In the Wake of the Balkan Myth

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

   PDF

2. Constructing the Balkans

   • David A. Norris

   Pages 1-14

3. Textual Representations

   • David A. Norris

   Pages 15-45

4. The Balkans Talk Back

   • David A. Norris

   Pages 46-79

5. Modernity: Urban Culture and the Balkans

   • David A. Norris

   Pages 80-107

6. Representations of City Life

   • David A. Norris

   Pages 108-135

7. Discourses of Identity and Modernity in Times of Crisis

   • David A. Norris

   Pages 136-163

8. Back Matter

   Pages 164-182

   PDF

This book focuses on issues concerning identity in terms of Balkan and non-Balkan cultures, and examines questions of modernity and the ever-present dread of primitivism which is highlighted in certain types of narratives. David A. Norris examines the emergence and development of the term 'Balkan' itself, textual representations of the region, and negative imagery from the perspective of Balkan authors and in Western literature.

• crisis
• culture
• development
• identity

'Norris is an acute observer of the cultural relationships between the Balkans and the rest of Europe.' - James Pettifer, International Affairs

'This book is extremely valuable as an insight into the ways in which Western observers conceptualise the Balkans and how such conceptualisations become part of local identities. ' - Helen Kambouri, Millennium

'...a valuable contribution to the same set of issues, all the more so for reversing widely-held perspectives and shedding light on the Balkan's 'writing back' with much original interpretation, careful and convincing analyses and a sensitivity for textual details.' Zoran Milutinovic, Seer

• Department of Slavonic Studies, University of Nottingham, UK

  David A. Norris

DAVID NORRIS has been lecturer in Serbian and Croatian Studies at the Department of Slavonic Studies, University of Nottingham, since 1980. He has published widely in the field of literary, language and cultural studies including the books The Novels of Milos Crnjanski: An Approach through Time and Teach Yourself Serbo-Croat.

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