The Columbia Guide to The Literatures of Eastern Europe Since 1945 FROM THE PUBLISHER
For nearly half a century, the Iron Curtain obscured from Western eyes a vital group of national and regional writers. Seen as a whole, the literatures of Eastern Europe during the second half of the twentieth century are extraordinarily rich, and in recent years many Eastern European novelists, poets, and playwrights have attracted wider attention and broader publication in the West. And yet no reference work, embracing all the countries of this region, including the former East Germany, has brought synoptic analysis to bear on these literatures -- until now. Featuring lucid analyses of the works of Ivo Andric, Milan Kundera, Wislawa Szymborska, Ismail Kadare, Czeslaw Milosz, Christa Wolf, Imre Kertesz, and Nina Cassian, among nearly 700 others, The Columbia Guide to the Literatures of Eastern Europe Since 1945 is an indispensable reference to the literatures of the former Soviet bloc: Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the former republics of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and East Germany. Marked by geographical proximity and the shared experience of communism and its collapse, these countries are home to writers whose works have illuminated many of the critical ideas and key events of the latter half of the twentieth century.
Compiled by a leading scholar who has a working knowledge of all the languages of the region, the Guide includes an analytical overview of literary themes and trends in historical context, ranging from World War II to the disintegration of Yugoslavia; an A-Z section of almost 700 entries on those writers whose literary debuts or major literary activity came after the war, with lists of works about the authors and of works by the authors available in English translation; a general bibliography; and an author index. The author entries -- the heart of the book -- provide the most salient information about the writers and concise interpretations of their works. The two-part general bibliography lists references to books and articles only in English. The first part contains works of a general nature on Eastern Europe, primarily but not exclusively after 1945. The second cites works, listed by country, that fall into four categories: histories, literary histories, anthologies, and monographs on genres and movements.
SYNOPSIS
Segel (Slavic and comparative literatures, Columbia U.) offers an encyclopedia to the writers of the region, including East Germany, from the end of World War II to the end of the 20th century. His selection of nearly 700 authors is intended to represent the various national literatures, but also emphasizes those whose work in available in English translation, though no writer he considers worthy has been excluded because of that limitation. The entries include basic biographical and literature history information, and as much descriptive and critical material as space permitted. Authors are listed alphabetically and indexed by country. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
The "Eastern Europe" of this great new research tool does not refer strictly to geography but to those countries that emerged from World War II under the Soviet sphere of influence and/or were dominated by Communist governments until the late 1980s and 1990s. This massive work reveals an important and thriving region of writers, mainly unknown in the West, who share the devastating experiences of World War II and its aftermath as well as life under communism and its dissolution. Coming from very different social, ethnic, religious, and linguistic traditions, the literatures of Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and the former states of Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Yugoslavia are nevertheless unified by common themes and subjects. Segel (Slavic literatures and comparative literature, emeritus, Columbia), the author of numerous books on modern Russian and Eastern European literature, lays out the striking complexity of the region's intellectual life and the lives and work of its writers. In his brilliant introduction, he contributes a magnificently comprehensive, 34-page review article on the region's intellectual life since the war and its history, politics, peoples, and cultures, as well as its literatures. The volume also contains an author index, a lengthy bibliography, an extensive chronology of major political events, and a list of periodicals from all the countries covered. But the biographies of 700 writers are the heart of the book. Each provides basic information about the author, including descriptive and critical material about his or her works. While this guide is very inclusive, the authors were chosen partially on the basis of their availability in English translation, although no worthy writer was excluded simply because his or her work was not translated. This is the first reference work to cover all the countries of the region for this time period. Highly recommended for academic libraries and all libraries collecting modern European literature.-Paul D'Alessandro, Portland P.L., ME Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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