The book in some sections resembles a novel. In addition to being a travelogue and a history, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon is a forum for West's forcefully argued views on a variety of topics, ranging from relations between men and women, to art and music, to the nature of empires and questions of metaphysics. (In modern spelling, one "s" for Kosovo is preferred, rather than West's "Kossovo".) In the epilogue (written in 1941, two years after the outbreak of World War II) she praised Yugoslavia for refusing to capitulate to Nazi Germany. She repeatedly refers to the devastation that followed the famous battle of Kossovo in 1389, in which the Serbs were defeated by the Turks, and which led to five hundred years of Turkish rule. In her travels, West became an admirer of the Serbs and their culture, often contrasting it favorably with the West.
Her aim in writing Black Lamb and Grey Falcon was to show the Balkan past alongside the present it created. Since the war had affected West's own life - as it had all members of West's generation - she wanted to understand how and why it happened.
West admits that before she visited the region, she knew almost nothing about it, other than that events in the Balkans (notably the assassination of Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914) had led to World War I. It is also a vivid account of the violent history of the Balkans going back many hundreds of years. This immensely long book, which runs to 1150 pages, is much more than a travelogue, however. Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey through Yugoslavia is a record of her travels. 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.From 1936 to 1938, journalist and novelist Rebecca West made three trips to Yugoslavia. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines.
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.įor more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world.
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. 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. one of the great books of our time." - The New Yorker
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