Source:West, Rebecca. Black Lamb and Grey Falcon

▼ Summary

Rebecca West's epic masterpiece is widely regarded as the most illuminating book to have been written on the former state of Yugoslavia. It is a work of enduring value that remains essential for anyone attempting to understand the enigmatic history of the Balkan states, and the continuing friction in this fractured area of Europe.^[1]

"Violence was indeed all I knew of the Balkans," writes Rebecca West, "all I knew of the South Slavs. And since there proceeds steadily from the southeastern corner of Europe a stream of events which are a danger to me, which indeed for years threatened my safety and deprived me forever of many benefits, that is to say I know nothing of my own destiny. The Balkan Peninsula was only two or three days distant, yet I had never troubled to go that short journey, which might explain to me how I shall die, and why." So it was that in 1937 Rebecca West, with her husband, set out to explore the Balkans, and particularly Yugoslavia, to see for herself why the fate of the Continent and of England has so often been threatened by the Powderkeg of Europe. The story she brought back with her annihilates distance, and touches every thoughtful reader.^[2]

A book reviewer for New York Times wrote of this book in 2000, "Her trips through strife-ridden Yugoslavia in the 1930's resulted in a baggy masterpiece, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, which remains a gold standard for literary reporting even if its odder idiosyncrasies could never (and probably should never) be imitated."^[3]

▼ Plot & Story

Reference #1^[4]

• Type of work: Record of travel
• Author: Rebecca West (Cecily Fairfield Andrews, 1892- )
• Type of plot: Travel sketches
• Time of plot: 1937
• First published: 1941
• Principal characters:

-Rebecca West, a journalist

-Henry Andrews, her husband

-Constantine, a Yugoslavian poet

-Gerda, Constantine's German wife

• Critique: Miss West's book is more than a narrative of her journey through Yugoslavia. She spent several years working on the book, building up a study of Yugoslavia and its people around the impressions she had gained while traveling in the country. The result is that for every page of travel description there are several pages of material about the country gleaned from study and reading. The work is full of digressions on anthropology, architecture, cultural history, literature, politics, philosophy, and Yugoslavian psychology.
• The Story: Rebecca West had not seen Yugoslavia until 1936, when she made a lecture tour in that country; but it impressed her so greatly that she decided to travel throughout the country as a tourist in 1937. She also felt that is was important to know something of the country because of the effect it might have upon world politics after the death of its king, Alexander, in 1937. It had been of great importance twenty-three years before, when the assassination of Franz Ferninand in Sarajevo had precipitated a world conflict.

▼ Publication Editions

• 1941 by Viking Press (New York, NY)
• 1941 by Vail-Ballou Press (Birmingham, NY)
• 1941 serialized by The Atlantic Monthly
  • Part I (Jan 1941 issue): Chapters 1-7
  • Part II (Feb 1941 issue): Chapters 8-15
  • Part III (Mar 1941 issue): Chapters 16-21
  • Part IV (Apr 1941 issue): Chapters 22-30
  • Part V (May 1941 issue): Chapters 31-38

▼ References

1. ↑ Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia by Rebecca West
2. ↑ Review for The Atlantic Monthly serial of the book, Part I (Jan 1941).
3. ↑ New York Times Books: "A Woman Without Compromise", review by Sarah Kerr, 10 Sep 2000.
4. ↑ Black Lamb and Grey Falcon as included in Masterpieces of World Literature in Digest Form edited by Frank N. Magill. Harper & Row Publishers, 1949/1952. Pages 75-77.