July-September 2023: Reading around the Black Sea
CharlasReading Globally
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1thorold
Welcome to the Q3 theme read!
After the Caribbean in 2016, the Mediterranean in 2019, the Indian Ocean in 2022 and the Baltic earlier this year, it's time to get our feet wet again. This time we're looking at the Black Sea, bordered by the modern countries of Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia and Turkey.
Like the Baltic, it connects Western Europe to the big grain-producing areas in the east, via the Bosphorus and the river Danube, so it's been part of major trade routes since ancient times, and consequently also has a big footprint in literature. Just to name the most obvious examples, it is generally accepted that the Trojan War that inspired Homer must have had more to do with access to Black Sea grain ports than with faces that launch a thousand ships; the historian Herodotus (5th century BCE) talks in detail about the Black Sea and the countries around it; the Roman poet Ovid (1st century CE) spent his last years in exile in a remote spot on the Black Sea coast.
After the Caribbean in 2016, the Mediterranean in 2019, the Indian Ocean in 2022 and the Baltic earlier this year, it's time to get our feet wet again. This time we're looking at the Black Sea, bordered by the modern countries of Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia and Turkey.
Like the Baltic, it connects Western Europe to the big grain-producing areas in the east, via the Bosphorus and the river Danube, so it's been part of major trade routes since ancient times, and consequently also has a big footprint in literature. Just to name the most obvious examples, it is generally accepted that the Trojan War that inspired Homer must have had more to do with access to Black Sea grain ports than with faces that launch a thousand ships; the historian Herodotus (5th century BCE) talks in detail about the Black Sea and the countries around it; the Roman poet Ovid (1st century CE) spent his last years in exile in a remote spot on the Black Sea coast.
2thorold
As usual for these theme reads, there are no fixed rules for what fits into the topic and what doesn't: use your imagination and common sense. Obviously, writers from the six modern countries bordering the Black Sea would fit in, although for Russia and Turkey it probably makes sense to filter out writers from regions distant from the Black Sea. When I tried asking ChatGPT, it came up with an ingenious argument: 'While not specifically associated with the Black Sea region, Alexander Pushkin's poem "The Bronze Horseman" is set in St. Petersburg, which connects to the Black Sea through canals and rivers.' Maybe that's slightly too long a stretch! But there probably is a case for including writers from higher up the rivers that feed the Black Sea.
A lot of major writers born in the Black Sea region spent large parts of their careers in other parts of the world, and wrote in languages from outside the region. I've included them in the listings if their Black Sea background is clearly important to the themes in their works, or if they are simply too big not to list (Canetti, Ionesco).
In the posts below I'll collect a few suggestions for books and writers from each country: these are very arbitrary choices and just meant as a starting point.
I'll also suggest a few relevant books below by writers from (Reading Globally-) countries outside the immediate Black Sea region.
Please tell me about all the important books and writers I've missed in the summaries below: I'll try to update them as we go along. I’ll mark authors/books suggested below with a star in the lists.
A lot of major writers born in the Black Sea region spent large parts of their careers in other parts of the world, and wrote in languages from outside the region. I've included them in the listings if their Black Sea background is clearly important to the themes in their works, or if they are simply too big not to list (Canetti, Ionesco).
In the posts below I'll collect a few suggestions for books and writers from each country: these are very arbitrary choices and just meant as a starting point.
I'll also suggest a few relevant books below by writers from (Reading Globally-) countries outside the immediate Black Sea region.
Please tell me about all the important books and writers I've missed in the summaries below: I'll try to update them as we go along. I’ll mark authors/books suggested below with a star in the lists.
3thorold
Bulgaria
- Ivan Vazov (1850–1921): often cited as the most important figure in modern Bulgarian literature. His novel Under the Yoke is an account of the failed 1876 uprising against the Ottomans in a Bulgarian village.
- Aleko Konstantinov (1863–1897): Known for his satirical novel Bai Ganyo.
- Dora Gabe (1888-1983): an important and very popular modern Bulgarian (-Jewish) poet and translator, but her work doesn't seem to have been very much translated.
- Elisaveta Bagriana (1893-1991): A highly regarded Bulgarian poet, Bagriana was the first woman to receive the prestigious Bulgarian State Prize for Literature, and was nominated for the Nobel several times. The main collection available in English seems to be Penelope of the twentieth century
- Elias Canetti (1905–1994): Bulgarian-born Nobel laureate who wrote mostly in German. His Bulgarian background doesn't seem to feature much in his writing, so probably not core material for this theme, but a major world writer.
- Georgi Markov (1929-1978): journalist and critic of the communist regime in Bulgaria, allegedly killed with a poisoned umbrella on Waterloo Bridge. Author of The truth that killed.
- Georgi Gospodinov (1968- ): won the 2023 Booker International with The time shelter (*)
- Kapka Kassabova (1973- ): a Bulgarian-born writer who lives in Scotland and writes in both Bulgarian and English, she's known among other things for her memoir Street Without a Name: Childhood and Other Misadventures in Bulgaria and the travel book Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe
- Sibylle Lewitscharoff (1954–2023): a distinguished German writer with Bulgarian parents, she writes about her Bulgarian background in several of her books, e.g. Apostoloff
...I'm sure AnnieMod will be able to add to this list!
- Ivan Vazov (1850–1921): often cited as the most important figure in modern Bulgarian literature. His novel Under the Yoke is an account of the failed 1876 uprising against the Ottomans in a Bulgarian village.
- Aleko Konstantinov (1863–1897): Known for his satirical novel Bai Ganyo.
- Dora Gabe (1888-1983): an important and very popular modern Bulgarian (-Jewish) poet and translator, but her work doesn't seem to have been very much translated.
- Elisaveta Bagriana (1893-1991): A highly regarded Bulgarian poet, Bagriana was the first woman to receive the prestigious Bulgarian State Prize for Literature, and was nominated for the Nobel several times. The main collection available in English seems to be Penelope of the twentieth century
- Elias Canetti (1905–1994): Bulgarian-born Nobel laureate who wrote mostly in German. His Bulgarian background doesn't seem to feature much in his writing, so probably not core material for this theme, but a major world writer.
- Georgi Markov (1929-1978): journalist and critic of the communist regime in Bulgaria, allegedly killed with a poisoned umbrella on Waterloo Bridge. Author of The truth that killed.
- Georgi Gospodinov (1968- ): won the 2023 Booker International with The time shelter (*)
- Kapka Kassabova (1973- ): a Bulgarian-born writer who lives in Scotland and writes in both Bulgarian and English, she's known among other things for her memoir Street Without a Name: Childhood and Other Misadventures in Bulgaria and the travel book Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe
- Sibylle Lewitscharoff (1954–2023): a distinguished German writer with Bulgarian parents, she writes about her Bulgarian background in several of her books, e.g. Apostoloff
...I'm sure AnnieMod will be able to add to this list!
4thorold
Romania
- Ovid (1st century CE): OK, he wasn't a Romanian, but his influence on western literature is so far-reaching that he must rate as the most influential writer ever to have lived in Romania, surely?
- Mihai Eminescu (1850–1889): Considered Romania's national poet, Eminescu's romantic poetry and nationalist themes have made him an enduring figure in Romanian literature.
- Ion Luca Caragiale (1852–1912): playwright and satirist. His works, such as the comedy "O scrisoare pierdută" (A Lost Letter), exposed social and political corruption, he's sometimes cited as a pioneer of theatre of the absurd and a major influence on Ionesco.
- Elena Farago (1878-1954): One of the first Romanian female poets. Doesn't seem to have been translated much.
- Tudor Arghezi (1880–1967): symbolist poet and (satirical) journalist, major cultural figure in Romania in the inter-war years and (after some initial spats with the new regime) also under communism (*)
- Panait Istrati (1884–1935): working-class novelist, influenced by Romain Rolland, later a close friend of Kazantzakis. See e.g. Kyra Kyralina, supposed to be the first Romanian novel with a gay character. (*)
- Liviu Rebreanu (1885-1944): author of Ion (1920), claimed as the first modern Romanian novel, a social-realist depiction of village life and the struggles of peasants.
- Eugene Ionesco (1909–1994): Romanian-born playwright who lived much of his life in France and wrote in French, a major figure in twentieth century drama.
