But what was the author up to here? This is a travelogue that is nothing like a travelogue, at least as I conceive the genre. The author - an Italian professor - has all sorts of consistently interesting things on his mind - but they don't always connect well with the Danube theme.And the Danube is a very long river - as he proceeds east - away from Germany and his areas of familiarity - Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania - he seems progressively less knowledgeable, and relies more and more on narratives about selected writers.
Endless literary and historical references. I read enough to make sense of some, which is pleasing. But . . . so many . . . must leave readers with questions, at least it did for me.
But I like the book, an awful lot. Would have preferred more straight historical-narrative style information, but once I gave up on that, I just enjoyed the ride.
Some ideas:
1. The Danube as an east-flowing, Asiatic, river. Compare the Rhine (Germanic purity). At the end of the Danube line: Attila and his ilk. This notion reinforced by the Roman experience - barbarians across the Limes.
2. Large zones where armies from major powers constantly traverse - with endless consequences for the affected populations. The Turk. Magyars getting hit from every direction.
3. German settlers and influence. German colonists in the Banat. Bringing some order into places that lacked it. Interesting.
4. Lots of discussion on Regensburg. I still want to see this. Passau, maybe?
5. Hungarians compromising with Austria in 1862 (Dual Monarchy). Obliterated by Turks in 1526 (Mohacs).
6. The "Military Frontier" - described as a thousand kilometers - borderlands, somewhat lawless, first line of defense against the Turk.
7. 1986 Bulgaria - "Oppression, he writes in his novel-epic of Bulgaria, has the privilege of making peoples happy; for when the political arena is closed, society seeks consolation in the immediate good things of life, in wine drunk under the trees, in love, in generation. 'Enslaved peoples have their philosophy which reconciles them to life.'"
8. He has an idea that folks living in landlocked areas are more conservative, less adventuresome, less liberal and adaptable in comparison to folks living nearer the sea.
Author is a colleague of Umberto Eco!
There's just a lot here, and I need to spend more time with it. Many glorious passages. Dense. Requires slow reading. Worthwhile.
