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A review by dwgradio
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey through Yugoslavia by Rebecca West
3.0
The strengths of this book lie in its weaknesses; those being first and foremost that it’s gruelingly overwritten, waxes and wanes between history and travelogue with limited use of segue, and at times West demonstrates an almost schoolgirl infatuation with the Slavic people (I can forgive her distaste for Austrians and Germans this being written at the outbreak of WWII, however it is obvious she is not producing a balanced account of history). She also tends to trip over her own intellect (Christopher Hitchens' introduction breaks these issues down quite eloquently).
Her characters - the portrayals of those whom she met during her travels - also lack any distinction from the author in that much of their dialogue is written in her voice. They come across not so much as actual people but vehicles through which she expresses her own opinions. As an historian, West writes in a tangential style with no narrative cohesion, however she is for the most part accurate and her subjects interesting.
Especially good are the 100 or so pages on Franz Ferdinand (300 pages in). She paints a rich portrait of the man often overlooked in histories of the outbreak of WWI (Tuchman for example does not dig into the weeds where the Archduke is concerned because doing so wouldn't have been germane to her work).
It isn't possible to ingest everything presented, but what one does get out of taking this journey is a sense of who the Balkan peoples are, and more importantly why the region was the powder keg it was. It's ethnic complexion and complexities are laid bare in a scope that is no less than staggering, and prose which is often stunning. So whereas it is a difficult read due to its faults, it is also important, rewarding, and at times even uproariously funny.
Additionally, it remains relevant - frighteningly so - 80 years after it was written. West, an ardent Socialist, was indicting Capitalism (page 932) well before it reached the late stage we are currently living through. And the current war being waged by Russia against Ukraine can easily be viewed through the lens of West's themes. When its history is written, Ukraine will not be a black lamb.
This is history, philosophy, and memoir written with the literary might of Tolstoy and Proust. A challenge yes, but one well worth facing.
Her characters - the portrayals of those whom she met during her travels - also lack any distinction from the author in that much of their dialogue is written in her voice. They come across not so much as actual people but vehicles through which she expresses her own opinions. As an historian, West writes in a tangential style with no narrative cohesion, however she is for the most part accurate and her subjects interesting.
Especially good are the 100 or so pages on Franz Ferdinand (300 pages in). She paints a rich portrait of the man often overlooked in histories of the outbreak of WWI (Tuchman for example does not dig into the weeds where the Archduke is concerned because doing so wouldn't have been germane to her work).
It isn't possible to ingest everything presented, but what one does get out of taking this journey is a sense of who the Balkan peoples are, and more importantly why the region was the powder keg it was. It's ethnic complexion and complexities are laid bare in a scope that is no less than staggering, and prose which is often stunning. So whereas it is a difficult read due to its faults, it is also important, rewarding, and at times even uproariously funny.
Additionally, it remains relevant - frighteningly so - 80 years after it was written. West, an ardent Socialist, was indicting Capitalism (page 932) well before it reached the late stage we are currently living through. And the current war being waged by Russia against Ukraine can easily be viewed through the lens of West's themes. When its history is written, Ukraine will not be a black lamb.
This is history, philosophy, and memoir written with the literary might of Tolstoy and Proust. A challenge yes, but one well worth facing.