Voices in the Shadows
Women and Verbal Art in Serbia and Bosnia
Celia Hawkesworth, School of Slavonic and East
European Studies,
University of London
*Choice
Outstanding Academic Book for 2001*
Choice,
the magazine of the American Library Association has
selected Voices in the Shadows by Celia Hawkesworth
as a 2001 Outstanding Academic Title
Women are conspicuously absent from traditional cultural
histories of south-east Europe. This book addresses
that imbalance by describing the contribution of women
to literary culture in the Orthodox/ Ottoman areas of
Serbia and Bosnia.
The first complete literary history in relation to
women's writing in south-east Europe. The author provides
a broad chronological account of this contribution,
dividing the book into two main parts; the earlier period
up until the eighteenth century concentrates on the
projections of gender through the medium of oral tradition
and the lives of a handful of educated women in medieval
Serbia and the few works of literature they left. Hawkesworth
also looks at the written literature produced by women,
first in the mid-nineteenth century and then at the
turn of the century. The second part focuses on the
trials and tribulations that affected feminism and women's
literature throughout the twentieth century. The author
finishes by highlighting the new women's movement, 1975-1990,
a great period for women in Yugoslavia which created
a stimulating atmosphere for outstanding pieces of women's
journalism, prose and verse, culminating in the creation
of new women's studies courses in many universities.
"Hawkesworth introduces her topic by supplying
a brief historical survey of the Central Balkan lands,
something that will make the volume especially useful
for teaching purposes... a valuable guide for scholars
and students interested in women's contributions within
South Slavic literary traditions, as well as for anybody
interested in the cultural history of the area."
- Slavic and East European Journal
"In the light of recent events, Celia Hawkesworth's
Voices in the Shadows immediately attracts attention."
- English Historical Review
"... a substantial opening for women's studies
in the South Slav region and a significant contribution
to gender studies more generally." - Slavonic
and East European Review
"... with this book, the women of Bosnia and Serbia
have at last been examined and can move out of the shadows."
- Transitions Online (TOL)
"... enjoyable and unique..." - Balkan
Academic News
Contents
Chapter 1: Women's voices in the oral tradition
Chapter 2: Women's voices in the Middle Ages
Chapter 3: Women's voices under Ottoman occupation
Chapter 4: Nineteenth-century intimations Chapter
5: Turn-of-the-century women's writings Chapter
6: Scholarly women 1900-1939 Chapter 7: Women
in the Partisan War Chapter 8: Desanka Maksimovic
(1898-1993) and other women poets since 1945 Chapter
9: Women's prose fiction since 1945 Chapter 10:
The new women's movement, 1975-1990 Appendix:
Women's voices in the 'Yugoslav' wars
2000
300 pages
ISBN 978-963-9116-62-7 cloth $49.95 / €42.95 / £33.00
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