Black Lamb & Grey Falcon


Book Description







Black Lamb and Grey Falcon


Book Description

“Rebecca West’s magnum opus . . . one of the great books of our time.” —The New Yorker Written on the brink of World War II, Rebecca West’s classic examination of the history, people, and politics of Yugoslavia illuminates a region that is still a focus of international concern. A magnificent blend of travel journal, cultural commentary, and historical insight, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon probes the troubled history of the Balkans and the uneasy relationships among its ethnic groups. The landscape and the people of Yugoslavia are brilliantly observed as West untangles the tensions that rule the country’s history as well as its daily life. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.







Black Lamb and Grey Falcon


Book Description

With an introduction by Geoff Dyer First published in 1942, Rebecca West’s epic masterpiece is widely regarded as the most illuminating book to have been written on what was once Yugoslavia, essential for anyone attempting to understand the enigmatic history of the Balkan states. ‘West’s masterpiece [is] one of the great twentieth-century books of any genre.’ Independent ‘Impossible to put down, both timeless and of its time—a travel book and epic narrative history brimming with passion, anger, scholarship and intuition, hatred and love.’ Observer ‘Such incandescent writing—you find yourself wanting to mark every sentence in order to go back and relish it again.’ Brian Eno ‘One of the supreme masterpieces of the twentieth century . . . As a book about Yugoslavia it’s a kind of metaphysical Lonely Planet that never requires updating . . . this is history as it might have been written by Ryszard Kapuscinski or Gabriel García Márquez .’ Geoff Dyer, from his introduction ‘It is hard to convey the flavour of a book so rich in observation, history, philosophy, political ideas and ironic humour. West is full of digressions which are extraordinary, but never boring.’ The Times ‘The sheer quality and depth of the writing make it one of the great books of the century.’ Times Literary Supplement




Black Lambs & Grey Falcons


Book Description

Revised and Updated with a New Introduction During the 19th century the Balkan countries became the subject of a rather romantic fascination for the public at large. This vision of the area has been created in large measure by the writing of women travelers such as those represented in this volume. The achievements of these women are quite remarkable: in many cases their travels were adventurous, and even dangerous, reaching into parts of the countryside which were remote and hardly known to outsiders. Not only as travelers but also in the fields of medical and military service, scholarship and education, journalism and literature, did these women contribute in very significant ways to the expansion of women's horizons and to the attempt to gain greater freedom for women in society in general. Contents: Editorial Introduction: Black Lambs and Grey Falcons: Outward and Inward Frontiers - Two Victorian Ladies and Bosnian Realities, 1861-1875: G.M. MacKenzie and A.P. Irby - Edith Durham, Traveller and Publicist - Edith Durham as a Collector - Emily Balch: Balkan Traveller, Peace Worker and Nobel Laureate - The Work of British Medical Women in Serbia during and after the First World War - Captain Flora Sandes: A Case Study in the Social Construction of Gender in a Serbian Context - Rose Wilder Lane: 1886-1968 - Rebecca West, Gerda and the Sense of Process - Margaret Masson Hasluck - Louisa Rayner: An Englishwoman's Experiences in Wartime Yugoslavia - Mercia MacDermott: A Woman of the Frontier - An Anthropologist in the Village - Bucks, Brides and Useless Baggage: Women's Quest for a Role in their Balkan Travels - Constructing 'the Balkans' - Women Travellers in the Balkans: A Bibliographical Guide. John B. Allcock is head of the Research Unit in South East European Studies and is based in the Interdisciplinary Human Studies department at the University of Bradford; Antonia Young is a member of the Department for Sociology and Anthropology at Colgate University, New York




Another Fool in the Balkans


Book Description

Following in the famous footsteps of Rebecca West's 1945 masterpiece "Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia," White's lively contemporaneous travelogue depicts the present-day Balkans in all its cultural glory.




Nations, Traditions and Cross-cultural Identities


Book Description

The notion of citizenship is part of a national collective memory and a memory of individuals belonging to a specific geographical, historical and cultural context. The volume seeks to investigate the importance of women's relationship with citizenship and nationality from a diachronic perspective analysing different forms of writing in various European contexts. Many themes intersect in the different essays that comprise the volume, including the construction of female identity through religious ideology, the importance of translation and cultural studies as a source of feminine knowledge, and the relationship between public life and private domain within the multiculturalism of Europe. The intersection between national identity, women's writings and cultural difference surfaces in many essays and demonstrates how the notion of a necessary translation between cultures has been central for women authors since the seventeenth century.




Intermarium


Book Description

History and collective memories influence a nation, its culture, and institutions; hence, its domestic politics and foreign policy. That is the case in the Intermarium, the land between the Baltic and Black Seas in Eastern Europe. The area is the last unabashed rampart of Western Civilization in the East, and a point of convergence of disparate cultures. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz focuses on the Intermarium for several reasons. Most importantly because, as the inheritor of the freedom and rights stemming from the legacy of the Polish-Lithuanian/Ruthenian Commonwealth, it is culturally and ideologically compatible with American national interests. It is also a gateway to both East and West. Since the Intermarium is the most stable part of the post-Soviet area, Chodakiewicz argues that the United States should focus on solidifying its influence there. The ongoing political and economic success of the Intermarium states under American sponsorship undermines the totalitarian enemies of freedom all over the world. As such, the area can act as a springboard to addressing the rest of the successor states, including those in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation. Intermarium has operated successfully for several centuries. It is the most inclusive political concept within the framework of the Commonwealth. By reintroducing the concept of the Intermarium into intellectual discourse the author highlights the autonomous and independent nature of the area. This is a brilliant and innovative addition to European Studies and World Culture.