Main description:

"Matthew's Enigma" unfolds the complex relationship between a father, who is a Romanian emigre 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 - the bearer of his name - 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 behaviour 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.

Contents:

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 (1985-1986); 8. Reading and Play; 9. On the Autistic Personality--A Stray Note; 10. About Compassion; 11. Ages 16 to 20, from Diary about Matthew (1993-1997); 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