Wild Europe

by Bozidar Jezermik

Overview

Combining witty commentary with meticulous research, Jezernik reveals how "the Balkans" have been perceived by Western European travellers and experts from the mid-sixteenth to late 20th centuries: many of them have regarded the region as part of Asia, and sought accordingly to inform their contemporaries of its "exotic", "outlandish" and "primitive" ways. Exploring over a thousand first-hand reports and comparing narratives spanning nearly 500 years, the author demonstrates that the act of observing other people in their environment mirrors the observer's own culture and mentality. Thus, the impressions passed down through the ages about the Balkans say more about Western Europe in most respects than about the lands and peoples in question.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780863565748
Publisher:	Saqi Books
Publication date:	07/01/2003
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

	List of Illustrations	11
	Foreword	13
1.	The Land Where the East Begins	23
	The Least-known Corner of Europe	26
	Images in Black and White	30
	The Magic Carpet of the East	32
	River Deep, Mountain High	35
	The Balkan Ethics of Killing	39
	Islam versus Progress	40
	European Luxuries in the Hands of Barbarians	43
2.	Ladies with Greasy Fingers	47
	The Immutability of Oriental customs	49
	Observers' Work Is Never Done	53
3.	Breast-feeding Prejudice	55
	Hairy Fish	57
	Advantages and Deficiencies of the Empirical Methods	61
	Presumptuous Thieves	64
	Breasts Down to the Navel	67
4.	Males with Tails	77
	The Satyre Islands	79
	The Serbian Sea	86
5.	Eyes that Cannot See	89
	The Eyes of Princess Simonida	91
	Infernal Torment Dante Never Knew	93
	The Material Basis of Superstition	97
6.	The Romantic Charm of Freedom	103
	Exaggerated Romance or Actual History	104
	Nationality and Liberty	105
	The Petrified Ocean	106
	Baptism of Muslims on Christmas Eve	108
	The Stronger and the Weaker Sex	109
	Photogenic Knights	115
	Prison as a Yardstick	118
7.	Passionate About Head-hunting	121
	The First Reports	122
	Bowling with Heads	124
	Heads in Bags	127
	The Strength of Custom	127
	An Enemy's Nose for a Wife	130
	The Wine of Honour	132
	Unmissable Sight for Travellers to the Orient	134
	It Is Hard to Get to Heaven with Only One Leg	140
	Four Eyes See More than Two	140
	Tower of the Skulls	143
8.	Where Paradise Was but a Sip of Hellish Brew Away	147
	Black as the Devil	147
	Coffee and Cigarettes for People with Nerves of Steel	151
	Balkan Coffee Houses	151
	Coffee Houses in the Imperial City	154
	Coffee-house Politics	155
	Cannon Balls in Tune with National Music	162
	Peace of Mind and Locke's Maxim	165
9.	A True Comedy of Errors	170
	A Macedoine	171
	Sons of Alexander the Great	172
	Balkan Geography and Statistics	173
	The Megale Idea	178
	Nationality and Religion	179
	The Descendants of the French Crusaders	181
	The Bulgarian Threat	183
	Greater Serbia	184
10.	A Bridge Between Barbarity and Civilisation	191
	A Stone Arch Above a Torrent	191
	Roman Bridges from the Nineteenth Century	196
	The Importance of Identity	203
11.	Little Parises and Large Bucharests	206
	The Eastern Queen with a Dirty Face	206
	Mosques and Minarets	212
	Art Lovers on the Acropolis	216
	Dante and Boccaccio in Albanian Towns	220
	Europe and Asia Face to Face	221
	Scenes from the Thousand and One Nights	223
	The Ousting of the Balkan Spirit	227
	Notes	235
	Bibliography	280
	Index	312