- Max Blecher (1909-1938): influential surrealist/modernist, whose career was cut short by tuberculosis. See his novels Adventures In Immediate Irreality and Scarred hearts (*)
- Emil Cioran (1911-1995): distinguished philosopher, an enthusiast for Nazism and the Romanian far right in his early life, but later renounced these ideas; lived in Paris and wrote in French from the 1940s on. See e.g. The trouble with being born (*)
- Paul Celan (1920-1970): born into a mainly German-speaking Jewish family in Cernăuți, Bukovina (then Romania, now Ukraine), survived the German occupation of Romania, and moved to Vienna and Paris after the war. Counts as probably the most important post-war poet in the German language; his best-known work is Todesfuge (*)
- Elie Wiesel (1928–2016): Romanian-born writer best-known for his Auschwitz memoir Night
- Norman Manea (1936- ), deported during the Holocaust and returned in 1945. He moved to the US in 1986. See e.g. The hooligan's return and October, Eight O'Clock. (*)
- Herta Müller (1953- ): Nobel laureate. Much of her writing deals with her background as a member of Romania's German-speaking minority, e.g. The land of green plums. She has lived in Germany since 1987.
- Mira Feticu (1973- ): Romanian exile who writes in Dutch and Romanian. Her recent works include Liefdesverklaring aan de Nederlandse taal, “love-letter to the Dutch language”. (*)
Bonus:
- The last world (2008) by Austrian writer Christoph Ransmayr is a fascinating anachronistic novel about Ovid in exile.
- Ovid (1st century CE): OK, he wasn't a Romanian, but his influence on western literature is so far-reaching that he must rate as the most influential writer ever to have lived in Romania, surely?
- Mihai Eminescu (1850–1889): Considered Romania's national poet, Eminescu's romantic poetry and nationalist themes have made him an enduring figure in Romanian literature.
- Ion Luca Caragiale (1852–1912): playwright and satirist. His works, such as the comedy "O scrisoare pierdută" (A Lost Letter), exposed social and political corruption, he's sometimes cited as a pioneer of theatre of the absurd and a major influence on Ionesco.
- Elena Farago (1878-1954): One of the first Romanian female poets. Doesn't seem to have been translated much.
- Tudor Arghezi (1880–1967): symbolist poet and (satirical) journalist, major cultural figure in Romania in the inter-war years and (after some initial spats with the new regime) also under communism (*)
- Panait Istrati (1884–1935): working-class novelist, influenced by Romain Rolland, later a close friend of Kazantzakis. See e.g. Kyra Kyralina, supposed to be the first Romanian novel with a gay character. (*)
- Liviu Rebreanu (1885-1944): author of Ion (1920), claimed as the first modern Romanian novel, a social-realist depiction of village life and the struggles of peasants.
- Eugene Ionesco (1909–1994): Romanian-born playwright who lived much of his life in France and wrote in French, a major figure in twentieth century drama.
- Max Blecher (1909-1938): influential surrealist/modernist, whose career was cut short by tuberculosis. See his novels Adventures In Immediate Irreality and Scarred hearts (*)
- Emil Cioran (1911-1995): distinguished philosopher, an enthusiast for Nazism and the Romanian far right in his early life, but later renounced these ideas; lived in Paris and wrote in French from the 1940s on. See e.g. The trouble with being born (*)
- Paul Celan (1920-1970): born into a mainly German-speaking Jewish family in Cernăuți, Bukovina (then Romania, now Ukraine), survived the German occupation of Romania, and moved to Vienna and Paris after the war. Counts as probably the most important post-war poet in the German language; his best-known work is Todesfuge (*)
- Elie Wiesel (1928–2016): Romanian-born writer best-known for his Auschwitz memoir Night
- Norman Manea (1936- ), deported during the Holocaust and returned in 1945. He moved to the US in 1986. See e.g. The hooligan's return and October, Eight O'Clock. (*)
- Herta Müller (1953- ): Nobel laureate. Much of her writing deals with her background as a member of Romania's German-speaking minority, e.g. The land of green plums. She has lived in Germany since 1987.
- Mira Feticu (1973- ): Romanian exile who writes in Dutch and Romanian. Her recent works include Liefdesverklaring aan de Nederlandse taal, “love-letter to the Dutch language”. (*)
Bonus:
- The last world (2008) by Austrian writer Christoph Ransmayr is a fascinating anachronistic novel about Ovid in exile.
5thorold
Ukraine and Russian Black Sea coast
Russia and Ukraine were both part of the Russian Empire and USSR for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, with little official recognition for national distinctions between them. As we all know, they are currently at war, with Russia occupying part of Ukraine's territory. Assigning any given writer as "Ukrainian" or "Russian" is therefore both difficult and controversial, on any number of levels. Please use your own judgment: I'm going to lump them into rather arbitrary categories:
Ukrainian writers, i.e. people from the modern nation of Ukraine, as well as writers from Soviet times or before who wrote with a clear Ukrainian nationalist slant:
- Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861): Widely regarded as Ukraine's national poet, Shevchenko's poetry and political writings played a crucial role in fostering Ukrainian national consciousness during the 19th century. See e.g. his first poetry collection Kobzar (1840).
- Ivan Franko (1856–1916): A prominent Ukrainian writer and political activist, active in all sorts of fields from epic verse to folk-tales.
- Lesya Ukrainka (1871–1913): One of Ukraine's most important female writers, who explored themes of national identity, social inequality, and women's rights. She wrote poetry, plays, and novels. Many of her works were translated during her lifetime, the only fairly recent edition in English seems to be a collection published in the 70s as Spirit of flame.
-Oksana Zabuzhko (1960- ): prominent Ukrainian feminist writer, her works include Fieldwork in Ukrainian sex and The Museum of Abandoned Secrets. She addressed a plenary session of the European Parliament last year.
- Andreï Kourkov (1961- ): Kyiv-based novelist, famous for Death and the penguin
Not otherwise provided for:
Marina Lewycka (1946- ): is actually a British writer of Ukrainian descent (she was born in a refugee camp in Germany) who writes in English, famous especially for her novel about Ukrainian emigrant workers, A short history of tractors in Ukrainian.
The Guardian ran an article in April last year about how some Ukrainian writers are responding to the war: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/apr/08/how-ukrainian-writers-and-artist...
Another Guardian article, from October 2022, in which Ukrainian and foreign writers attending the Lviv book forum reflect on the role of writers in war. One of the participants is novelist Victoria Amelina, who is reported to have been seriously injured in a Russian missile attack on Kramatorsk last week. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/06/hope-matters-ukrainian-and-interna...
Russia and Ukraine were both part of the Russian Empire and USSR for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, with little official recognition for national distinctions between them. As we all know, they are currently at war, with Russia occupying part of Ukraine's territory. Assigning any given writer as "Ukrainian" or "Russian" is therefore both difficult and controversial, on any number of levels. Please use your own judgment: I'm going to lump them into rather arbitrary categories:
Ukrainian writers, i.e. people from the modern nation of Ukraine, as well as writers from Soviet times or before who wrote with a clear Ukrainian nationalist slant:
- Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861): Widely regarded as Ukraine's national poet, Shevchenko's poetry and political writings played a crucial role in fostering Ukrainian national consciousness during the 19th century. See e.g. his first poetry collection Kobzar (1840).
- Ivan Franko (1856–1916): A prominent Ukrainian writer and political activist, active in all sorts of fields from epic verse to folk-tales.
- Lesya Ukrainka (1871–1913): One of Ukraine's most important female writers, who explored themes of national identity, social inequality, and women's rights. She wrote poetry, plays, and novels. Many of her works were translated during her lifetime, the only fairly recent edition in English seems to be a collection published in the 70s as Spirit of flame.
-Oksana Zabuzhko (1960- ): prominent Ukrainian feminist writer, her works include Fieldwork in Ukrainian sex and The Museum of Abandoned Secrets. She addressed a plenary session of the European Parliament last year.
- Andreï Kourkov (1961- ): Kyiv-based novelist, famous for Death and the penguin
Not otherwise provided for:
Marina Lewycka (1946- ): is actually a British writer of Ukrainian descent (she was born in a refugee camp in Germany) who writes in English, famous especially for her novel about Ukrainian emigrant workers, A short history of tractors in Ukrainian.
The Guardian ran an article in April last year about how some Ukrainian writers are responding to the war: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/apr/08/how-ukrainian-writers-and-artist...
