Compulsory Happiness (Writings from an Unbound Europe) [Paperback]

Norman Manea (Author), Linda Coverdale (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 26, 1994 | Series: Writings from an Unbound Europe

Four novellas constitute a biography of a generation living in a police state and ravaged by fifty years of history, enduring war, the Holocaust, revolution, social change, and the triviality of the ordinary.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Four absurdist novellas by the Romanian novelist tell of life under a totalitarian regime.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Manea is a Romanian concentration camp survivor who also experienced some of the absurdities of living under the Ceausescu regime. The four novellas in this collection portray the psychological discomfort of living in a police state. The Interrogation conveys the feelings of a young woman, detained on a pretense, who is stripped, shaved, and questioned by someone almost equally insecure. Composite Biography reveals how individuals are forced to change identity in order to survive. A Window on the Working Class depicts a man who inserts himself into the lives of a working couple against their will. The Trenchcoat tells how an initially secure woman becomes terrified after finding an unclaimed trenchcoat in her house. Hauntingly well done, this collection is recommended for general as well as informed readers.
Ann Irvine, Montgomery Cty. PL., Md.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 259 pages
• Publisher: Northwestern University Press; 1 edition (October 26, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081011190X
• ISBN-13: 978-0810111905
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 4.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,781,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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