Like some of my peers in the class, I also watched the lecture before reading the text, and I feel like I will continue to do so for the remainder of the readings. The context of the Romanian communism and the censorship that Manea had to endure to write and publish this story is something I wouldn’t have picked up on during the reading. With this in mind, it made the reading easier to understand.
Without the explanation of the lecture, I would’ve been really confused why everyone in the story was really sensitive about the appearance of a mysterious trenchcoat after a dinner together. It’s understandable that they may have been confused or even a little bit worried that a trenchcoat that no one’s claiming has appeared in their house, but the extent where everyone is paranoid, panicked, calling each other obsessively, and arguing with each other doesn’t make too much sense without the context. Knowing that is was a story told while facing the censorship of this place and time and about the fear that the people had to live through during communist times brings an entirely new perspective to reading this novella. It makes me wonder if the people from this time would have also related and caught on to what the story was trying to convey.
One character that really caught my attention was Felicia’s husband, who was never given a name but instead titles such as The Kid, The Guileless One, The Learned One, etc. He doesn’t have much to say in the beginning of the story, but later on he goes off on a long rant in a phone call with Dina as she was calling about the trenchcoat once again. It makes me wonder what his role is in the story, why he was never given a name, and what his different titles mean and why not a single one is being used consistently, but rather all of them were being used interchangeably. Does each title/nickname refer to a different side of him, or did it serve a different purpose?
In the end of the story, we never really got a good explanation about the trenchcoat and how it came to be, which is unsatisfying but leads to an abundance of theories and interpretations that I’m excited to possibly hear about during class.
My question for this week is: What parts of the Romanian communist era caused as much panic and paranoia that we saw in The Trenchcoat?
Hello!
I, too, was curious about “the Learned One.” I think it would make sense that the nicknames have to do with his different qualities or how people perceive him at certain times.
To answer your other question, I believe the characters’ main worries are related to the possibility that interrogations are being carried out in their homes. There is also some concern about being watched by the police, but I’m not sure if this is directly related to the appearance of the trenchcoat.
“It makes me wonder if the people from this time would have also related and caught on to what the story was trying to convey.”
This is such an interesting topic to think about. I wonder how similar the characters in the story were in comparison to Romanians during the time; were they as “bored” as the people in the book? Would little events like the presence of a mysterious trenchcoat really steal the attention of the people of Romania at the time? I think it’s interesting to dwell in this topic, while there may not be a single answer.
– Daniel Choi
Hey, great blog! I chose to watch the lecture after reading the book and I recall going back several times in the book to make sure I did not miss anything because I was not sure what was happening or what I was missing. I was only able to piece it together after watching the lecture. I have to admit though it felt like I found a whole other plot in the book after doing so which was an interesting feeling.