Another Guardian article, from October 2022, in which Ukrainian and foreign writers attending the Lviv book forum reflect on the role of writers in war. One of the participants is novelist Victoria Amelina, who is reported to have been seriously injured in a Russian missile attack on Kramatorsk last week. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/06/hope-matters-ukrainian-and-interna...
6thorold
Russia
Books with Black Sea coast or (Soviet or earlier) Ukrainian settings by Russian writers who didn't specifically identify as Ukrainian, or writers with that geographical background:
- Taras Bulba by Nikolai Gogol (1835): the story of a Cossack family and their struggles during the turbulent times of Ukrainian history.
- Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910): not especially regional, but he did write a few relevant things, e.g. The Sebastopol sketches, stories based on his experience of the Crimean War of the 1850s.
- The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov (1926): Set in Kyiv during the Ukrainian War of Independence, Bulgakov's novel delves into the lives of the Turbin family, capturing the chaos and uncertainty of the time.
- Teffi (1875-1952): in Memories: from Moscow to the Black Sea she describes travelling through Russia and Ukraine in 1918, in the immediate aftermath of the revolution.
- Aleksandr Grin (1880-1932): another fan of Odessa and sailor who knew the Black Sea well and whose adventure fantasies are intensely inspired by it. Worth mentioning also as an unusual figure, as apolitical a writer as anyone could be in the USSR. (*)
- Der Nister (1884–1950): Yiddish writer, best known for The family Mashber. Born in Ukraine but lived in many other parts of Russia during his life.(*)
- Isaac Babel (1894–1940): a Jewish writer from an Odessa merchant family — his Odessa stories are the most obviously relevant
- Ilya Ilf (1897-1937) and Yevgeny Petrov (1902-1942): a hugely popular comic writing duo from Odessa. See e.g. The twelve chairs
- Yuri Olesha (1899-1960): friend of Babel and Ilf, born and raised in the Ukraine, Odessa is the background for many of his works (*)
- Vasily Grossman (1905-1964): was a Jewish writer who grew up in Ukraine. His major novels Life and fate and Everything flows were suppressed during Soviet times.
- Mikhail Sholokhov (1905-1984): the 1965 Nobel laureate came from the Don basin, he's best-known for And quiet flows the Don.
- Lyudmila Ulitskaya (1943- ): her version of Medea and her children is set in the Crimea
Not otherwise provided for:
- Kurban Said (or Essad Bey, born Lev Nussimbaum, 1905-1942): a decided eccentric who poses a whole string of geographic challenges. Born into a Jewish family in Kyiv, he had a Georgian father and grew up mostly in Baku, but settled in Berlin after the Russian revolution. He became a prolific writer in German, setting himself up as a convert to Islam and an expert on Caucasian questions. He was also involved with all kinds of fringe far-right politics (this in a period when mainstream far-right politics meant the Nazis...).
Books with Black Sea coast or (Soviet or earlier) Ukrainian settings by Russian writers who didn't specifically identify as Ukrainian, or writers with that geographical background:
- Taras Bulba by Nikolai Gogol (1835): the story of a Cossack family and their struggles during the turbulent times of Ukrainian history.
- Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910): not especially regional, but he did write a few relevant things, e.g. The Sebastopol sketches, stories based on his experience of the Crimean War of the 1850s.
- The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov (1926): Set in Kyiv during the Ukrainian War of Independence, Bulgakov's novel delves into the lives of the Turbin family, capturing the chaos and uncertainty of the time.
- Teffi (1875-1952): in Memories: from Moscow to the Black Sea she describes travelling through Russia and Ukraine in 1918, in the immediate aftermath of the revolution.
- Aleksandr Grin (1880-1932): another fan of Odessa and sailor who knew the Black Sea well and whose adventure fantasies are intensely inspired by it. Worth mentioning also as an unusual figure, as apolitical a writer as anyone could be in the USSR. (*)
- Der Nister (1884–1950): Yiddish writer, best known for The family Mashber. Born in Ukraine but lived in many other parts of Russia during his life.(*)
- Isaac Babel (1894–1940): a Jewish writer from an Odessa merchant family — his Odessa stories are the most obviously relevant
- Ilya Ilf (1897-1937) and Yevgeny Petrov (1902-1942): a hugely popular comic writing duo from Odessa. See e.g. The twelve chairs
- Yuri Olesha (1899-1960): friend of Babel and Ilf, born and raised in the Ukraine, Odessa is the background for many of his works (*)
- Vasily Grossman (1905-1964): was a Jewish writer who grew up in Ukraine. His major novels Life and fate and Everything flows were suppressed during Soviet times.
- Mikhail Sholokhov (1905-1984): the 1965 Nobel laureate came from the Don basin, he's best-known for And quiet flows the Don.
- Lyudmila Ulitskaya (1943- ): her version of Medea and her children is set in the Crimea
Not otherwise provided for:
- Kurban Said (or Essad Bey, born Lev Nussimbaum, 1905-1942): a decided eccentric who poses a whole string of geographic challenges. Born into a Jewish family in Kyiv, he had a Georgian father and grew up mostly in Baku, but settled in Berlin after the Russian revolution. He became a prolific writer in German, setting himself up as a convert to Islam and an expert on Caucasian questions. He was also involved with all kinds of fringe far-right politics (this in a period when mainstream far-right politics meant the Nazis...).
7thorold
Georgia
- Shota Rustaveli (ca. 1160–1216): a founding figure in Georgian literature, whose work ties in with contemporary Byzantine and Persian poetry. Author of the epic poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin.
- Akaki Tsereteli (1840-1915): A celebrated Georgian poet and national hero, Tsereteli's poetry doesn't seem to have been translated much.
- Fazil Iskander (1929–2016): well-known Soviet era novelist, born in Georgia of Abkhazian and Iranian descent. Best-known in English for the picaresque Sandro of Chegem
- Otar Chiladze (1933–2009): one of the main writers of post-Stalin Georgia, known e.g. for his first novel A Man Was Going Down the Road, a Georgian view of the Jason and Medea story.
- Nana Ekvtimishvili (1978- ): filmmaker and novelist, mainly known for her novel The pear field, about an orphanage in post-Soviet Georgia.
- Nino Haratischwili (1983- ): A contemporary Georgian-German writer, Haratischwili gained international recognition for her novel The Eighth Life (For Brilka), which tells the story of a Georgian family across generations.
Not otherwise provided for:
- Odette Keun (1888–1978): Known to English readers mostly as the least sympathetic of H G Wells's many mistresses, she came from a Dutch merchant family in Turkey and wrote mostly in French. A left-wing journalist, she worked with the independent Menshevik government of Georgia after the revolution, until she was forced to leave when the Russians arrived. In the land of the Golden Fleece is about her experiences in Georgia, and My adventures in Bolshevik Russia describes what happened after the British (illegally) deported her from Turkey to Crimea.
- Shota Rustaveli (ca. 1160–1216): a founding figure in Georgian literature, whose work ties in with contemporary Byzantine and Persian poetry. Author of the epic poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin.
- Akaki Tsereteli (1840-1915): A celebrated Georgian poet and national hero, Tsereteli's poetry doesn't seem to have been translated much.
- Fazil Iskander (1929–2016): well-known Soviet era novelist, born in Georgia of Abkhazian and Iranian descent. Best-known in English for the picaresque Sandro of Chegem
- Otar Chiladze (1933–2009): one of the main writers of post-Stalin Georgia, known e.g. for his first novel A Man Was Going Down the Road, a Georgian view of the Jason and Medea story.
- Nana Ekvtimishvili (1978- ): filmmaker and novelist, mainly known for her novel The pear field, about an orphanage in post-Soviet Georgia.
- Nino Haratischwili (1983- ): A contemporary Georgian-German writer, Haratischwili gained international recognition for her novel The Eighth Life (For Brilka), which tells the story of a Georgian family across generations.
Not otherwise provided for:
- Odette Keun (1888–1978): Known to English readers mostly as the least sympathetic of H G Wells's many mistresses, she came from a Dutch merchant family in Turkey and wrote mostly in French. A left-wing journalist, she worked with the independent Menshevik government of Georgia after the revolution, until she was forced to leave when the Russians arrived. In the land of the Golden Fleece is about her experiences in Georgia, and My adventures in Bolshevik Russia describes what happened after the British (illegally) deported her from Turkey to Crimea.
