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Balkan Beauty, Balkan Blood

Author: Robert Elsie

Publisher: Northwestern University Press

Published: 2006-07-07

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 0810123371

In these stories representing the last three decades of Albanian writing--especially the burst of creativity in the newfound freedom of the 1990s--readers will encounter work that reflects the literary paradox of Eastern Europe in the late twentieth century: the startling originality of the new uneasily coupled with the strains of history; the sophistication and self-consciousness of late (or post-) modernity married to the simplicity of a literature first finding its voice; a refusal of political influence and pressure expressed through frankly political subject matter.

Balkan Blues

Author: Joanna Labon

Publisher: Northwestern University Press

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 9780810113251

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Essays, stories and a play set in Yugoslavia. The title piece, written by Dubravka Ugresic, is a satire on murderous folklore, while Bogdan Bogdanovic's The City of Death is on Belgrade.

The Balkans in World History

Author: Andrew Baruch Wachtel

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2008-11-05

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 0199882738

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In the historical and literary imagination, the Balkans loom large as a somewhat frightening and ill-defined space, often seen negatively as a region of small and spiteful peoples, racked by racial and ethnic hatred, always ready to burst into violent conflict. The Balkans in World History re-defines this space in positive terms, taking as a starting point the cultural, historical, and social threads that allow us to see this region as a coherent if complex whole. Eminent historian Andrew Wachtel here depicts the Balkans as that borderland geographical space in which four of the world's greatest civilizations have overlapped in a sustained and meaningful way to produce a complex, dynamic, sometimes combustible, multi-layered local civilization. It is the space in which the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome, of Byzantium, of Ottoman Turkey, and of Roman Catholic Europe met, clashed and sometimes combined. The history of the Balkans is thus a history of creative borrowing by local people of the various civilizations that have nominally conquered the region. Encompassing Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey, the Balkans have absorbed many voices and traditions, resulting in one of the most complex and interesting regions on earth.

Closed for Repairs

Author: Nancy Alonso

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13:

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Closed for Repairs is a series of eleven vignettes that depict Cuban ingenuity in the face of urban problems. Each solution is framed with humor and irony and gives a glimpse of life on the island today. In a clever fashion, Nancy Alonso shows us the spirit of resolve on the part of Cubans when faced with such issues as transportation problems, lack of water, and the shortage of consumer goods and construction materials caused by the embargo. Illuminating the endurance and resilience of the Cuban people, these stories will make you chuckle. Alonso's sly wit is compelling as she satirizes the bureaucracy-an element of her work that will resonate universally. Nancy Alonso is an award-winning short story writer with a background in biological science. She published Tirar la Primera Piedra (Casting the First Stone) in 1997 and Cerrado por Reparacion (Closed for Repairs) in 2002. Her stories have appeared in several anthologies in Cuba and abroad. She currently lives in Cojimar, Cuba. Anne Fountain teaches Latin American Literature and Culture and coordinates Latin American Studies at San Jose State University. She is the author of Jose Marti and U.S. Writers (University Press of Florida, 2003) and Versos Sencillos: A Dual-Language Edition (McFarland, 2005).

Historical Dictionary of Kosovo

Author: Robert Elsie

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2010-11-15

Total Pages: 453

ISBN-13: 0810874830

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As the seventh and probably last state to arise from the ruins of the former Yugoslavia, Kosovo is the newest country in Europe. For centuries, Kosovo, also known as Kosova, was part of the Ottoman Empire, and for most of the 20th century, it was a province of what was once Yugoslavia. After the military conflict in 1998-1999 and a period of administration by the United Nations, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008. Focusing not only on Kosovo's turbulent recent years, the second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Kosovo also relates the country's rich culture and long history. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, an extensive bibliography, and over 400 cross-referenced dictionary entries on significant persons, places, and events; institutions and organizations; and political, economic, social, cultural, and religious facets. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Kosovo.

