communism

Manea’s "The Trenchcoat"

Norman Manea’s “The Trenchcoat” was a very interesting read. I did feel a bit lost while reading it, until I realized it was not about the details of the story that mattered. Once I adjusted the way I was reading it, the story became much more enjoyable. It felt very distant and impersonal for quite a bit of the text. It focused quite a bit on interpersonal relationships, with the use of symbolism to describe life at that time in Communist Romania. A lot of the story involves reading between the lines of the text to be able to understand the underlying messages. 

While not explicitly mentioned within the book, the novel describes life under Communist Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu. Ceaușescu was famously executed along with his wife on Christmas Day, ending communism in Romania. Manea is able to paint the scenes of the story through symbolism. Much of what he writes throughout the story has double meanings and plays into a larger picture. He was unable to explicitly mention specific people or parties to ensure his safety and that of his family. I did not realize that so much of the story would depend on understanding some of Romania’s history. Luckily, going into the novel I had the past knowledge necessary to understand the timing of the story. 

I think that a lot of the importance of this story is how it can impact people. Sadly, there are many countries with improper rulers and unfair laws. There is a universality to the text that can still be utilized and compared to the world today. Bad governance has been prevalent all throughout history and modern times. 

Throughout the dinner party, I kept asking myself: what am I missing? It felt very mundane and uncomfortable and I was unable to see the significance of it. I am open to hearing anyone’s interpretations of that scene as I would like to know how other people understood it. 

I really enjoyed Manea’s writing style. I’ve began wondering if his other novels are similar to this one. Do they all 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? 

My question to the class is: 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?

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Manea’s “The Trenchcoat”

Manea’s “The Trenchcoat” stirred up some discomfort in me, given the ambiguous nature of the text, but it was certainly an enjoyable read. The discomfort came primarily from moving across the pages in an unfamiliar setting, with unfamiliar characters, in … Continue reading →

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Lost and Found: Norman Manea’s The Trenchcoat

At our last class, Professor lightly hinted that I often overanalyze texts to find a deeper meaning that perhaps might not exist so I carried this with me in the reading of this text. Without the lecture as a precursor, this text was nearly incomprehensible with a familiarity necessary to understanding the setting of the […]

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Week 9, Manea, “The Trenchcoat”

When I first finished reading Norman Manea’s “The Trenchcoat”, I felt way too confused. However, after watching the lecture video and reading blogposts of my peers, I realized that confusion – especially regarding the Trenchcoat – was a central theme of the story. For me, the anonymity and lack of description for the Trenchcoat made […]

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Manea’s “The Trenchcoat”

I’m very confused. Though I appreciate the lecture video providing historical context for this novella, it does not assuage the bulk of my confusion. I suppose some stories don’t provide, nor should they have provide, clear answers in their endings. However, I would have appreciated some sort of explanation regarding the meaning of the trenchcoat, […]

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Norman Manea, “The Trenchcoat”

“What, what the… what the hell is it with that raincoat?” (p.253)   This story made much more sense when the context is explained in the lecture. I read the initial part blind and found myself thoroughly confused but also very tense and intrigued (in a good way); it conveyed an unnatural feeling that something […]

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Paris Peasant – A novel that is not a novel? How novel!

Louis Aragon’s Paris Peasant was certainly an easier read for me than Proust’s Swann’s Way was. I imagine it is to do with the translation, though of course the writing style of the original author. In fact, I found myself thinking about translation a lot while reading this book. There were parts that had very interesting metaphors and jokes that I would love to see in the original language. I especially noticed this in the F.M.R. section where even the translator made a note that the original pun worked so much better. I suppose this is one of the weaknesses of translation; you can never conserve all the layers of meaning within a word or a phrase because you always have to choose one. If you can find a way to make it work with more than one meaning then you’re lucky.