8thorold
Turkey
Obviously, the problem with Turkey is to decide whether or not Istanbul "counts" for this theme — it's not a Black Sea city, but of course it has a uniquely important strategic and economic role for the whole Black Sea region. And it's at the centre of many things in Turkish life, including literature. Decide for yourself...
These first three all came up as classic Turkish writers in my searches, but don't seem to have been widely translated, if at all:
- Namık Kemal (1840-1888): A prominent writer, journalist, and playwright during the late Ottoman period.
- Fatma Aliye Topuz (1862-1936): one of the first female novelists in Turkish literature
- Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil (1867–1945): Uşaklıgil was a pioneering Turkish novelist and playwright known for his realistic and psychological works.
More recently:
- Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar (1901–1962): born in Istanbul, of Georgian descent. Author of The Time Regulation Institute
- Sait Faik Abasıyanık (1906-1954): born in Adapazarı, close to the Black Sea, and a well-known short-story writer. A Useless Man: Selected Stories is available in English.
- Yasar Kemal (1923–2015): well-known for e.g. Memet, my hawk, but he was from the SE of Turkey, so a bit out of our way
- Tezer Özlü (1943–1986): known for her 1980 novel Cold nights of childhood, which seems to be a sort of Turkish counterpart of The bell jar.
- Ahmet Altan (1950- ): wrote the prison memoir I will never see the world again after being locked up by the Erdogan regime, accused of having sent out “subliminal messages” on the eve of the 2016 attempted coup. (*)
- Orhan Pamuk (1952- ): best-known modern Turkish writer outside Turkey, Nobel laureate, from Istanbul. See e.g. My name is red and Istanbul, memories and the city
- Elif Shafak (1972- ): possibly overtaking Pamuk as a Turkish writer known to foreigners now, she's from a diplomatic family and grew up in various countries, but the city of Istanbul is at the centre of most of her novels.
Obviously, the problem with Turkey is to decide whether or not Istanbul "counts" for this theme — it's not a Black Sea city, but of course it has a uniquely important strategic and economic role for the whole Black Sea region. And it's at the centre of many things in Turkish life, including literature. Decide for yourself...
These first three all came up as classic Turkish writers in my searches, but don't seem to have been widely translated, if at all:
- Namık Kemal (1840-1888): A prominent writer, journalist, and playwright during the late Ottoman period.
- Fatma Aliye Topuz (1862-1936): one of the first female novelists in Turkish literature
- Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil (1867–1945): Uşaklıgil was a pioneering Turkish novelist and playwright known for his realistic and psychological works.
More recently:
- Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar (1901–1962): born in Istanbul, of Georgian descent. Author of The Time Regulation Institute
- Sait Faik Abasıyanık (1906-1954): born in Adapazarı, close to the Black Sea, and a well-known short-story writer. A Useless Man: Selected Stories is available in English.
- Yasar Kemal (1923–2015): well-known for e.g. Memet, my hawk, but he was from the SE of Turkey, so a bit out of our way
- Tezer Özlü (1943–1986): known for her 1980 novel Cold nights of childhood, which seems to be a sort of Turkish counterpart of The bell jar.
- Ahmet Altan (1950- ): wrote the prison memoir I will never see the world again after being locked up by the Erdogan regime, accused of having sent out “subliminal messages” on the eve of the 2016 attempted coup. (*)
- Orhan Pamuk (1952- ): best-known modern Turkish writer outside Turkey, Nobel laureate, from Istanbul. See e.g. My name is red and Istanbul, memories and the city
- Elif Shafak (1972- ): possibly overtaking Pamuk as a Turkish writer known to foreigners now, she's from a diplomatic family and grew up in various countries, but the city of Istanbul is at the centre of most of her novels.
9thorold
General stuff
(background, not necessarily part of the theme)
History/travel:
- Neal Ascherson's Black Sea (1995) seems to be the book to go for if you want a general history of the region.
- there's also the more recent The Black Sea: a history (2005) by Charles King
- Danube by Claudio Magris
- The towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay — a travel book pretending to be a novel
- Keraban the inflexible by Jules Verne — I don’t know this one, but the plot seems to involve a trip round the entire Black Sea
- The wonderful adventures of Mrs Seacole in many lands by Mary Seacole — a black Jamaican woman describes her experiences running a soldiers’ canteen and dressing-station during the Crimean War on her own initiative after Miss Nightingale refused to have anything to do with her. Ghost-written, and probably not very reliable, but fun.
Peripheral:
- The whispering muse by Sjón — Icelandic take on the Jason story
(background, not necessarily part of the theme)
History/travel:
- Neal Ascherson's Black Sea (1995) seems to be the book to go for if you want a general history of the region.
- there's also the more recent The Black Sea: a history (2005) by Charles King
- Danube by Claudio Magris
- The towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay — a travel book pretending to be a novel
- Keraban the inflexible by Jules Verne — I don’t know this one, but the plot seems to involve a trip round the entire Black Sea
- The wonderful adventures of Mrs Seacole in many lands by Mary Seacole — a black Jamaican woman describes her experiences running a soldiers’ canteen and dressing-station during the Crimean War on her own initiative after Miss Nightingale refused to have anything to do with her. Ghost-written, and probably not very reliable, but fun.
Peripheral:
- The whispering muse by Sjón — Icelandic take on the Jason story
10EMS_24
Maybe I have someone peripheral, our Romenian/Hagian Mira Feticu, https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mira_Feticu. I don't think her writings are translated in English. She publishes in Dutch at the moment. I like her fresh view.
11thorold
>10 EMS_24: Oh, I should have a look. Sounds interesting.
12thorold
…and it’s the 1st of July, so the theme is officially open.
I’ve started reading Border: a journey to the edge of Europe to get right into the theme.
I had a quick look to see what I’ve already got lined up in the anoxic zone of my TBR pile that could be relevant, and came up with:
- The island of missing trees by Elif Shafak (Turkey)
- De trein naar Triëst by Dominica Radulescu (Romania)
- The last days of the Ottoman Empire by Ryan Gingeras (background)
I expect I’ll add to that (and possibly not even get to those!) — there were quite a few things I came across while researching the posts above that look interesting.
I’ve started reading Border: a journey to the edge of Europe to get right into the theme.
I had a quick look to see what I’ve already got lined up in the anoxic zone of my TBR pile that could be relevant, and came up with:
- The island of missing trees by Elif Shafak (Turkey)
- De trein naar Triëst by Dominica Radulescu (Romania)
- The last days of the Ottoman Empire by Ryan Gingeras (background)
I expect I’ll add to that (and possibly not even get to those!) — there were quite a few things I came across while researching the posts above that look interesting.
14labfs39
Thank you for the great setup, Mark! So many enticing choices. I've been in a bit of a reading slump, but will participate as I can. White Guard and Memories: from Moscow to the Black Sea have both been on my shelves forever and deserve to be read. Jewish author Der Nister was born in Ukraine, but had to move a lot. His Family Mashber also deserves a look-see from me, but it's a bit of a doorstop, which I'm not sure I'm up for at the moment. If nonfiction counts, I have Red Famine on my to-read shelves as well, and which I hope to get to soonish.
I would like to add I will never see the world again : the memoir of an imprisoned writer by Ahmet Altan to the suggestions for Turkey. I read it last year and was blown away by both the story and the writing.
Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov won the International Booker this year, and I enjoyed it quite a bit, especially in the rearview mirror. A good addition to the Bulgaria list.
I would like to add I will never see the world again : the memoir of an imprisoned writer by Ahmet Altan to the suggestions for Turkey. I read it last year and was blown away by both the story and the writing.
Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov won the International Booker this year, and I enjoyed it quite a bit, especially in the rearview mirror. A good addition to the Bulgaria list.
15SassyLassy
Looks like a really interesting quarter.
Another author from Romania is Norman Manea, born 1936, deported during the Holocaust and returned in 1945. He moved to the US in 1986. I've read his October, Eight O'Clock and would like to read more.
Another author from Romania is Norman Manea, born 1936, deported during the Holocaust and returned in 1945. He moved to the US in 1986. I've read his October, Eight O'Clock and would like to read more.
