Maria Todorova

Die Erfindung des Balkans

"The Balkans" has been a synonym for peacelessness, ambush and treachery not only since the bloody wars in collapsing Yugoslavia in the 1990s. And it is not just since the atrocities committed in these wars that the word Balkan has had something of that barbarism in it that the rest of Europe fears and feels it must protect. The Balkans and the associated connotations -- to which the Bulgarian writer Aleko Konstantinow erected a monument as early as the end of the 19th century in the character of the despot Bai Ganjo Balkanski -- are actually an invention of the West. This at least is the thesis on which this book is based, as the title suggests.

As far as geographical invention is concerned, one can readily agree with this view. In fact, the Balkan Mountains are not so defining for the region that it would suggest itself as a designation for the entire region. Here one can assume, with Maria Todorova, that the Balkan peninsula in the south-east of Europe, analogous to the Iberian peninsula in the south-west and the Apennine peninsula in the south-centre, was invented for reasons of symmetry, so to speak. But the core of the view that the Balkans serve Western -- the "civilized" -- Europe as a dark cultural counter-proposal and thus above all as identity insurance, is not only due to the immense number of documents that the author lays out before us can agree. Of course, one will have to discuss whether the West can be held responsible for its self-perception and for its drama because of its perception of the Balkans.

Whatever point of view you take in this discussion and whatever you think of Todorova's theses -- this immensely learned, inspired and inspiring book is definitely worth reading.

Andrew Vierecke

Price Antiquarian Ediiton-115 € 75.00

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