Before starting the book, I knew that Aragon was part of the surrealist, avant-garde movement and you can tell. Paris Peasant has been described as a “novel-that-[is]-not-a-novel” and I agree with that description because there isn’t really a story that I could pick up on. Truthfully, it felt more like Aragon’s personal musings than a novel, but it was interesting nonetheless. 
That said, some of his musings aren’t particularly savoury, especially those about women. The way he describes women struck me as being a bit… weird… to say the least. Numerous paragraphs on women’s hair, their bodies, how much he likes blondes… let’s just say that he wouldn’t pass the 2022 vibe check. But we kind of knew that already, and I think he did too. After all, he did say that it “matters very little to me whether or not I have reason on my side. I do not seek to be right. I seek the concrete.” 
So I don’t think he’d be particularly bothered about our opinions. Or anyone’s opinions. Because he said some things about religion that would be controversial today, let alone the 1920s. As a communist, you can see the threads of Karl Marx’s ideas in his writing, especially in the parts about religion. He comments that religion is a sign of “mental laziness” and notices that religion is becoming replaced with a sense of human morality. Certainly, we can see that religiosity has declined over the past century or so, so his prediction wasn’t completely inaccurate.
In fact, some of his predictions were funnily accurate. One of the first quotes that really caught my attention was about how young people will eschew work, marriage, and children (or something along those lines, unfortunately I can’t find the exact quote anymore, try as I might). I thought it was a very interesting observation, especially since nowadays the “Child-free by choice” and “I don’t dream of labour” movements are increasing in popularity, especially among young adults.
In all, I’m not entirely sure that I managed to glean every message from the book and I think I’d have to read it a second time to better understand it, but what I did pick up was definitely thought-provoking. The question I’d like to present is; What makes a novel a novel, if this is a “novel-that-is-not-a-novel”?

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Paris Peasant – A novel that is not a novel? How novel!

Louis Aragon’s Paris Peasant was certainly an easier read for me than Proust’s Swann’s Way was. I imagine it is to do with the translation, though of course the writing style of the original author. In fact, I found myself thinking about translation a lot while reading this book. There were parts that had very interesting metaphors and jokes that I would love to see in the original language. I especially noticed this in the F.M.R. section where even the translator made a note that the original pun worked so much better. I suppose this is one of the weaknesses of translation; you can never conserve all the layers of meaning within a word or a phrase because you always have to choose one. If you can find a way to make it work with more than one meaning then you’re lucky.

Before starting the book, I knew that Aragon was part of the surrealist, avant-garde movement and you can tell. Paris Peasant has been described as a “novel-that-[is]-not-a-novel” and I agree with that description because there isn’t really a story that I could pick up on. Truthfully, it felt more like Aragon’s personal musings than a novel, but it was interesting nonetheless. 
That said, some of his musings aren’t particularly savoury, especially those about women. The way he describes women struck me as being a bit… weird… to say the least. Numerous paragraphs on women’s hair, their bodies, how much he likes blondes… let’s just say that he wouldn’t pass the 2022 vibe check. But we kind of knew that already, and I think he did too. After all, he did say that it “matters very little to me whether or not I have reason on my side. I do not seek to be right. I seek the concrete.” 
So I don’t think he’d be particularly bothered about our opinions. Or anyone’s opinions. Because he said some things about religion that would be controversial today, let alone the 1920s. As a communist, you can see the threads of Karl Marx’s ideas in his writing, especially in the parts about religion. He comments that religion is a sign of “mental laziness” and notices that religion is becoming replaced with a sense of human morality. Certainly, we can see that religiosity has declined over the past century or so, so his prediction wasn’t completely inaccurate.
In fact, some of his predictions were funnily accurate. One of the first quotes that really caught my attention was about how young people will eschew work, marriage, and children (or something along those lines, unfortunately I can’t find the exact quote anymore, try as I might). I thought it was a very interesting observation, especially since nowadays the “Child-free by choice” and “I don’t dream of labour” movements are increasing in popularity, especially among young adults.
In all, I’m not entirely sure that I managed to glean every message from the book and I think I’d have to read it a second time to better understand it, but what I did pick up was definitely thought-provoking. The question I’d like to present is; What makes a novel a novel, if this is a “novel-that-is-not-a-novel”?

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