16LolaWalser
Thorough and informative as ever, Mark... a few more suggestions, selected for probable availability in English:
Romania--Paul Celan, Emil Cioran, Max Blecher, Tudor Arghezi, Panait Istrati
Russia/Ukraine--Yuri Olesha (a friend of Babel and Ilf, born and raised in the Ukraine, Odessa is the background for many of his works), Aleksandr Grin -- not a Ukrainian, but another fan of Odessa and sailor who knew the Black Sea well and whose adventure fantasies are intensely inspired by it. Worth mentioning also as an unusual figure, as apolitical a writer as anyone could be in the USSR.
Romania--Paul Celan, Emil Cioran, Max Blecher, Tudor Arghezi, Panait Istrati
Russia/Ukraine--Yuri Olesha (a friend of Babel and Ilf, born and raised in the Ukraine, Odessa is the background for many of his works), Aleksandr Grin -- not a Ukrainian, but another fan of Odessa and sailor who knew the Black Sea well and whose adventure fantasies are intensely inspired by it. Worth mentioning also as an unusual figure, as apolitical a writer as anyone could be in the USSR.
17thorold
>15 SassyLassy: >16 LolaWalser: Thanks, both!
Alexander Grin was a name that came up already a couple of times in my research, but I held back as I wasn’t quite sure where he fitted in. So easy to forget where people like Canetti and Celan originally came from, too…
Alexander Grin was a name that came up already a couple of times in my research, but I held back as I wasn’t quite sure where he fitted in. So easy to forget where people like Canetti and Celan originally came from, too…
18thorold
>5 thorold: The Guardian has published a translation of a poem by Victoria Amelina, the Ukrainian writer fatally injured in the Kramatorsk missile attack: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/03/poem-about-a-crow-a-work-by-the-ki...
19cindydavid4
>2 thorold: at first I thought we'd done this already but was thinking of Baltic Sea. For once its easy for me to choose an area. For some reason that Ive never understood, Ive been in Bulgarian folklore kick, the dancing, the music, the singing, and actually have not read all that much of its connection to the sea. Will start there I suppose. will peruse your list above and see what catches me.
I must also recommend Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea for Russia. Teffe was a well known and popular journatlist pre revollution. this book recounts her escape from russia; excllent writer, she has a satiric bite that is quite fun.
Also looking at Ukrania, where my family is from (tho kinda fluid with poland depending on what decade....) so those are possibilities s well
I must also recommend Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea for Russia. Teffe was a well known and popular journatlist pre revollution. this book recounts her escape from russia; excllent writer, she has a satiric bite that is quite fun.
Also looking at Ukrania, where my family is from (tho kinda fluid with poland depending on what decade....) so those are possibilities s well
20thorold
I finished my first book for this theme (well, I had a start over everyone else...):
Border : a journey to the edge of Europe (2017) by Kapka Kassabova (Bulgaria, Scotland, etc., 1973- )
During Kapka Kassabova's childhood, Bulgaria's southern border was part of the Iron Curtain, a mysterious and deadly zone, out of bounds to everyone except border guards and a few specially vetted and supervised shepherds and foresters, a place where desperate East Germans would make futile attempts to escape to the West under the pretext of beach holidays by the Black Sea. Now it's the southern frontier of the European Union, the point where desperate people from countries like Syria are trying to get in.
Kassabova returns to the region to explore this border, from both sides, visiting the Strandja mountains on the Black Sea coast, the Rhodope mountains in the west, and the Thracian plain around Edirne (Adrianople) in between the two. This isn't the kind of travel book that has a lot of actual travel in it, though: she is more interested in people and their stories than in scenery or buildings, so she takes the time to stay where she is, sit in cafés, and let the locals come and talk to her. She finds out about local practices and beliefs that seem to go back a long way before Christianity and Islam (firewalking, divination, sacred springs, etc.), about smugglers, treasure-hunters and former border guards, about the region's many minority groups, and about the uncountable individual human tragedies that go with the "bigger historical picture", from the pre-WWI Balkan Wars and the Treaty of Lausanne right through to Bulgaria's forced de-islamisation programme of the late eighties and the Syrian refugee crisis that was at its height while she was researching this book.
Fascinating, and very engaging writing. The tone and emphasis are quite different, but there was a lot of overlap of interest and sympathies that made me think of Paddy Leigh Fermor's Roumeli.
Border : a journey to the edge of Europe (2017) by Kapka Kassabova (Bulgaria, Scotland, etc., 1973- )
During Kapka Kassabova's childhood, Bulgaria's southern border was part of the Iron Curtain, a mysterious and deadly zone, out of bounds to everyone except border guards and a few specially vetted and supervised shepherds and foresters, a place where desperate East Germans would make futile attempts to escape to the West under the pretext of beach holidays by the Black Sea. Now it's the southern frontier of the European Union, the point where desperate people from countries like Syria are trying to get in.
Kassabova returns to the region to explore this border, from both sides, visiting the Strandja mountains on the Black Sea coast, the Rhodope mountains in the west, and the Thracian plain around Edirne (Adrianople) in between the two. This isn't the kind of travel book that has a lot of actual travel in it, though: she is more interested in people and their stories than in scenery or buildings, so she takes the time to stay where she is, sit in cafés, and let the locals come and talk to her. She finds out about local practices and beliefs that seem to go back a long way before Christianity and Islam (firewalking, divination, sacred springs, etc.), about smugglers, treasure-hunters and former border guards, about the region's many minority groups, and about the uncountable individual human tragedies that go with the "bigger historical picture", from the pre-WWI Balkan Wars and the Treaty of Lausanne right through to Bulgaria's forced de-islamisation programme of the late eighties and the Syrian refugee crisis that was at its height while she was researching this book.
Fascinating, and very engaging writing. The tone and emphasis are quite different, but there was a lot of overlap of interest and sympathies that made me think of Paddy Leigh Fermor's Roumeli.
21thorold
And this was a random find last week. Marc Jansen is a historian of Russia and Eastern Europe, currently an (emeritus) professor in Amsterdam, who has acted as an OSCE election observer in numerous parts of the region:
Belaagd paradijs: een geschiedenis van Georgië (2021) by Marc Jansen (Netherlands, 1946- )
As Marc Jansen points out in his introduction to this short (150 pages plus notes) history, Georgia has some strong claims in the "earthly paradise" stakes: beautiful landscape, fertile valleys, a gentle climate, and a culture based around five-hour lunches. And the second-longest Christian tradition in the world (it adopted Christianity just a few years after Armenia).
Unfortunately, it soon turns out that Georgia has also faced some pretty tough historical challenges, in the shape of large, aggressive neighbours. Rome/Byzantium/Ottoman Turkey in the west, Persia, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane in the East, and since the 18th century, Russia in the north. Georgian culture has only really been able to flourish in the periods when one or more of these neighbours was weak or distracted elsewhere, as it did during the "golden age" of the 11th century. At other times the country has often been weak, split into rival principalities that became clients of the big neighbours.
Most of us would have trouble naming any famous Georgians apart from Stalin, Beria, and maybe Eduard Shevardnadze. None of them exactly role-models, unfortunately. Jansen devotes plenty of space to Georgia's history since the Russian revolution: the brief period of independence under the Mensheviks, absorption by the new Bolshevik state and creation of the Georgian SSR, Stalin's rise to power, the terror of the thirties and forties, varying degrees of regional autonomy under Khrushchev and Brezhnev, and then the chaos that followed the dissolution of the USSR.
As in quite a few other newly-independent territories, the first politicians who jumped on the box after Moscow let the reins go were nationalists (naive, or cynical and opportunistic: take your pick) who gained popular support by picking on minorities. In Georgia's case, the perceived threat to the non-Georgian Abkhazians and South Ossetians led to unrest and civil war that gave Russia an excuse to occupy both regions and set them up as supposedly independent states, not recognised by the UN. Which of course conveniently weakens Georgia and has left it with a legacy of political instability and difficult relations with neighbours. Not ideal for a country whose economy depends mostly on agricultural exports (and the fees it earns by transporting oil and gas across its territory).
A very interesting introduction to a country I didn't know much about. Looking forward to reading more...
