The Roads of the Roma: A PEN Anthology of Gypsy Writers (Pen American Center's Threatened Literature Series) [Paperback]

Siobhan Hancock (Editor), Siobhan Dowd (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0900458909 | ISBN-13: 978-0900458903 | Publication Date: October 1, 1998

This is an international anthology of English translations of Roma poetry and prose. The writings in this text reflect the 30 contributors shared experiences of prejudice, discrimination and persecution, as well as joy in nature and life. The lives of the contributors are told in brief biographical notes reflecting the many roads followed by the Roma in coming to terms with modern society. In his introduction, Ian Hancock describes the linguistic diversity and culture of the Roma which has helped them preserve their identity over the centuries since they left their original home in India and migrated westward to Europe, the Americas and Australasia.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

...unuttered sentences...minarets of grass...a grave in the air...tarots of memory...petals of skull...the dusty violin...white horses, distant plains...a gathering of silent hearts...ashes and lime...

These are the images of today's Gypsy poets. From their departure from India in the middle ages to the present day, the Romani people have faced slavery, pogroms, expulsions, hangings, firebombings and - in Nazi-occupied Europe - genocide. In this unique anthology, Romani poets and writers from twenty countries address this devastating legacy. Forty-three poems and prose extracts, most appearing in English for the first time, are arranged alongside an 800-year chronology of repression. What emerges is a portrait of a people struggling to preserve their identity in a hostile world.

The Roads of the Roma is published on behalf of the PEN American Center as a volume in their Threatened Literature Series. In his introduction Professor Ian Hancock of the University of Texas, himself an English Gypsy, unravels the history of the Roma since they left their original home in India and traces the growth of a written literature out of an oral tradition.

"We recreate entire cultures from fragments of pottery, and we go to great lengths to protect the sanctuaries of diminishing species. It is small wonder then that we should treasure this assemblage of the work of a threatened and wandering people whose culture has seemed to us ephemeral, if we have known of it at all." Edward Albee

"The Roads of the Roma has taken me into a new world of great beauty, imagination and mystery. The 'invisible people' step into the light along a path of poetry." Antonia Fraser

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

We were silent for thousands of years,
but our hearts are full
of unuttered sentences
like a sea receiving
blue river waters
all its life long.
From "The People with the Face of the Sun" by Dezider Banga

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: University Of Hertfordshire Press (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0900458909
• ISBN-13: 978-0900458903
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #400,595 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Roma Writing About Roma, February 26, 2000

By 

Shirley Miller (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Roads of the Roma: A PEN Anthology of Gypsy Writers (Pen American Center's Threatened Literature Series) (Paperback)

This book is a treasure not to be hidden away on a bookseller's Web page, but one to be purchased and read by all who care about ideas expressed by voices formerly silenced, but now being heard. The Romani voice has always existed, but when have we, the general public, had the opportunity to hear what it has been saying? This book gives us that chance, and what an expressive voice it is! The authors speak with eloquence and their messages cannot be missed. These are writings by Roma, not those of the non-Roma writing about them. Surely more books in English by Romani authors will follow this one. Just as surely, they will help dispel the myths and stereotypes which have been created about the Roma over the long centuries. Included in this book is an interesting introduction which deals mostly with the history of the Romani people, also written by a Rom. For those of you who care about the "feel" and "look" of a book, let me say that I found them to be a perfect fit for the contents of this book and do not detract in any way. This is a gem to be read and reread.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Roma in their own voice, December 29, 2001

By 

Alyssa A. Lappen (Earth) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Roads of the Roma: A PEN Anthology of Gypsy Writers (Pen American Center's Threatened Literature Series) (Paperback)

For centuries, many voices have spoken for the Roma, as often as not with ill will. In this magnificent collection, the Roma speak with a vibrant voice all their own.

The book opens with a brilliant, if all-too-brief, introduction to Roma history by Dr. Ian Hancock, a Professor of Romany Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, who has made the study of the Rom migration, enslavement, literature, art and political life and sociology his life's work.

The 44 poems that follow are ordered along a time line broken into sections and beginning with the Roma's departure from India with the first Ghaznavid raids in 997.

Twenty-nine contemporary Romany poets, including editors Rajko Djuric, Siobhan Dowd and Dr. Hancock, created most pieces. But no collection of Rom poets would be complete without work from the renowned Papusza (Poland, c. 1910-1987) or Leksa Manus (Latvia, 1942-1997), each of whose work is also represented. The title comes from Manus' searing 38-line poem of the same name, which traces the countries and places the people have traveled after opening with these lines:

"Each night, my God, before I close my eyes,

I see before me the roads of the Roma.

But where, my God, is the long lost road,

The one true road, the first one traveled?"

Roughly half the works were written in Romani, but according to Hancock seven Rom translators--Dowd, Burton Bollag, Tom Fugalli, Ian MacAndless, Minna Proctor, Sinead ni Shuinear and Anika Weiss--have remained faithful to the feel, heart and soul of the original works. I can believe it.

Listen to these lines from Djura Makhotin's poem, "Give me a string to play on":

"Oh my life is a silver mirror/The years are its frame.

"I cannot see the time ahead/ And what has passed I have forgotten./In youth it seems every day is long,/When one is older a year is like the breadth of a finger./I am not guilty but I know the truth,/The road of life leads me./I am not sad, I swear an oath, give me a string to play on."

After hearing work from this book at a reading, I rushed to buy this book. You should too. Alyssa A. Lappen

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully surprised, June 7, 2011

By 

Angie (United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Roads of the Roma: A PEN Anthology of Gypsy Writers (Pen American Center's Threatened Literature Series) (Paperback)

I stumbled across this book while researching my family origins (Welsh-Romnichal) and was wonderfully surprised by the emotional depth of the stories and poems collected here. I also appreciate that this collection is composed of writings from actual Romany people - for far too long, the Romany have been portrayed only as stereotypes by cultures failing to understand the Romany way of life. I love the personal insight that dominates this book.

My favorite story is "A Wedding in Auschwitz" by Rajko Djuric (translated by Anika Weiss). It's a gut-wrenching look at the effects of "The Porajmos" ("The Devouring" - or, the Romany Holocaust) perpetuated by Nazi Germany.

The poem that stands out the most to me was "Lament of the Mother," also written by Rajko Djuric (apparently, I'm a fan of this writer). This is a heartbreaking poem that will resonate with all mothers, no matter what their cultural background - the poem (along with "Prayers of an Impious Father and Gypsy Mother) is dedicated to a young boy who died naturally in a Serbian village and was almost denied the right to be buried.

I'm used to picking up anthologies and having a 50/50 shot of liking/hating the individual components. That didn't happen with this book - I didn't have any strong dislike feelings with any of the pieces found here and I highly recommend this book.