Bulgarian, first edition, price 4 lv., 220 p.


THE DANCE IN BALKAN LITERATURES


This book is a collection of studies by specialists in Balkan literatures. Based on the idea of Neshka Turtanska and edited by Roumiana L. Stantcheva, the aim of the research is to be a multifaceted study of the Balkan literatures, starting from one topic – the dance. Each one of the ten contemporary Balkan countries is presented through a summary of its history, and some important cultural highlights - mostly of the local traditional dances. Several writers from every literature are presented in greater detail: in alphabetical order (Cyrillic), these are the literatures of Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Romania, as well as Slovenia, Serbia, Turkey and Croatia. The introduction signed by Roumiana L. Stantcheva launches comparative ideas within a European context.
In the spirit of Comparative Literature, the nine authors (in Cyrillic alphabetical order) – Antoaneta Balcheva, Gancho Savov, Yordanka Bibina, Lyudmila Mindova, Neshka Turtanska, Nurullah Çetin, Roumiana L. Stantcheva, Russana Beyleri, Sanya Velkova – do not just try to introduce some unknown topics and compare them, but to gain new insight into these literatures and point out the hidden dialog between them. The authors speak of an imaginary unity. They take into account the geographical position, historical contacts, economic relations and similar mentality. These criteria are valid even when they deal with the Balkan cultures expressed in languages of different families and traditions.
Another factor for a consistent comparison is placed outside the Balkan region. All Balkan literatures are part of the big community of European literatures. Each one of these literatures makes efforts to inscribe its own rhythm into the mold of West European genres and trends. Beginning with the Enlightenment, the writers introduce modern ideas in their own vision of Romanticism, Realism, Symbolism, Surrealism, Expressionism, Avant-garde, Psychological Novel, Postmodernism – trends detectable and shown in all these literatures of the 19th and 20th century.
The folklore foundation of literary taste assumes an important position to continue with the Balkan comparative hypotheses and research. The coincidences between genres, topics and ethic message show some complex interrelations originating in the early ages, acting upon the formation of modern Balkan cultures. Other similarities are due to the close relations between the Balkan peoples during the 19th century, for most an age of national revival, and a time of usage of more than one Balkan language by most representatives of the intelligentsia.
The authors point out the similarities in the usage of the topic of dance independent of time, linguistic families and aesthetic trends. The relation of literature and folklore in these studies is tightly bound: dance is the criterion used in selecting the texts. These are texts which preserve the tradition of dance, but also use it in a free and metaphorical way. Many new interpretations are made or suggested here in an interdisciplinary way. The book shares some inventive comparative issues simultaneously with necessary basic information about attractive but not well known until now, and rarely taught at school, Balkan literatures and folklore.

Assoc. Prof. Roumiana L. Stantcheva