Cover is Winged Victory of Samothrace. Why? Idk, it was the first thing that came to mind after writing this blog post.
“Literature cannot save us form bad politics, whether left or right.”
Norman Manea
Hello, my loves! How are you all doing? If you’re asking me, I’m currently recovering from a cold 🙁. I’m not one to usually get colds, so whenever I do, it comes over me like a hurricane! And thus, I’m predicting that this week’s blog post will not be as long or in-depth as my previous ones. I feel a bit sad because I feel guilty for not approaching this book with the attention it deserved. Alas, I’ll try my best! A cold never stopped nobody!
The Trenchcoat by Norman Manea is a novella apart of a collection of other stories that make Manea’s work Compulsory Happiness. And although there are probably no direct links to reality, Compulsory Happiness has ties to the Ceaușescu totalitarian regime in Romania during the late 1980s. I feel like it is clear that The Trenchcoat is a commentary on Romania’s climate under a totalitarian regime. But, most importantly, I think the novella serves as a commentary on the effects of a totalitarian regime on the human psyche and how damaging and controlling it can be to be under an immense sociopolitical surveillance.
The Trenchcoat is a rather short novella with a rather simple plot. As the lecture explains, two couples make their way to the house of the third couple to enjoy a nice dinner party. The party enjoys the privileges of the third couple, with vodka, white wine, red wine, and even “real coffee, not ersatz” (pg 206). Despite the luxurious dinner, the atmosphere feels constrained and nobody really has a good time. Thus, the guests leave, with all three couples thinking to never experience a dinner like that again. That is, until, the hostess notices a random trenchcoat. It is unclaimed, and she therefore, reaches out to see who this mysterious trenchcoat belongs to.
As previously stated, I think this novella is meant to serve as a commentary about the effects of a totalitarian regime on the human psyche. More specifically, the civilian’s psyche and how it conforms to a dictator’s agenda. Although there are no clear, direct ties within its pages, the context behind this novella is Romania situated in the late 1980’s when they were under the final years of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s totalitarian regime. Beginning his rule in 1967, Romania entered a nearly two-decade period of “neo-stalinism” that promoted narratives of a one-party/leader totalitarian state, rapid industrialization, and theories of socialism. Ceaușescu himself promoted a “cult of personality” in his time in office; which, if you didn’t know, is the deliberate instituionalized quasi-religious glorification of a specific individual, most usually a political leader. The combination of communist narratives and a cult of personality intruded on the lives of civilian’s tremendously, introducing immense sociopolitical surveillance, censorship, and fear amongst the cities of Romania. In other words, the people of Romania couldn’t walk down the street, talk to their neighbor, or sleep without the fear of surveillance from the government. You can only imagine how that fear may have influence people. It may had influence people to blend in with the crowd, bite their tongue from speaking protests, or literally be invisible so as to not draw attention to themselves out of fear.
I think that’s exactly what the trenchcoat is meant to represent. I think the beauty about the trenchcoat is its symbolism. Of course not everything is a product of symbolism, but the trenchcoat, I think, is so heavily imbued with symbolism. I think the trenchcoat is meant to represent concealment, and therefore, protection. Protection from what? From whoever else is “watching”. And I think that’s why the trenchcoat also represents fear.
Like the people in society, the trenchcoat itself is “anonymous”. It has no individuality, no character, no name. It blends in. It’s bland. It never makes a statement. There was one passage where the character Ioana completely lost her cool and releases all her pent-up anger to her husband:
“The trenchcoat! You know what kind of raincoat they were wearing? Perhaps not… They were wearing the same kind…both of them! The cheapest kind, you know, the one you see in all the stores, the one hardly anyone buys.”
pg 249
To me, I made a mental note on the fact that this trenchcoat is the “same kind” that everyone wears. It’s bland. There’s no individuality and no character. The trenchcoat doesn’t want to standout. The trenchcoat is like the people because, like the people, the trenchcoat wants to blend it. Like the people, the trenchcoat doesn’t want to grab attention from anyone to the point someone wastes so much attention on it they want to buy it. The trenchcoat is the subconscious desire of the people to go unnoticed by the authoritative figures watching them, keeping tabs on them, making sure everyone is in line and not acting out.
I’ve read similar novels like this one. Ones of political turmoil and surveillance. I know a lot of people compared it to George Orwell’s brilliant novel 1984 so I’m not gonna even touch that. But I think another really good novel that I immediately thought of was Anna Burn’s novel The Milkman. It too centers around the affects of political surveillance and the paranoia it imbues on the human psyche, more specifically, a teenage girl. What I liked about the novel was that nobody had a name. Every character were referred to with titles or pseudonyms like “middle-sister” (the main character) and “milkman” (the creepy antagonist). The purpose of that was so that the characters lost a bit of their individuality by having no name and, therefore, could not be identified by the “other side”. I found that to be somewhat analogous to this novella. People want to remain hidden, that’s why they wear a bland trenchcoat: it’s to go unnoticed. And, to me at least, it’s most concerning when a life of paranoia becomes a routine. A monotonous, boring routine, which is what it seems to have become in the story.
George Orwell’s 1984 (left) and Anna Burn’s Milkman (right)
Or perhaps my approaches to the novel were rather skewed. Maybe the trenchcoat is just a trenchcoat and not something imbued with a potent, political metaphor. Maybe I’m just putting in my own symbolic understanding on a seemingly mundane piece of clothing. That leads me to my thoughts on the story. Perhaps my cold has fogged my “reader/analyst” side of my brain, but this novella wasn’t particularly my favourite. I chose this novella because, as an intended poli-sci major, political turmoil and its effects on people should be my entire personality (lol jk). But I don’t know, this novel had me lost a few times. The choppy sentences and the weird transitions did boggle my head a bit, and perhaps my cold further exasperated my frustration. Perhaps I’ll meet this book again when I’m more healthy so it is met with the respect it deserves. There were a lot of questions I had when reading because there were points I felt were a bit vague. But I feel like after watching the lecture (which is something I don’t normally do before writing posts), and doing a little bit of my own research, Manea did an excellent job at subtly portraying the hints of political turmoil throughout the story of the characters. I also liked his comment:
“Literature cannot save us form bad politics, whether left or right.”
Norma Manea
That made me think about how no matter how hard we try, we cannot run away from reality. It’s kind of unfortunate and unfair, don’t you think? I feel like perhaps 70% of us will not go on to be political leaders, and therefore, we cannot determine the makeup of our leading society. I mean, we are a democracy, but each political leader has flaws we as a collective society cannot always agree on. And places all over the world are still living with the repercussions of a totalitarian government. Isn’t it a bit disheartening we cannot run from that? If anything, being the privileged person I am in Canada, I think this is a good moment for me to reflect. On what? I guess that’s an open-ended question. A part of me wants to reflect on how I can help others worldwide with their issues caused by their government. But then again, there is that mindset that I’m only an 18-year-old uni kid who can only do so much. I guess what this means to me is to be grateful and to remain educated about the historic and current climate of our world’s politics because all of our politics overlap somehow. And most importantly, educate each other on potential ways to help.
Here is my questions: 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?
I hope you all stay happy and healthy. Health is so important, don’t sacrifice it for an additional hour of studying. Get that rest!
With love (and health) always,
S
A Romantic Exploration ~ RMST 202 
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