Tag Archives: Politics

Week 12, Agualusa, “The Society of Reluctant Dreamers”

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Jose Eduardo Agualusa’s The Society of Reluctant Dreamers was a very interesting read. It felt surreal in one hand, but also had a lot of relatable, applicable lessons to take away as a reader.

The first thing that stood out to me was protagonist Daniel Benchimol’s unstable state. Although in the early pages Benchimol stated “I discovered I was able to live on almost nothing and be happy. I don’t think I’ve ever been as happy as I was back then,” Benchimol’s life – as a husband, father, and journalist – wasn’t successful (albeit the term “successful” is only subjective) (12). Particularly interesting was his role as a father to his daughter, Karinguiri. I felt sorry for Benchimol when his ex-wife Lucrecia blamed him for the arrest of their daughter Karinguiri, stating “this is all your fault, you’re the one who gets her going, with that armchair revolutionary talk of yours.” I felt sorry because as Benchimol himself stated, he knew “it was true” (116). Benchimol, though he did not explicitly state this, would have felt guilty for his daughter’s suffering – going on a hunger strike in prison.

However, this sorry feeling changed when I read what Karinguiri had to say about this matter. In a letter to her father, Karinguiri stated, “I’ve ended up in this prison because I decided to be Angolan. I’m fighting for my citizenship. […] Fear isn’t a choice. There’s no way to avoid feeling fear. And yet we can choose not to give in to it. My companions and I have chosen to fight against fear” (217). Although Karinguiri might have been suffering physically, I think she was living true to where her heart was leading; she was doing what she believed was right, to get her world closer to happiness. In this way, I dropped my sorry feeling for Benchimol; instead, I was inspired by Karinguiri. Her life “divided between different worlds” and her fight for “the Angola of the poor” inspired me (216-217). In a way, it almost seems like Benchimol’s revolutionary talks laid the foundation for Karinguiri to “dream” – to dream of democracy, and a world for the poor majority of Angola. It is this other meaning of “dream” – as in an ambition or ideal in reality – that caught my attention, despite all the other talks about nightly dreams. In my interpretation, I think this other meaning of “dream” – especially relating to Karinguiri’s story – is worth nothing.

On the other hand, the more conventional meaning of dream – relating to sleep – also interested me. Specifically, the sleep imaging machine caught my attention. The idea wasn’t new, as I’ve heard of machines similar to that before, but it certainly was frightening. Knowing that dreams “express our forbidden desires,” as it was said in the lecture, the thought of this dream-imaging machine seemed to cruel.

Question: On page 171, it is stated “it might be possible for us to remember future events, if they’re very important or very traumatic.” On a similar note, the book suggests that “foreshadowing dreams” can be true. Do you think this idea of a “foreshadowing dream” was mentioned in a literal way – as in, do you think the author actually believed this idea was plausible? Or did the author want to imply a parallel between dreams and literature, trying to suggest that literature can affect the future?

Week 9, Manea, “The Trenchcoat”

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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 me read the story with a suspicion; looking back at the notes I have made throughout my reading, there are a lot of question marks.

The start of the story felt rather mundane and perhaps boring. However, one short sentence caught my interest. That is, “The future: small and immediate. Already present, already past, already small, shrunken . . . enormous” (192). I think this sentence explains well the hopelessness of life in Romania at that time. Although this sentence did not explicitly indicate anything about people’s “boredom” and “lack of progressive ideas”, I think it shows an attitude that corresponds to Professor Beasley-Murray’s statement that “Nothing really happens in Romania; all ideas of progress have been abandoned”.

Another interesting part of the story was in the early part of the book, where Iona argues how “dinner parties have been disappearing” and that “it’s the desire, above all, it’s the desire to get together that has disappeared” (193). It was interesting to learn about the context of this book, specifically the Communist Regime in Romania. Although I can only imagine, I think the world people in Romania at the time had to live through would have been characterized by mistrust, suspicion, disconnection, and boredom (or hopelessness). People, full of mistrust and lack of hope for the future, “lost the desire to get together” (193). Perhaps, it is within this life of boredom and suspicion where the Trenchcoat becomes so significant, something that attracted the attention of Dina.

I’m still confused over the numerous hypotheses of the appearance of the Trenchcoat. At first, I thought it was just left at the house by one of the guests at the dinner party. However, that seemed untrue as Dina’s phone calls proved. Then, the possibility that it was left deliberately as some sort of experiment posed a new suspicion. Finally, the constant suspicion between the visitors worsened the confusion, and made the situation look much more serious than it looked at the beginning. Reflecting on my experience as a reader of the various hypotheses of the Trenchcoat, I feel like I always had a strong suspicion towards all the characters; every time a new suspicion was posed, I was attracted to believing it. In this way, I feel like the Trenchcoat was a device that allowed Manea to share the experience of living through a “world of suspicion, distrust, and boredom (hopelessness)” to the readers. At least he certainly did for me.

Question for the author: 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?