——
ETA:
When I posted this in my CR thread, there was the obvious question whether this book is available in translation. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to be (at the moment), but here are some of the English books Jansen lists in his bibliography under “general history”:
- Neal Ascherson Black Sea (2007)
- Charles King The ghost of freedom: a history of the Caucasus (2008)
- Kalistrat Salia The history of the Georgian nation (1982)
- Kakha Shengelia History of Georgia from the ancient through the modern times (2016)
- Nodar Shoshiashvili (ed.) Modern history of Georgia (2020 - no touchstone)
- Ronald Grigor Suny The making of the Georgian nation (1994)
Belaagd paradijs: een geschiedenis van Georgië (2021) by Marc Jansen (Netherlands, 1946- )
As Marc Jansen points out in his introduction to this short (150 pages plus notes) history, Georgia has some strong claims in the "earthly paradise" stakes: beautiful landscape, fertile valleys, a gentle climate, and a culture based around five-hour lunches. And the second-longest Christian tradition in the world (it adopted Christianity just a few years after Armenia).
Unfortunately, it soon turns out that Georgia has also faced some pretty tough historical challenges, in the shape of large, aggressive neighbours. Rome/Byzantium/Ottoman Turkey in the west, Persia, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane in the East, and since the 18th century, Russia in the north. Georgian culture has only really been able to flourish in the periods when one or more of these neighbours was weak or distracted elsewhere, as it did during the "golden age" of the 11th century. At other times the country has often been weak, split into rival principalities that became clients of the big neighbours.
Most of us would have trouble naming any famous Georgians apart from Stalin, Beria, and maybe Eduard Shevardnadze. None of them exactly role-models, unfortunately. Jansen devotes plenty of space to Georgia's history since the Russian revolution: the brief period of independence under the Mensheviks, absorption by the new Bolshevik state and creation of the Georgian SSR, Stalin's rise to power, the terror of the thirties and forties, varying degrees of regional autonomy under Khrushchev and Brezhnev, and then the chaos that followed the dissolution of the USSR.
As in quite a few other newly-independent territories, the first politicians who jumped on the box after Moscow let the reins go were nationalists (naive, or cynical and opportunistic: take your pick) who gained popular support by picking on minorities. In Georgia's case, the perceived threat to the non-Georgian Abkhazians and South Ossetians led to unrest and civil war that gave Russia an excuse to occupy both regions and set them up as supposedly independent states, not recognised by the UN. Which of course conveniently weakens Georgia and has left it with a legacy of political instability and difficult relations with neighbours. Not ideal for a country whose economy depends mostly on agricultural exports (and the fees it earns by transporting oil and gas across its territory).
A very interesting introduction to a country I didn't know much about. Looking forward to reading more...
——
ETA:
When I posted this in my CR thread, there was the obvious question whether this book is available in translation. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to be (at the moment), but here are some of the English books Jansen lists in his bibliography under “general history”:
- Neal Ascherson Black Sea (2007)
- Charles King The ghost of freedom: a history of the Caucasus (2008)
- Kalistrat Salia The history of the Georgian nation (1982)
- Kakha Shengelia History of Georgia from the ancient through the modern times (2016)
- Nodar Shoshiashvili (ed.) Modern history of Georgia (2020 - no touchstone)
- Ronald Grigor Suny The making of the Georgian nation (1994)
22annushka
>1 thorold: What a great setup for the next 3 months! I'm well familiar with the works by Russian authors and read most of the books you listed. I have been planning to read Love and Fate by Vasily Grossman. Not sure if I'll get to it in the near future though. I'm also tempted by The Family Mashber which I started to read a while back but never finished. Lastly, I'd like to see if I can read a book by Victoria Amelina for this challenge.
23rocketjk
>4 thorold: A few years back I read Herta Muller's novel, The Appointment, which I thought was very good.
24thorold
Bulgaria in the news in a positive way for once. Well, the people responsible see it as positive, whilst everyone else seems to think it rather silly: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/18/pride-and-scorn-as-bulgaria-unveil...
…thousands of phone screens lit up the night as the cheering crowd waited for the flag to be hoisted. But when the big moment came there was disappointment as the lack of a breeze left it hanging listlessly from the pole.
25PatrickMurtha
I read Neal Ascherson’s Black Sea a number of years ago and thought it was terrific.
26thorold
>25 PatrickMurtha: I keep seeing it mentioned, must try to get to it.
27cindydavid4
just thought of another suggestion (and half thinking I might reread it) by one of my fav travel writers Patrick Leigh Fehmor The Broken Road: From the Iron Gates to Mount AthosWhen he was 18 years old he walked from Amsterdam to Istanbul. In his 30s he publised a time for gifts and between woods and the water which ends at the Iron Gates. This tells the story of his amazing journey but it wasnt until he passed a few years back that his biographer put togeth the compilation of the final journey, much of it that takes place on the coast of the Black Sea.
also have border: a journey to the edge of europe the border being Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey
also have border: a journey to the edge of europe the border being Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey
28cindydavid4
>20 thorold: reading this now. I think I know whats going on in the world but didnt realize there was such a thing as the Red Rivera, where people were spied on. I really shouldnt be surprised.
you mentioned Roumeli and I realized I havent read that,I don't know if it has anything to do with the black sea, It might be an interesting read
you mentioned Roumeli and I realized I havent read that,I don't know if it has anything to do with the black sea, It might be an interesting read
29thorold
>28 cindydavid4: Roumeli is about the Greek side of the (mid-20th century) border, so technically out of scope. But you should read it if you enjoy PLF!
30cindydavid4
Este mensaje fue borrado por su autor.
31cindydavid4
Este mensaje fue borrado por su autor.
32LolaWalser
>30 cindydavid4:
Cindy, I hope you don't mind if I comment a little, as your post comes across, to me, as quite garbled... I'll leave Bulgaria aside as I haven't read the book you're referring to and no doubt it covers the topic at length.
As for Serbia, Kosovo (and Syria?)... Historically Kosovo was the centre of the first Serbian state for centuries, until the defeat by the invading Ottomans in 1389. It's interesting to note that Serbian forces were joined (among other) by troops of Croatian, Bosnian and Albanian defenders--belying (as usual, but who listens?) the lazy, racist, reductively "ethnic" "explanations" of Balkan schisms.
The Ottoman rule in the parts dominated by South Slavs (who would eventually organise into a Yugoslav kingdom, then socialist federation) was structurally similar to, say, the colonial rule of the British in India--the goal of the colonization wasn't to transfer a large Turkish population into the conquered lands, nor to convert them to Islam en masse, like the Arabs did. The goal was to exploit them to the maximum--and with even less development than the Brits conceded to India (although the latter happened not through some special humane concern but simply because the circumstances of governing such a gigantic region demanded it).
The Ottomans consolidated their rule by carefully selective choice of converts--thus, originally, Bosnians who converted to Islam tended to be wealthy landowners, people with influence. Obviously they were traitors in the eyes of the nation and the poorer masses, the "reaya", those who were exposed to limitless exploitation. Perhaps the most horrendously cruel habit of the Ottomans was the annual harvest of Christian children to be raised as janissaries, an act of such psychological traumatisation that it created the worst, the most hateful militaries turned on their own relatives.
One of the points is that there were relatively few actual Turks in these countries--the vast majority of Bosnian and Montenegrin Muslims were and are converted Slavs, and originally they joined the Ottomans in oppressing a much larger population of Christians.
The Ottoman invasion caused huge upheavals of populations--famously, the exodus of Serbs toward North and West (where they would form a border force, the Krajina). Kosovo, worshiped as the cradle of Serbian civilization, nearly emptied of people lay open for Islamization (as did other regions in the south). This began the demographic change whose result in the late 20th century was the imposition of the independent Kosovo, with an Albanian Muslim majority and a small Serbian minority.
So talking about a war between "Serbia and Kosovo" makes more or less sense depending on the historical context. In socialist Yugoslavia Kosovo, which already had an Albanian majority (poorest region but highest natality), had the status of an autonomous province. The rights granted to the ethnic minorities in Yugoslavia were the greatest in all of Europe. This wasn't enough to a silly faction of Albanian irredentists clamouring for unification with Albania. The resulting violence against Serbs, increasing from year to year and causing many among them to emigrate, gave platform to a banker turned nationalist leader...
the serbs doing the same to their muslims
This may be pedantry, but it may be worth noting that, actually, there ARE regions in Serbia proper with majority Muslim population (originally Slav converts and various immigrants from earlier--pre-20th c.--centuries). Although ethnicity and religion are usually coupled in predictable schemes in the Balkans, the main problem with Kosovo, from Serbian POV, were Albanian separatists, not Islam per se. Montenegro also has a sizeable Muslim (again, converted Slav) population, and even at the height of the fighting no one was calling for their expulsion either.
