Microcosms

Rating:
Summary: Interesting tale of a European border corner
Review: This is a rather unusual book. Its genre is that of an essay collection, mixed with guide book, biographies and philosophy. The author tells us about his home town Trieste in north-eastern Italy and the surrounding regions: The inland and coast of Friuli (the region between Venice and Trieste), Piemonte in north-western Italy, the Istria peninsula in Slovenia/Croatia and Southern Tirol in northern Italy. All in all, border region where Italian, Slavic and German cultures meet and mix. The author describes places, landscapes, towns and villages in an intense, reflective and beautiful way, presents persons with interesting, moving, comic, poetic and tragic fates, teaches us some history (certainly not dry), tells some anecdotes, studies some literature and philosophises about landscapes, persons, culture and life itself. The tone changes between dark, poetic and humorous. The main theme of the book is how people live their lives in a microcosm where ways of thinking, language, traditions, and arts are influenced by many cultures and peoples, some gone and some still around. It pays homage to cultural diversity and warns against homogenizing and ethnic cleansing, as in the Yugoslavian Civil War, which the author describes as "the most silly of all wars", and which went on while this book was written. Personally I think the book was very interesting, rich, farsighted and with a very important theme. Sometimes I felt that there were too much philosophy, but it is rather simple and an important part of the book. It is a very European book, dealing with Europe's great heritage of both disastrous border disputes and rich cultural exchange across the borders. For Americans living within borders drawn officially drawn on the map with a ruler this book could be useful when it comes to understand the rich and tragic aspects of Europe's diverse ethnic heritage. But I recommend it to everybody who wants to enjoy a cultural journey to an exciting corner of Europe.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable and enlightening
Review: This is a wonderful, in-depth exploration of a corner of Europe that most people don't know exists. Over the centuries, Trieste and the surrounding region have been a cultural crossroads; as the border between Italy, Slovenia, and Austria shifted, the city was transformed from a rather sleepy backwater to a major port, and back again. This amalgam of cultural influences has made the region unique, and, as a native son, Magris offers an insider's perspective. But this isn't your average travel book; in a series of (mostly) short essays, he vividly portrays aspects of regional life ranging from the whimsical (the bear that never appears) to the gently ironic (Cafe San Marco) to the grim (memories of wars). In the final essay, where he envisions dying while walking in the city park, he revisits themes from most of the other essays and concludes with a memorable image of "life goes on." I found the book both enjoyable and enlightening as a glimpse into the Triestine mind-set, and I know I'll reread it.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable and enlightening
Review: This is a wonderful, in-depth exploration of a corner of Europe that most people don't know exists. Over the centuries, Trieste and the surrounding region have been a cultural crossroads; as the border between Italy, Slovenia, and Austria shifted, the city was transformed from a rather sleepy backwater to a major port, and back again. This amalgam of cultural influences has made the region unique, and, as a native son, Magris offers an insider's perspective. But this isn't your average travel book; in a series of (mostly) short essays, he vividly portrays aspects of regional life ranging from the whimsical (the bear that never appears) to the gently ironic (Cafe San Marco) to the grim (memories of wars). In the final essay, where he envisions dying while walking in the city park, he revisits themes from most of the other essays and concludes with a memorable image of "life goes on." I found the book both enjoyable and enlightening as a glimpse into the Triestine mind-set, and I know I'll reread it.