1990s, and his works have been translated into more than 20 languages. He has received more than 20 awards and honors. (Wikipedia)
Manea on Interpretation and Complicity
There is a margin of uncertainty in life as in literature, and a strange resonance between the experiences of living in Communist society and engaging with a text, both of which are exercises in close reading, a hermeneutics of suspicion.
- Manea, Norman. The Trenchcoat<. Compulsory Happiness. Trans. Linda Coverdale. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1994. 191-259.
With Norman Manea
Manea Videos
Norman Manea — 25 Years in Translation:
Norman Manea from Yvonne Ihmels on Vimeo.
Communist Romania | Documentary:
Manea’s dinner-party guests are offered the option of whisky or vodka, a choice that is allegorized as a decision whether to side with the East or the West: “The two super-powers! So, which will it be?” (201). Also available, “for the ladies,” is either a Cuban liqueur, or vermouth (202). What does not seem to be on offer is Romania’s own national drink: țuică, a plum brandy. This fits with the hosts’ pretensions to cosmopolitan sophistication. Their house is, after all, located among the embassies (if closer to the Ghanaian delegation than to the American or the French). All this enhances the sense that the country’s elite are removed from everyday life, alien—“Martians,” as they are repeatedly described (252, 258). But it also reflects Romanian Communism’s claim to be charting its own course within the Warsaw Pact. As with Tito’s Yugoslavia, the conceit was that they could pick the best from East and West. Presenting vodka as a choice (rather than a compulsion) is then a very Romanian gesture.
- Cugno, Marco. “Character and Confrontation: An Interview with Norman Manea.” Trans. Patrick Camiller. Salmagundi 113 (Winter 1997): 123-133.
- Gogol, Nikolai. “The Overcoat.” The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol. Trans. Richard
Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. New York: Vintage, 1999. 394-424. - Manea, Norman. “The Interrogation.” Compulsory Happiness. Trans. Linda Coverdale. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1994. 3-46.
- Stavans, Ilan. “Lies, Disguises, Exile: A Conversation with Norman Manea.” Salmagundi
113 (Winter 1997): 92-105.
Manea Questions
- Is the trenchcoat a symbol? If so, of what?
- Or is it perhaps a sign? And if so, of what?
- By the end, is the mystery resolved?
- How does the story establish a particular atmosphere of life in Communist Romania? What affects or emotions seem to be characteristic of society at the time?
- What freedoms are available (and which ones are curtailed) in the society depicted?
- How do the characters communicate? What can be said and what, perhaps, cannot be said between them?
- What kinds of hierarchies or differences are established between the various characters? How do these play out at the dinner party and thereafter?
- What do you make of the one character who has no “proper” name, but many nicknames (“The Kid” etc.)?
- What might be the story’s relevance to our current context?
The following questions are taken from your blog posts…
The Trenchcoat
Do you think the trenchcoat is symbolic of something? Or do you think it’s just a bland ol’ trenchcoat? And if it is symbolic of something, then what?
Do you think the coat is more than a coat?
Do you think the trenchcoat was more than just a trenchcoat?did you immediately understand the significance of the trenchcoat? If yes, how? and if no, what were your initial thoughts and how did you realize its true meaning?
Who do you think the trenchcoat belonged to?
Do you think the use of everyday objects, like the trenchcoat to convey deeper meanings adds to the richness of the story? Why or why not?
What do you think the trenchcoat(s) represents and why?
What did you think was the significance of the Trenchcoat?
What according to you was the true symbolism of the trenchcoat; or was it just a mere distraction from the war?
Did you find the mystery of the trenchcoat compelling?
What do you think the trenchcoat represents?
Why did Dina care so much about the coat? To the point where she made multiple phone calls to people, was this really all about the coat, or did she have a hidden agenda she was looking to carry out?
What is ‘ex’ supposed to represent? It is repeated a lot by the unnamed One, and later by Ioana at the end.
The appearance of the Trenchcoat was left an unresolved mystery. In your mind, was there an answer to this mystery? Why and how did the Trenchcoat appear?
What do the different terms for the coat imply, and what is the significance of calling it one versus the other?
