Inventing Ruritania: The Imperialism of the Imagination

Goldsworthy, Vesna

ISBN 10: 0231704232 / ISBN 13: 9780231704236

Published by Columbia University Press, 2013

About this Item

Unread copy. Binding firm, interior clean and unmarked. Cover shiny with a long scratch due to a mat knife accident. Seller Inventory # CORV-BBC-0K66306

Bibliographic Details

Title: Inventing Ruritania: The Imperialism of the ...

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Publication Date: 2013

Binding: Paperback

Condition: As New

About this title

Synopsis:

Published more than a decade ago, Inventing Ruritania has become a standard study of the West's attitude toward the Balkans -- the "Wild East" of Europe. With its Western and Oriental influences, the Balkans have both attracted and repelled outsiders, offering a tantalizing alternative to familiar society. Completely different from "us" yet exactly what "we" used to be, the Balkans have particularly provided Western European and American writers and filmmakers with a wealth of images, characters, and ideas. In her prodigiously researched volume, Vesna Goldsworthy explores the entertainment industry's lucrative exploitation of Balkan history and geography and its affect on Western conceptions of the region. She traces the national, religious, and sexual fears foreign observers project onto Balkan lands and the use of Balkan archetypes. The work of an Anglo-Serbian writer and former BBC journalist turned academic, Inventing Ruritania maps an imaginary geography that has had pa

About the Author:

Vesna Goldsworthy is professor of English literature and creative writing at Kingston University and the author of several widely translated and award-winning volumes. She published a best-selling memoir, Chernobyl Strawberries, which was serialized in The Times and was chosen as a Book of the Week by BBC Radio 4. She is also the author of a Crashaw Prize-winning poetry collection, The Angel of Salonika, named one of the Best Poetry Books of 2011 by The Times.