Bosnia was vulnerable above all and exposed to worst atrocities because both the Serbs and the Croats wouldn't have minded seeing it partitioned between them.
The mention of Syria (or Syria's Muslims?) stumps me. If anyone has been forced out of Syria on a faith basis, it was the Christians and the Jews, not Muslims. That the majority of Syrian refugees are Muslim, sure, so is the population. They've been forced out by a civil war led by Muslims on all sides.
Cindy, I hope you don't mind if I comment a little, as your post comes across, to me, as quite garbled... I'll leave Bulgaria aside as I haven't read the book you're referring to and no doubt it covers the topic at length.
As for Serbia, Kosovo (and Syria?)... Historically Kosovo was the centre of the first Serbian state for centuries, until the defeat by the invading Ottomans in 1389. It's interesting to note that Serbian forces were joined (among other) by troops of Croatian, Bosnian and Albanian defenders--belying (as usual, but who listens?) the lazy, racist, reductively "ethnic" "explanations" of Balkan schisms.
The Ottoman rule in the parts dominated by South Slavs (who would eventually organise into a Yugoslav kingdom, then socialist federation) was structurally similar to, say, the colonial rule of the British in India--the goal of the colonization wasn't to transfer a large Turkish population into the conquered lands, nor to convert them to Islam en masse, like the Arabs did. The goal was to exploit them to the maximum--and with even less development than the Brits conceded to India (although the latter happened not through some special humane concern but simply because the circumstances of governing such a gigantic region demanded it).
The Ottomans consolidated their rule by carefully selective choice of converts--thus, originally, Bosnians who converted to Islam tended to be wealthy landowners, people with influence. Obviously they were traitors in the eyes of the nation and the poorer masses, the "reaya", those who were exposed to limitless exploitation. Perhaps the most horrendously cruel habit of the Ottomans was the annual harvest of Christian children to be raised as janissaries, an act of such psychological traumatisation that it created the worst, the most hateful militaries turned on their own relatives.
One of the points is that there were relatively few actual Turks in these countries--the vast majority of Bosnian and Montenegrin Muslims were and are converted Slavs, and originally they joined the Ottomans in oppressing a much larger population of Christians.
The Ottoman invasion caused huge upheavals of populations--famously, the exodus of Serbs toward North and West (where they would form a border force, the Krajina). Kosovo, worshiped as the cradle of Serbian civilization, nearly emptied of people lay open for Islamization (as did other regions in the south). This began the demographic change whose result in the late 20th century was the imposition of the independent Kosovo, with an Albanian Muslim majority and a small Serbian minority.
So talking about a war between "Serbia and Kosovo" makes more or less sense depending on the historical context. In socialist Yugoslavia Kosovo, which already had an Albanian majority (poorest region but highest natality), had the status of an autonomous province. The rights granted to the ethnic minorities in Yugoslavia were the greatest in all of Europe. This wasn't enough to a silly faction of Albanian irredentists clamouring for unification with Albania. The resulting violence against Serbs, increasing from year to year and causing many among them to emigrate, gave platform to a banker turned nationalist leader...
the serbs doing the same to their muslims
This may be pedantry, but it may be worth noting that, actually, there ARE regions in Serbia proper with majority Muslim population (originally Slav converts and various immigrants from earlier--pre-20th c.--centuries). Although ethnicity and religion are usually coupled in predictable schemes in the Balkans, the main problem with Kosovo, from Serbian POV, were Albanian separatists, not Islam per se. Montenegro also has a sizeable Muslim (again, converted Slav) population, and even at the height of the fighting no one was calling for their expulsion either.
Bosnia was vulnerable above all and exposed to worst atrocities because both the Serbs and the Croats wouldn't have minded seeing it partitioned between them.
The mention of Syria (or Syria's Muslims?) stumps me. If anyone has been forced out of Syria on a faith basis, it was the Christians and the Jews, not Muslims. That the majority of Syrian refugees are Muslim, sure, so is the population. They've been forced out by a civil war led by Muslims on all sides.
33cindydavid4
Este mensaje fue borrado por su autor.
34LolaWalser
>33 cindydavid4:
Calling Yugoslav civil war of the 1990s "the Balkan war" is confusing as 1) most of the Balkans were not involved and 2) "the Balkan war(s)" already refers to those from the early 20th century (the first of which pitted Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Bulgaria against the Ottomans, and the second Bulgaria against former allies).
Russia is kidnapping Ukranian children, Germany kidnapped Polish children and here in america, children were forcefully removed from their refugee parents, taken away and put in camps. Many have not been able to be rturned from them. Seems to be the thing, seems no country is exempt
No, sorry, it's not all the same. The Ottomans did this to the oppressed Christians for centuries and the children were taken with the express intention of turning them into the executioners and torturers of their own people. The sheer nature, scale and duration of this evil has no comparison in other cases of, as you say, "kidnapping children". Even such massive transgressions like the Canadian residential schools did not have as the final goal destruction of the original families at the hands of their own children and relatives.
Calling Yugoslav civil war of the 1990s "the Balkan war" is confusing as 1) most of the Balkans were not involved and 2) "the Balkan war(s)" already refers to those from the early 20th century (the first of which pitted Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Bulgaria against the Ottomans, and the second Bulgaria against former allies).
Russia is kidnapping Ukranian children, Germany kidnapped Polish children and here in america, children were forcefully removed from their refugee parents, taken away and put in camps. Many have not been able to be rturned from them. Seems to be the thing, seems no country is exempt
No, sorry, it's not all the same. The Ottomans did this to the oppressed Christians for centuries and the children were taken with the express intention of turning them into the executioners and torturers of their own people. The sheer nature, scale and duration of this evil has no comparison in other cases of, as you say, "kidnapping children". Even such massive transgressions like the Canadian residential schools did not have as the final goal destruction of the original families at the hands of their own children and relatives.
35cindydavid4
Este mensaje fue borrado por su autor.
36cindydavid4
Just about finished with reading broken road . Its a re read and Im having more trouble with it then I did from the first. Its the third of this authors books detailing his travels as a young man in 1936 from Amsterdam to Costantiople. It was published posthumously in 2011, following along with what he already wrote with additions from letters and diaries . Much of this book takes place along the Black Sea. I was so excited about the publication of this third book as were the fans of his earlier works, and read through it quickly, not really paying attention to the issues I now have . Wanting to finish it, but while I loved his descrriptions and attention to details Im slowing down alot, thinking he really needed an editor. But when you think of that time period just before WWII, the people and places and cultures he met that are no longer- it is a picture of that world as it was. If you are interested in his travels, his first book a time of gifts is the place to start
There is a section of the book that took my breath away. He is up in the Great Balkan Mts when he hears a noise coming from the sky:
" an distinct blur that seemed almost solid in the centre. it thinned and moved as though the wind were were blowing across a vast heap of dust or soot or feathers. this moving mass continually renewed from beyond the skyline dipped in and out of silhouette on our side of the range and began to spread wider still as it sank lower and grew larger, It was a slow airborn horde ,enormous and awe inspiring composed myriads of geese......."
There is a section of the book that took my breath away. He is up in the Great Balkan Mts when he hears a noise coming from the sky:
" an distinct blur that seemed almost solid in the centre. it thinned and moved as though the wind were were blowing across a vast heap of dust or soot or feathers. this moving mass continually renewed from beyond the skyline dipped in and out of silhouette on our side of the range and began to spread wider still as it sank lower and grew larger, It was a slow airborn horde ,enormous and awe inspiring composed myriads of geese......."
37thorold
One very long book that filled most of my recent holiday: probably the best-known recent novel about Georgia. Nino Haratischwili grew up in Tbilisi, but now lives in Hamburg. She worked extensively as a playwright and stage and film director in Germany before starting to write fiction. She writes in German.
Das achte Leben (für Brilka) (2014; The eighth life) by Nino Haratischwili (Georgia, Germany, 1983- )
Narrator Niza has used an academic post in Berlin as an escape from her complicated family background and the traumas of her early life in Georgia, but she's pushed out of this precarious comfort zone when she finds herself looking after an adolescent niece who is seeking to connect with the past.