The one character that seems the most mysterious but also involved with the plot is “The Kid”, what do you think is his importance to the story and why he became so involved with the Beldeanu’s business?
Was it in essence to prove that authoritarianism can only function with our active fervour and paranoia? Perhaps it’s just a look into the strange paradox of a post-authoritarian country like I mentioned earlier? Maybe I just missed something?
Is the Kid a symbol for the panic the couples felt when trying to find the owner of the trenchcoat? or did it not have any significance and aimed solely to instill this uneasiness in the reader as well?
Are these “learned” men truly more aware of what is happening than the others are? Are they unconcerned, or simply unable to discuss the situation within “earshot” of the reader?
Do you see the spy’s analogy I just mentioned, or do you see something else?
What do you think the purpose of the dinner was? Were there secret messages or was it to set the scene of the mysterious trench coat?
Would the author really name his text after something truly meaningless?
What did the trenchcoat represent to you? Do you think it has a different meaning than the term raincoat or overcoat?
What is the level of ambiguity present in this novel meant to achieve, from the author’s point of view?
How does Manea utilize repetition? Are there any points of repeating words or phrases that stood out to you?
Personal questions
What is your favourite book genre (or one of your favourites) and why? Did you start writing when you were young or was being an author something that was unplanned and just ended up happening in your life?
What was it like having to work around the censor? How much of what you wanted to say was left unsaid, and do you think you said what you wanted to say better, in the way that you did?
Considering your experience living in communist Romania as well as the plots of this novel, how would you predict the fate of the communist regimes nowadays?
Are there any specific lessons on courage that you can give your readers who are interested in writing/ becoming writers? (I ask, since your work can most definitely be considered an act of bravery, having been written against the political landscape of Romania).
Given the symbolism and storyline of The Trenchcoat, in what ways did having lived under a communist regime yourself impact your writing? And did it bring forth any particular challenges (or potential benefits) throughout the writing process?
How did your experiences with social interactions under communism in Romania inform the symbolism of the trenchcoat and its significance to the plot?”
Do your novellas convey political undertones? How have they impacted the lives of those who have read it? Furthermore, how does it represent Romanian beliefs and social circumstances during that time?
How did you feel while writing this text, considering the censorship? If you could, would you have changed anything about this text?
How did moving to the U.S. affect your writing?
Do you think it is possible for people to live their lives fully under a regime with strict regulations that encourage strong censorship of thoughts and speech?
What your main motive was when writing this book and what do you think our generation should take away from this book that was written a long time ago?
What parts of the Romanian communist era caused as much panic and paranoia as we saw in The Trenchcoat?
How can writers find ways to give readers the experience of living in these kinds of situations and under these kinds of regimes? Was Manea successful in his approach?
Why do you think the author used repetition in his novel?
Who are/is “The Guileless One,” “The Learned One,” and/or “The Kid?”
In what ways does “The Trenchcoat” make you rethink your understanding of the Cold War era and its themes of fear and control?
How would you say that you like approaching novels, and how did you find that affecting your reading of The Trenchcoat?
What do you think is the significance of the dead woman mentioned in Ioana’s climactic monologue? And also what do you think is the meaning of the remarks surrounding Dina’s clubbed thumb?
Do you think it’s possible to separate art and politics?
If the narrator was a currently an alive celebrity, which one would they be and why?
Does writing about a certain point in time in the abstract, sort of “you-had-to-be-there’ kind of way create a barrier between the message the author is trying to send and the audience?
What did you think about the fogginess and uncertainty in the book? Did you find it frustrating or interesting (or both, like me)?
What are some random thoughts/connections you had or theories that formed while reading that you later discredited (or realized to be still plausible)?
Do you think the reactions of the characters in the story are valid and justified? Why or why not?
How their relationship stood to represent a time in history before a long devastating war, what anecdotes can we take away from the timeline and how does it fit into the larger story the political landscape that is to come?
How did you all approach this book?
What was your experience of confusion and disorientation reading the book? how do you think it added or subtracted to the story?
Did you find yourself excited whenever talks of life outside the rich world were revealed?
What is the significance behind the nameless character, the Learned One, The Kid, etc., being shrouded in such mystery, and how does this contribute to the narrative, especially considering his eventual connection with Lady Di?
