Matthew's Enigma: A Father's Portrait of His Autistic Son »

Matei Calinescu is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at Indiana University Bloomington. His books include Five Faces of Modernity: Modernism, Avant-Garde, Decadence, Kitsch, Postmodernism and Rereading. He lives in Bloomington, Indiana.

Angela Jianu has translated The Hooligan's Return by Norman Manea from Romanian.

Matthew's Enigma unfolds the complex relationship between a father, who is a Romanian emigré and distinguished university professor, and his son, who was diagnosed with autism when he was 7 years old. Matei Calinescu's desire to understand Matthew — his namesake — is the theme of this moving memoir. Calinescu's determined search for the meaning of his son's enigmatic illness continues even after Matthew's sudden death at age 25. Reminiscences about Matthew's life are interwoven with observations of his behavior and reflections on the difficulties that autistic persons encounter in social situations. Drawing from journals that he kept, beginning with Matthew's birth, as well as from his experience as a scholar of literature and philosophy and a reader of psychologists' and brain scientists' writings about autism, Calinescu has composed an inspiring and lyrical essay about love and illness, memory and forgetfulness, sociability and alienation.

Publishers Weekly

Comparative literature professor Calinescu (Five Faces of Modernity: Modernism, Avant-garde, Decadence, Kitsch, Postmodernism) steps back from academia with this memoir of parenthood, a tribute to his late, autistic son Matthew, "a being apart... not a university professor of course, but a professor all the same, a shy, discreet, taciturn teacher of angelic wisdom and of the ineffable." Diagnosed with autism as a child and with epilepsy as a teen, much regarding Matthew's behavior and health remained a mystery even after diagnosis, a situation many parents will recognize, especially those with children on the autism spectrum. Calinescu explores the history of autism and Asperger's syndrome, discussing medical literature and his own memories with equal comfort and grace. Calinescu is a keen witness, and his 25 years of observation have produced a loving exploration of autism's causes and effects, its impact on the individual and the family, the unexpected ways it complicates daily life and the differences that make an autistic individual stand out. Beyond the appeal to parents, teachers and caregivers of special needs individuals, Colinescu's story offers vivid lessons in acceptance: "All people are different, and the degree of difference does not matter."
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Preface
1. Pages from an Old Diary
2. "Anyone's Death Is a Great Tragedy"
3. Further Pages from the Old Diary
4. Mater Dolorosa
5. Pages from the Notebook with Black Covers (1985)
6. The Story of an Autistic Missionary
7. Further Pages from the Notebook with Black Covers (19851986)
8. Reading and Play
9. On the Autistic Personality--A Stray Note
10. About Compassion
11. Ages 16 to 20, from Diary about Matthew (19931997)
12. Matthew's Sense of Humor
13. At 20: The Ages of Matthew, from Diary about Matthew (1997)
14. When Matthew Was 25 . . .
15. Julian's Visit
16. Questions without an Answer
Postscript (2004)
Works Cited