Haratischwili takes us through six generations and a hundred years of Georgian history: two world wars, the Russian revolution and civil war, the Stalin terror, the breakup of the Soviet Union and all the rest of the general messiness of the twentieth century. The emphasis is on the innumerable scars that are left on families and individuals by war, totalitarianism, corruption, and abuse of power, and on the difficulty of healing those scars. There are no easy answers, clearly: Haratischwili wants us to see that there are wrongs done to people that can't ever fully be put right, whether we try to do it by revenge, by hiding from them, by talking about them, by letting time pass, or even by using magical chocolate recipes.
On the shelf, this looks like a ridiculously long novel, but it never really feels like such a long book when you're actually reading it. I felt that I was being pulled into the life of the family and the times they live through in a very straightforward, natural way, and I even managed to keep most of the characters straight without resorting to drawing any family trees. Very interesting.
Das achte Leben (für Brilka) (2014; The eighth life) by Nino Haratischwili (Georgia, Germany, 1983- )
Narrator Niza has used an academic post in Berlin as an escape from her complicated family background and the traumas of her early life in Georgia, but she's pushed out of this precarious comfort zone when she finds herself looking after an adolescent niece who is seeking to connect with the past.
Haratischwili takes us through six generations and a hundred years of Georgian history: two world wars, the Russian revolution and civil war, the Stalin terror, the breakup of the Soviet Union and all the rest of the general messiness of the twentieth century. The emphasis is on the innumerable scars that are left on families and individuals by war, totalitarianism, corruption, and abuse of power, and on the difficulty of healing those scars. There are no easy answers, clearly: Haratischwili wants us to see that there are wrongs done to people that can't ever fully be put right, whether we try to do it by revenge, by hiding from them, by talking about them, by letting time pass, or even by using magical chocolate recipes.
On the shelf, this looks like a ridiculously long novel, but it never really feels like such a long book when you're actually reading it. I felt that I was being pulled into the life of the family and the times they live through in a very straightforward, natural way, and I even managed to keep most of the characters straight without resorting to drawing any family trees. Very interesting.
38thorold
And a "background reading" book mentioned above several times. I was lucky enough to stumble on a cheap (and, as it turned out, much annotated!) paperback in Hay-on-Wye.
Neal Ascherson was one of Eric Hobsbawm's star pupils back in the day — and it shows! — but he chose to follow a career as a journalist, on the Guardian, Observer, Scotsman, LRB, etc., instead of going into academia. He's also written several books about Polish and Ukrainian history.
Black Sea (1995) by Neal Ascherson (UK, 1932- )
This is a thoughtful, complicated book, an amalgam of travel-writing, history, journalism, cultural studies, and all kinds of other stuff. Rather than attempting to provide a comprehensive history of the Black Sea region, Ascherson pursues a small set of topics that particularly interest him from the footprints they left in archaeology and classical literature right through to his own subjective experiences in Crimea, the northern Caucasus and and the Turkish Black Sea coast in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
We read about the complicated ecology of the sea itself and how that has been and is being studied, about the region as the most intensively-documented point of interaction between the settled urban culture of the Pontic Greeks ("civilisation") and the nomadic culture of the Scythians, Sarmatians and other "barbarian" steppe peoples. But also about how the "fanciful" stuff about Amazons in Herodotus has turned out not to be so fanciful at all ... now that archaeologists have finally bothered to ask themselves whether the warrior skeletons they found in ancient burial mounds were those of men or women. And about the wonderfully multi-culti Bosporan Kingdom, based at Panticapaeum (up the hill from modern Kerch), the real identity of the Tatars and Cossacks, and the peculiar 17th century Polish aristocratic fancy of "Sarmatian" descent. And fascinating stuff about Adam Mickiewicz in Odesa, Harold Hardrade in Micklegarth, and all sorts of other things...
If there's an underlying theme, it seems to be about how different cultures/ethnicities/languages/religions have often been able to cohabit successfully in the region for long periods, but only until their equilibrium is displaced by some set of events which allows one or more parties to believe that there's something to be gained by driving out their neighbours. More often than not, the process turns out to be horribly destructive to all parties (e.g. the Abkhazian war in the early 1990s), but somehow the knowledge of the likelihood of that kind of outcome never entirely stops humans from stirring up distrust and violence.
Neal Ascherson was one of Eric Hobsbawm's star pupils back in the day — and it shows! — but he chose to follow a career as a journalist, on the Guardian, Observer, Scotsman, LRB, etc., instead of going into academia. He's also written several books about Polish and Ukrainian history.
Black Sea (1995) by Neal Ascherson (UK, 1932- )
This is a thoughtful, complicated book, an amalgam of travel-writing, history, journalism, cultural studies, and all kinds of other stuff. Rather than attempting to provide a comprehensive history of the Black Sea region, Ascherson pursues a small set of topics that particularly interest him from the footprints they left in archaeology and classical literature right through to his own subjective experiences in Crimea, the northern Caucasus and and the Turkish Black Sea coast in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
We read about the complicated ecology of the sea itself and how that has been and is being studied, about the region as the most intensively-documented point of interaction between the settled urban culture of the Pontic Greeks ("civilisation") and the nomadic culture of the Scythians, Sarmatians and other "barbarian" steppe peoples. But also about how the "fanciful" stuff about Amazons in Herodotus has turned out not to be so fanciful at all ... now that archaeologists have finally bothered to ask themselves whether the warrior skeletons they found in ancient burial mounds were those of men or women. And about the wonderfully multi-culti Bosporan Kingdom, based at Panticapaeum (up the hill from modern Kerch), the real identity of the Tatars and Cossacks, and the peculiar 17th century Polish aristocratic fancy of "Sarmatian" descent. And fascinating stuff about Adam Mickiewicz in Odesa, Harold Hardrade in Micklegarth, and all sorts of other things...
If there's an underlying theme, it seems to be about how different cultures/ethnicities/languages/religions have often been able to cohabit successfully in the region for long periods, but only until their equilibrium is displaced by some set of events which allows one or more parties to believe that there's something to be gained by driving out their neighbours. More often than not, the process turns out to be horribly destructive to all parties (e.g. the Abkhazian war in the early 1990s), but somehow the knowledge of the likelihood of that kind of outcome never entirely stops humans from stirring up distrust and violence.
39labfs39
>37 thorold: I've had this book on my radar since it came out, but still don't have a copy. It just seems so long.
40cindydavid4
>37 thorold: justs bagged that at a used store, will be starting it short;y
41cindydavid4
Well havent finished the book,its really slow reading and got into other reads. But I am fascinated by it, and want to continue.
42thorold
Q3 is over, so this theme is now officially closed and we move on to our Q4 theme, New fiction from around the world: books originally published in 2014-2023. Sorry for the slight delay in posting the new topic!
As always, please feel free to carry on the discussion of Black Sea reading here, if you come across more interesting books for the topic.
As always, please feel free to carry on the discussion of Black Sea reading here, if you come across more interesting books for the topic.
43rocketjk
Adding in one from Ukraine. I finished an very much enjoyed Voroshilovgrad an hallucinatory novel by Ukrainian novelist and poet Serhij Zhadan. The book was written several years before the Russian invasion of the country. And yet, the book is rife with a feeling of the precariousness of the Ukrainian state in the post-Soviet era. Our protagonist Herman has a steady if somewhat shady job in a large city. But he gets a call from an old friend that his brother has suddenly disappeared, presumably to Amersterdam, urging Herman to come out to his home town and "take care of business" in his brother's absence. The "business" turns out to be a small but profitable gas station on the outskirts of the town, located on Ukraine's eastern steppes, now known as Luhansk but formerly known, during the Soviet Era, as Voroshilovgrad. The station is under seige from mysterious forces who want to force Herman to sell it, perhaps (although exact reasons remain obscure) because there is natural gas to be found in the area. There is barely a character in the story who is not mysterious and rough around the edges. Stories of the past are always blurred by secrets and mythology. The representatives from the federal government who make periodic appearances are more likely to be gangsters than legitimate government officials. Or else they're both. Travels across the empty stretches of this country are always hazardous. The people Herman runs into could be from anywhere, and the sights that pass before his eyes, especially at sundown and after dark, swirl into hallucinations and dreams.
Often, reading this novel is like stepping through thin ice and falling into a dream. But the sense of time and place is solid, and the current of hope and compassion carried me along. Highly recommended.
Often, reading this novel is like stepping through thin ice and falling into a dream. But the sense of time and place is solid, and the current of hope and compassion carried me along. Highly recommended.
