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Lost Province
Stephen Henighan, a Romanian grammar book and hours of language tapes under his belt, billets with a family as an English teacher in Moldova, a country born from the dismantling of Romania during World War II. As a Westerner in this "lost province" and former Soviet republic, Henighan feels he’s an unnerving disappointment for many Moldovans, especially to the MTV-addicted, twenty-year-old Andrei.
- GenresHistory
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 16, 2017
Henighan's strenghtes is the interesting way he describes his experiences with the Moldovans and that he does it in a way that anyone that have visited Moldova can easily recognize. He partly achives this recognition by using stereotypes, making it easy for anyone that has been in Moldova to recognize the type of people (the girls who wants to marry a rich foreigner, the teachers who are small dictators, the Moldovans poor knowledge about the world outside Moldova, the dodgy Russian-speaking biznizman etc), though might oversimplify "the Moldovans" for the reader who lacks this background. All in all I will say he succeed with this approach of describing the Moldovans though.
The main weeknesses of Henighan's book, is his obvious lack of background-information, being written sources and experience with Romania and Russia/Ukraine, needed in order to interpret his experiences. Unlike Tony Hawks in Playing the Moldovans at tennis, who also obviously lack backgroundinformation on Moldova but gets away with it by using humour (including self-irony), Henighan fails to come through as a trustworthy writer because the combinatation of big holes in background-knowledge and lack of self-irony at times makes his writing prententious or simply does not interpret a situation correct.
Some examples
-He travels by bus from London to Lviv and tells about that while towns like Prague and Budapest has a "return to Europe atmosphere", Lviv is an example of that Ukraine, Russia and Belarus is a result of Moscow centralism and not Europe. Moldova he claims, is different because it was originally a part of Romaina and initially not a part of the Soviet Union.
The fact is that Lviv is a typical old Habsburger town, that used to be part of the same Austria and Hungary as Budapest, Prague and Krakow. Lviv is Galicia and was added to the Soviet Union at exactly the same time as Moldova, and if its historical roots to Romania makes Moldova European (few people I have spoken to described Moldova as "European"), why is Lviv (with its historical roots to Poland) not equally Eropean? The explaination is probably his limited backgroundinformation on Lviv (that is not so bad really, his book is about Moldova) and that he arrived very tired to Lviv after a long tiring bustrip from the UK (but why include his uninspired mood in the book). Doesn't he have a publisher that can explain and correct a few things?
-when he writes that except from a few part time teachers he didn't meet anyone under the age of 35 that he would descrive as gainfully employed is is at one hand probably right. On the other he simply does not care - or is not able to? - explain that the reason for that is that hardly any teacher, doctor or other academic earn enough to live of in Moldova - you eather "buy and sell things", emigrate to better paid jobs abroad or receive money from relatives working abroad. This is a great chance to give the reader insight, but he does not have the backgoundinformation to give it.
-When the word "bizniz" appears in a sentence in Romanian, in a context where the writers Moldovan freind talks about more or less realisitic or shady plans for earning a lot of money "by buying and selling things", it is rather a word borrowed from Russian than from English. Because of his lack of knowledge of Russian language and daily life, he simply misunderstands.
-Another misunderstanding is when he refers to a Moldovans freind's description of the Brezhnev years as the worst time of the Soviet Union, as the time where the Russians behaved worst towards the Moldovians. This is excatly the same story as most Russians and Ukrainians tell, they simply have the same experiences living in the same society.
There are a lot of theese examples
The other main weekness of his book is that he is not capable of hold his personal opinions back, even when he has a limited background for his views and - not to mention - he has told us about his view on a topic 5980 times before.
The most striking example is his obsession about the language question. At the same time as he brings up his indignation about the use of Russian and the cyrillic alphabet in Moldova in virtually every chapter, he tells us that he only by coincidece finds out that Romanian traditionally was written in cyrillic script (a lot of the classics of Romanian litterature is) and that this is because Romania also is Russian orthodox. Further he complins that the Russian speakers can not read lathin letters, while anyone who have a minimum of experience with Russian speakers know that they always read lathin letters (and use them for some purposes in their daily written language), it is the rest of us that don't normally read cyrillic letters.