The Complete Review Guide to Contemporary World Fiction

Author: M.A. Orthofer

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2016-04-19

Total Pages: 423

ISBN-13: 0231518501

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A user-friendly reference for English-language readers who are eager to explore contemporary fiction from around the world. Profiling hundreds of titles and authors from 1945 to today, with an emphasis on fiction published in the past two decades, this guide introduces the styles, trends, and genres of the world's literatures, from Scandinavian crime thrillers and cutting-edge Chinese works to Latin American narco-fiction and award-winning French novels. The book's critical selection of titles defines the arc of a country's literary development. Entries illuminate the fiction of individual nations, cultures, and peoples, while concise biographies sketch the careers of noteworthy authors. Compiled by M. A. Orthofer, an avid book reviewer and the founder of the literary review site the Complete Review, this reference is perfect for readers who wish to expand their reading choices and knowledge of contemporary world fiction. “A bird's-eye view of titles and authors from everywhere―a book overfull with reminders of why we love to read international fiction. Keep it close by.”—Robert Con Davis-Udiano, executive director, World Literature Today “M. A. Orthofer has done more to bring literature in translation to America than perhaps any other individual. [This book] will introduce more new worlds to you than any other book on the market.”—Tyler Cowen, George Mason University “A relaxed, riverine guide through the main currents of international writing, with sections for more than a hundred countries on six continents.”—Karan Mahajan, Page-Turner blog, The New Yorker

Historical Dictionary of Albania

Author: Robert Elsie

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 663

ISBN-13: 0810861887

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Albania is not well known by outsiders; it was deliberately closed to the outside world during the communist era. Now it has thankfully become free again, its borders are open and it can be visited, and it is increasingly integrating with the rest of Europe and beyond. Unfortunately, Albania has had its share of problems in the post-communist era; it's a land of destitution and despair, thanks in part to the Albanian mafia, which has turned the country into one of blood-feuds, kalashnikovs, and eternal crises. Yet, Albania is, in essence, a European nation like any other ...

Albania in Pictures

Author: Tom Streissguth

Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books

Published: 2010-08-01

Total Pages: 84

ISBN-13: 0761363785

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Albania maintains a distinct national identity despite a violent history of many different ruling groups. In one of Europe's poorest nations, resourceful Albanians fight harsh terrain to make agriculture the country's primary business.

The Last Journey of Ago Ymeri

Author: Bashkim Shehu

Publisher: Northwestern University Press

Published: 2007-04-17

Total Pages: 123

ISBN-13: 0810121115

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In a remote Albanian village, a place of banishment, a stranger appears, claiming to be Viktor Dragoti and looking for his long-lost love. That Viktor Dragoti has been dead for nine years, killed by the Albanian coast guard while trying to swim to freedom, only adds to the stranger's mystery--and to the suspense of this curiously real and yet otherworldly work by one of Albania's most distinguished writers. With echoes of The Return of Martin Guerre and Kafka's The Trial, with allusions to The Odyssey and the Albanian folktale of Ago Ymeri, a legendary hero released from the underworld for one day, Shehu's novel blends the autobiographical and the historical, the personal and the political into a powerful tale--a story that conveys the terrors, small and large, of a totalitarian state while capturing all that is surreal and even lyrical in life in such a deeply distorted world.

In-House Weddings

Author: Bohumil Hrabal

Publisher: Northwestern University Press

Published: 2007-08-13

Total Pages: 181

ISBN-13: 0810124300

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The task, taken up by such a rogue comic talent, could be nothing other than strangely delightful; and in In-House Weddings, the first of the trilogy that Hrabal produced, we meet the author through the eyes of his wife Eliska. She narrates his life from his upbringing in Nymburk through his work as a dispatcher in a train station and then in a scrap paper plant, his first publication, his trouble with the authorities, and his association with notable artists and authors such as Jiri Kolar, Vladimir Boudnik, and Arnost Lustig.