Inventing Ruritania : the imperialism of the imagination

Through much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, writers and filmmakers in Western Europe and America have found in the Balkans a rich mine of images for literature and the movies. Bram Stoker's Transylvania and Anthony Hope's Ruritania are among the best known of these images. In this pioneering book, Vesna Goldsworthy explores the origins of the ideas that underpin Western perceptions of the "Wild East" region of Europe. She examines Western and East European letters, diaries, personal interviews, and a wide range of Balkan-inspired literature. She shows how the lucrative exploitation of Balkan history and geography for Western literature and for the entertainment industry has affected attitudes toward the countries of the region and the West's political involvement. Since the 1800s, the Balkans has undergone a process of imaginative colonisation by the West, whereby products developed in the West became better known than their real counterparts. This book examines the effects of such imperialism. First published in 1998, Inventing Ruritania: The Imperialism of the Imagination achieved a rare combination of critical success, broad readership and enduring academic influence. It is now recognised as a key contribution to the study of Balkan and European identity. In this first paperback edition, Inventing Ruritania is just as topical in the context of Europe's current turmoil as it was when it first appeared. Vesna Goldsworthy explores the origins of the ideas that underpin Western perceptions of the Balkans, the "Wild East" of Europe. European and Oriental at the same time, the Balkans are tantalisingly ambiguous: simultaneously attracting and repelling outsiders, an exciting alternative to the familiar ennui of the West, both completely different from "us" and exactly as "we" used to be. Writers and filmmakers in Western Europe and America have found in the peninsula a rich mine of images for literature and the movies. In her prodigiously researched but very readable volume, Goldsworthy shows how this lucrative exploitation of Balkan history and geography by the entertainment industry has affected attitudes toward the region. She considers the religious, national, and sexual taboos and fears projected onto Balkan lands, and discusses the political exploitation and media uses of the Balkan archetypes. Through much of the 19th and 20th centuries writers and filmmakers in Western Europe and America found in the Balkans a rich mine of imagery--such as Bram Stoker's Transylvania and Anthony Hope's Ruritania. This pioneering book explores the origins of the ideas that underpin Western perceptions of the "Wild East" region of Europe. Vesna Goldsworthy. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [234]-245) And Index.