All in all though and despite the weeknesses mentioned, the books gives an interesting story about the Moldovians and their daily life if your pleasure of reading is not ruined by the mentioned weeknesses. Please correct the factual errors and misunderstandings if there is ever published a revised edition though
The main weeknesses of Henighan's book, is his obvious lack of background-information, being written sources and experience with Romania and Russia/Ukraine, needed in order to interpret his experiences. Unlike Tony Hawks in Playing the Moldovans at tennis, who also obviously lack backgroundinformation on Moldova but gets away with it by using humour (including self-irony), Henighan fails to come through as a trustworthy writer because the combinatation of big holes in background-knowledge and lack of self-irony at times makes his writing prententious or simply does not interpret a situation correct.
Some examples
-He travels by bus from London to Lviv and tells about that while towns like Prague and Budapest has a "return to Europe atmosphere", Lviv is an example of that Ukraine, Russia and Belarus is a result of Moscow centralism and not Europe. Moldova he claims, is different because it was originally a part of Romaina and initially not a part of the Soviet Union.
The fact is that Lviv is a typical old Habsburger town, that used to be part of the same Austria and Hungary as Budapest, Prague and Krakow. Lviv is Galicia and was added to the Soviet Union at exactly the same time as Moldova, and if its historical roots to Romania makes Moldova European (few people I have spoken to described Moldova as "European"), why is Lviv (with its historical roots to Poland) not equally Eropean? The explaination is probably his limited backgroundinformation on Lviv (that is not so bad really, his book is about Moldova) and that he arrived very tired to Lviv after a long tiring bustrip from the UK (but why include his uninspired mood in the book). Doesn't he have a publisher that can explain and correct a few things?
-when he writes that except from a few part time teachers he didn't meet anyone under the age of 35 that he would descrive as gainfully employed is is at one hand probably right. On the other he simply does not care - or is not able to? - explain that the reason for that is that hardly any teacher, doctor or other academic earn enough to live of in Moldova - you eather "buy and sell things", emigrate to better paid jobs abroad or receive money from relatives working abroad. This is a great chance to give the reader insight, but he does not have the backgoundinformation to give it.
-When the word "bizniz" appears in a sentence in Romanian, in a context where the writers Moldovan freind talks about more or less realisitic or shady plans for earning a lot of money "by buying and selling things", it is rather a word borrowed from Russian than from English. Because of his lack of knowledge of Russian language and daily life, he simply misunderstands.
-Another misunderstanding is when he refers to a Moldovans freind's description of the Brezhnev years as the worst time of the Soviet Union, as the time where the Russians behaved worst towards the Moldovians. This is excatly the same story as most Russians and Ukrainians tell, they simply have the same experiences living in the same society.
There are a lot of theese examples
The other main weekness of his book is that he is not capable of hold his personal opinions back, even when he has a limited background for his views and - not to mention - he has told us about his view on a topic 5980 times before.
The most striking example is his obsession about the language question. At the same time as he brings up his indignation about the use of Russian and the cyrillic alphabet in Moldova in virtually every chapter, he tells us that he only by coincidece finds out that Romanian traditionally was written in cyrillic script (a lot of the classics of Romanian litterature is) and that this is because Romania also is Russian orthodox. Further he complins that the Russian speakers can not read lathin letters, while anyone who have a minimum of experience with Russian speakers know that they always read lathin letters (and use them for some purposes in their daily written language), it is the rest of us that don't normally read cyrillic letters.
All in all though and despite the weeknesses mentioned, the books gives an interesting story about the Moldovians and their daily life if your pleasure of reading is not ruined by the mentioned weeknesses. Please correct the factual errors and misunderstandings if there is ever published a revised edition though
January 28, 2019
A very good read. This entertaining portrait of a country seen by a foreigner reminds me very much of my own mishaps and adventures in the out-the-way places I've also been dropped into.
July 3, 2011
This book, by Canadian writer Stephen Henighan, details his time spent billeted with a typical Moldovan family in a small apartment in the capital, Chişinău, whilst teaching English at the local University.
