Hermanovce - Four Seasons with the Roma - Hardcover

Jarret Schecter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0954264878 ISBN 13: 9780954264871

Publisher: Trolley Books, 2003

Synopsis

"Gypsies" is a term bandied about like the vampire bat, conjuring images of mystery, danger, repulsion, derision and disgust. Some call them tinkers, travellers, or even outcasts. They are all wrong. Their name is Roma, a tribe that emanated from India and brought to Europe a culture infinitely alien to the people who lived there. As once the culture of native North-American Indians was regarded with hate and superstition, so too have the Romanies in Europe been harried and murdered and rejected as beyond the pale. But they have pursued their traditions with a tenacity unmatched by Western cultures of the church or state. Jarret Schecter sought to define those traditions, to encapsulate both the animation of Romany life and the dispossession of their culture in a so-called modern, civilized Europe. After three years he came to concentrate on the gypsy settlement of Harmanovce in Eastern Slovakia. Over four seasons he has given the lie to prejudice and bigotry, but at the same time demonstrating the hunger and despair, the innate joy and camaraderie of the Roma in Hermanovce. It is not a voyage of love or romance, though the subjects themselves suggest it.

It is rather the result of a singular dedication to a truth and the reality of the truth.

About this edition

• Publisher: Trolley Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0954264878
• ISBN 13: 9780954264871
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 196