Travel Books and General Accounts
Frank Cox Bulgaria (UK, A & C Black o/p). The Morning Post 's Bulgaria correspondent during the Balkan Wars, Cox was impressed by a well-organized country that seemed to have imposed order on this hitherto chaotic corner of southeastern Europe. He found Sofia rather staid though, commenting that "the system of partial seclusion of the womenfolk kills all social life, and the absence of a feminine element in the restaurants and other places of social resort deprives them of all convivial charm". Lovett Fielding Edwards Danube Stream (UK, Muller o/p). This book on the Danube and its influence on southeastern Europe is chiefly interesting for its account of life amongst the polyglot boatpeople. Includes descriptions of Vidin, Lom and Ruse, but otherwise only marginally relevant to Bulgaria. Leslie Gardiner Curtain Calls (UK, Duckworth o/p; US, Biblio Distribution Centre o/p). The last six chapters deal with Gardiner's experiences in Bulgaria - including a slow-burning flirtation with his Balkantourist guide, Radka - recounted in an amusing style. Jeremy James Vagabond (UK, Pelham o/p). Recounting a voyage on horseback from Bulgaria to Western Europe in 1990, James' book offers a convincing picture of rural life in the Balkans of today. The author seems especially at home in Gypsy culture - a milieu that other travellers rarely get to grips with. Stowers Johnson Gay Bulgaria (UK, Hale o/p). More earnest than Newman and prosier than Savas, Johnson voyaged by Dormobile across Bulgaria just before the country became a tourist destination, which constitutes the book's main attraction. Achieved brief notoriety in the 1990s when a British newspaper declared it one of the least-borrowed books in public library history. Claudio Magris Danube (UK, Panther; US, Farrar, Straus & Giroux). This highly praised account of the Danubian countries interweaves history, reportage and high-brow literary anecdotes in an ambitious attempt to illuminate their cultural and spiritual backgrounds. Only one section is devoted to Bulgaria, naturally enough, but the rest is a fascinating read. Bernard Newman The Blue Danube (UK, Jenkins o/p); Bulgarian Background (UK, Robert Hale o/p). The latter is marginally more lively - and contains a lot more about Bulgaria - than Newman's earlier book, relating his epic bicycle ride alongside the Danube. Solid stuff, but hardly riveting. S.G.B. St Claire and Charles A. Brophy Residence in Bulgaria (UK o/p). These two former British army officers lived in a village south of Varna in the late 1860s, returning to write a book on a country "which although but five or six days distant from England, is as little known as the interior of Africa". Their account is largely pro-Ottoman and anti-Bulgarian, although their characterization of the Bulgarians as a surly bunch who overcharge foreigners will be familiar to those holidaying on the Black Sea coast today. Worth tracking down for the folkloric anecdotes alone. George Savas Donkey Serenade (UK, Faber o/p). Savas did his travelling on foot along the backroads of Bulgaria, accompanied by the roguish ex-IMRO fighter Vasil. Rather twee, but includes a couple of fine Bulgarian poems and the odd notable vignette.
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