As such we get a uniquely intimate look – through the eyes of a Westerner – of the day to day lives of this family, whose concerns, hopes and beliefs in turn give a wider insight into this confused country. Henighan’s role as a language teacher is crucial here: for the tension between the dominant languages of Russian, Romanian and Moldovan (essentially Romanian, but rarely recognised as such, even by the native speakers) demonstrates wider tensions among descendants of Russians imported into the country during the cold war, and those who believe that Moldova should be culturally and ethnically (and economically) linked with its neighbour, Romania. By some, Russian is seen as the language of Soviet colonialism, whereas others see Moldovan as a degenerate language, not fit for the key purposes of civil service and ‘bizniz’. The fact that a language law is about to be passed during Henighan’s visit, declaring Romanian the country’s official language – gives these divisions a particularly political edge.
As with Paula Huntley’s “The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo”, Henighan’s classroom of students - or ‘little dictators’ as he half-affectionately calls them - provide a barometer of society here, with a contentious mix of Romanian and Russian speakers, each with their own views of the country’s situation (and of the West, which Henighan is seen as typifying, until he disappoints his acquaintances by revealing that he is not up to date with the latest technological gadgets, does not own his own house and is not in regular touch with Michael Jackson).
Throughout the book Henighan cleverly uses the divisive issue of language here, to demonstrate the wider divisions within this complex society. For instance, Henighan is angrily berated a number of times when trying to purchase items in shops, for not speaking Russian; and on one occasion, whilst sitting with a group of Romanians in the dusty communal square outside his hosts’ apartment, the group all uniformly switch to Russian, as soon as a sole Russian speaker joins them.
These divisions are seen within Henighan’s host family as well – Dora and Senya and their two sons Serge and Andrei: whereas Dora speaks mainly Romanian, her son, Andrei, speaks mainly Russian, which he sees as the language of ‘bizniz’, and he is dismissive of Romanian. Some of Henighan’s greatest insights into life in early 1990s Moldova come through his depictions of family life – especially in Dora’s world-weary view of the world, and 20-year old Andrei’s frustration at the lack of job opportunities in his homeland, which is finely balanced between comedy (in his scheme to bring the Jackson family to play a concert in Moldova) and tragedy (in his inevitable gravitation towards a life of petty crime with the local ‘mafia’ gangs).
Some of the broader depictions of life in this economically-struggling country are also telling; the purchase of a carton of orange juice is seen as a luxury – costing almost a month’s salary – and the casual mugging of Henighan on a tram by the local ‘police’ is especially shocking. Yet Henighan has an obvious and genuine warmth towards this lost province, and seems especially comfortable in the communal square outside his building where people of all ages gather to chat, play and drink wine from the nearby kiosks. He sees this as a 'little village' in the midst of a grey metropolis, and identifies here the remnants of traditional Moldovan communal life.
However, one cannot but help feel a sense of pessimism for this struggling country, and this is borne out by Henighan’s return visit, ten years later in 2001. On the surface of it things seem to have improved – the street-life in downtown Chişinău seems more lively and vibrant, with global chains (including the inevitable McDonalds) and designer brands on show. However his visit to Dora – now estranged from her husband and sons, still living in the same apartment block – shows this to be a thin veneer of success. As Dora says: “you have to understand that in the past few years life here has been very, very hard. Many families have broken up….All that stuff you see downtown, near your hotel – that’s not for us, that’s not for ordinary people. For most people things are getting worse and worse.”
The fact that Dora’s own family unit has broken up – she is divorcing Senya, and no longer speaks to Andrei or Serge, whose allegiance now lies with the local criminal gangs – is an effective depiction of a wider social malaise in this complex country.
All in all, this is a well-written, entertaining and insightful look at life in the 1990s in this complex, divided yet engaging post-Soviet country. I would be fascinated to hear about the lives of these individuals a decade on from the Epilogue, in 2011...
