8539 (novel)
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| Author | Alfred Bulai |
|---|---|
| Country | Romania |
| Language | Romanian |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Paideia |
| Released | 2003 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 360 pp (hardback edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 973-596-159-8 (hardback edition) |
8539 is a novel written by Romanian sociologist and writer Alfred Bulai about a man who stumbles upon the fact that he is destined to live out a special purpose. The novel discusses predestination of the individual as well as the harsh realities of life during the Communist era. It contains some violent language as well as esoteric sections.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
[edit] First Plot
The novel is divided between two parallel destinies of a teenager called Mihai Fumarel and the doctor Scarlatescu, creating two separate sides to the book. Mihai is raised by his aunt in a poor neighborhood in Bucharest. After graduating with a master's in physics he was forced by the politic of work repartition during the Communist era to begin a teaching career in the small town of Videle. He meets a woman named Carmen, whom he falls in love with, though she refuses his advances and emigrates to West Germany. He has also been falsely accused of murder and is subsequently arrested and jailed. During his imprisonment, he suffers a head injury and goes into a coma which lasts for twelve years. After he awakens from the coma, he discovers the reality of the post communist era . He sees one of the his fellow inmates, Jean Petculescu become a senator in the Romanian Parliament and is himself offered the an opportunity to become a senator. He felt dishonoured and did not accept the invitation. He later finds Carmen and it transpires that she is in fact his half-sister being the result of an incestuous relationship between his mother and his uncle.
[edit] Second Plot
The second part of the novel concentrates on the life of doctor Scarlatescu who took part in a ritual during his childhood in order to redirect the destiny of the ritual's participants. Performed by his grandmother in order to change the destiny of Mikhai's father, the effect being to prevent him becoming a prominent person. The notion is promoted that the unhappy destiny of Mihai Fumarel is the consequence of that ritual and that he inherited this from his unknown father. Fumarel discovers after the 12 years in a coma that he will fail to be notable and there will be nothing he can do about it. In the end Fumarel meets doctor Scarlatescu , who was almost 70 by this time, who tells him that it "was written" that he will kill him as a consequence of assisting in and imitating the same ritual that Mikai's grandmother performed when he was child. In the final scene, the doctor, who has lost all that he had, succumbs to his destiny and kills Mihai Fumarel.
The novel begins with an author's warning, which informs the reader that it will be useless to read it unless you are not a notified person because the message of the novel will be difficult to comprehend.
[edit] Characters in "8539"
- Scarlatescu – a doctor
- Mihai Fumarel – a teenager, the main protagonist
- Carmen – Mihai's love interest
- Jean Petculescu – becomes a senator
[edit] Main themes
The two controversies about this book have arisen. The first pertains to how it perceives the pre-determination of destiny on Romanian popular tradition. According to Romanian concepts the bad destiny of a child is the consequence of the mistakes of the parents, and this is the main idea of this book: the way to death and to nothingness. In the end Mihai Fumarel says that he could be a great man if others had not intervened in his good "meant to be" destiny. If people have no control of their own destiny, is it because some have changed their good destiny for bad. The world would be a better place if their destiny wasn't turned around by others who didn't wish to be great rulers.[citation needed]
Another controversy was in fact the title which is an indication given by author to think hard about the meaning of the number 8539, which was suggested to him by someone called Fumarel in a dream.[citation needed]