As such we get a uniquely intimate look – through the eyes of a Westerner – of the day to day lives of this family, whose concerns, hopes and beliefs in turn give a wider insight into this confused country. Henighan’s role as a language teacher is crucial here: for the tension between the dominant languages of Russian, Romanian and Moldovan (essentially Romanian, but rarely recognised as such, even by the native speakers) demonstrates wider tensions among descendants of Russians imported into the country during the cold war, and those who believe that Moldova should be culturally and ethnically (and economically) linked with its neighbour, Romania. By some, Russian is seen as the language of Soviet colonialism, whereas others see Moldovan as a degenerate language, not fit for the key purposes of civil service and ‘bizniz’. The fact that a language law is about to be passed during Henighan’s visit, declaring Romanian the country’s official language – gives these divisions a particularly political edge.
As with Paula Huntley’s “The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo”, Henighan’s classroom of students - or ‘little dictators’ as he half-affectionately calls them - provide a barometer of society here, with a contentious mix of Romanian and Russian speakers, each with their own views of the country’s situation (and of the West, which Henighan is seen as typifying, until he disappoints his acquaintances by revealing that he is not up to date with the latest technological gadgets, does not own his own house and is not in regular touch with Michael Jackson).
Throughout the book Henighan cleverly uses the divisive issue of language here, to demonstrate the wider divisions within this complex society. For instance, Henighan is angrily berated a number of times when trying to purchase items in shops, for not speaking Russian; and on one occasion, whilst sitting with a group of Romanians in the dusty communal square outside his hosts’ apartment, the group all uniformly switch to Russian, as soon as a sole Russian speaker joins them.
These divisions are seen within Henighan’s host family as well – Dora and Senya and their two sons Serge and Andrei: whereas Dora speaks mainly Romanian, her son, Andrei, speaks mainly Russian, which he sees as the language of ‘bizniz’, and he is dismissive of Romanian. Some of Henighan’s greatest insights into life in early 1990s Moldova come through his depictions of family life – especially in Dora’s world-weary view of the world, and 20-year old Andrei’s frustration at the lack of job opportunities in his homeland, which is finely balanced between comedy (in his scheme to bring the Jackson family to play a concert in Moldova) and tragedy (in his inevitable gravitation towards a life of petty crime with the local ‘mafia’ gangs).
Some of the broader depictions of life in this economically-struggling country are also telling; the purchase of a carton of orange juice is seen as a luxury – costing almost a month’s salary – and the casual mugging of Henighan on a tram by the local ‘police’ is especially shocking. Yet Henighan has an obvious and genuine warmth towards this lost province, and seems especially comfortable in the communal square outside his building where people of all ages gather to chat, play and drink wine from the nearby kiosks. He sees this as a 'little village' in the midst of a grey metropolis, and identifies here the remnants of traditional Moldovan communal life.
However, one cannot but help feel a sense of pessimism for this struggling country, and this is borne out by Henighan’s return visit, ten years later in 2001. On the surface of it things seem to have improved – the street-life in downtown Chişinău seems more lively and vibrant, with global chains (including the inevitable McDonalds) and designer brands on show. However his visit to Dora – now estranged from her husband and sons, still living in the same apartment block – shows this to be a thin veneer of success. As Dora says: “you have to understand that in the past few years life here has been very, very hard. Many families have broken up….All that stuff you see downtown, near your hotel – that’s not for us, that’s not for ordinary people. For most people things are getting worse and worse.”
The fact that Dora’s own family unit has broken up – she is divorcing Senya, and no longer speaks to Andrei or Serge, whose allegiance now lies with the local criminal gangs – is an effective depiction of a wider social malaise in this complex country.
All in all, this is a well-written, entertaining and insightful look at life in the 1990s in this complex, divided yet engaging post-Soviet country. I would be fascinated to hear about the lives of these individuals a decade on from the Epilogue, in 2011...
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December 5, 2014Although Chisinau is quite different than much of the rest of Moldova, the book really emphasizes the reality that Moldovans (still) don’t have much of a sense of nationalism or group solidarity. I would say that part of this is due to language conflicts, and part is due to their history of being tossed between Romania & Russia. The conflict continues and many of those who haven’t left Moldova remain rather passive about the future
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews