Balkan Academic Book Review 17/2000
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Celia Hawkesworth, Voices in the Shadows - Women and Verbal Art in Serbia and
Bosnia. Budapest: CEU Press, 2000. 280 pp., 49.95 $ ISBN 963-9116-62-9
(hardback)

Review by Natassja Smiljanic (University of Central England, UK). Email:
nsmiljanic@...
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Hawkesworth's aim in "Voices in the Shadows - Women and Verbal Art in Serbia and
Bosnia" is to give a space to the voices of women in Serbia and Bosnia, who have
expressed themselves orally and in writing, the "verbal art" of the title. The
work traces the lives of such women throughout the history of the area beginning
with the emergence of folk songs in the early history of the regions, poetry,
women's writings in journals, fiction and from the latter nineteenth century
through to the present day; political and academic writing.
A sense of the lost and forgotten permeates much of the period covered by the
book, up until the nineteenth century when women's writing became established in
a more permanent form. An attempt to trace and bring together centuries of women
creating their work is a wonderful achievement of the book, particularly as I
can imagine many the sources, particularly the early ones, would be difficult to
come by - and then, of course, need translating. Without doubt, the collection
of voices here is an attempt to write a women's history through a number of
perspectives - in a context where women's experiences and therefore expression
of them would have traditionally been kept silent, as Hawkesworth states, in
view of patriarchal culture, it looks to finding an alternative tradition (p.2).
In this it succeeds and leaves me wondering about the other women's works still
to know about and others that we may never will.
The book is divided into eight chapters, looking at early examples of the oral
tradition, through the Middle Ages, the nineteenth century and turn of the last
century, through the two World Wars, through post Second World War Yugoslavia up
to the latter day. In the first chapter, the public perception of women in the
regions of Serbia and Bosnia is set out, largely in the context of history,
national identity, much of this structured by mythology and as expressed in the
languages of the region in the nineteenth century. Hawkesworth sets the scene by
describing examples of the oral tradition at this time, taking us through the
significance of lyric songs, traditionally associated with women due to their
personal, familial and emotional content, in contrast with the "heroic" or
"battle" epic songs, usually sung by men. As lyric songs began to fade out in
time, the subsequent loss of the feminine voice, created the need for recovering
such.
The next chapter examines "women's contribution to the oral tradition" by
looking at lyric songs and poetry. Lyric songs are analysed in the context of
women in patriarchal societies and the zadruga (extended family) system. The
identity of a woman as represented in relation to a man sets out the context for
the invisibility of women's "verbal art" in this context. The next period
analysing women's writing is the Middle Ages, where the only knowledge of
women's writing was that which emanated from public figures - a number of
important women throughout this period have seen their work survive, partly due
to their prominence in public life. Jefimya (1349-1405) is notable for being
described as Serbia's "first woman writer" (quoting Radojicic, p.76) and her
small icon setting out her poem for her dead son is seen as an important
surviving tangible form of women's writing.
Much of women's writing in Serbia, particularly before the (19th century was
characterised by its expression of pain, loss and sorrow, and highly emotionally
led. As the book moves through the (19th century, we get a feel for women's
lives from a political perspective - in the context of the slow growth of
women's education (schooling for girls began in 1860's) and cultural
significance. Women writing in the academic/philosophical spheres were gaining
recognition, such as Evstahija Arsic, (1776-1843) described as the first known
Serbian women's writer since the Middle Ages, Mina Karadzic (1818-94) daughter
of Vuk Karadzic (who standardised the common speech of the region), and Milica
Stojadinovic, "Srpkinja" who was seen as a marker of (19th century culture. The
works of Draga Dejanovic, (1840-71) described as the first Serbian feminist by
Skerlic (quoted p.115) who lectured on women's lives, socialism and feminism is
also examined.
The latter stages of the book which look towards the turn of the nineteenth
century up to the second world war, concentrate on the beginnings of the women's
movement, and a great increase in the women's political presence. Though the
education of women was low, this was described as the "golden age" and women's
writing grew, though more so quantitatively rather than qualitatively - much of
this writing in the oral tradition published in women's magazines.
The period between the two world wars where women were the greatest victims of
the war resulted in a neglect of women's writing, though attention turned to the
social and political status and educational needs of women, which was reflected
in women's writing at this time, particularly the work of Julka
Hlapec-Djordjevic (1882-1969) and Milka Zicina (1902-84).
The penultimate chapter looks at the "second Yugoslavia" and the shared culture
post World War Two. This chapter looks at political activities of women, the
growth of feminist activity and takes us up to the present day, ending on where
now "feminism" in Serbia largely, remains. Developments such as the
establishment of a women's publishing house, the Womens' Studies Centre in
Belgrade and publications such as "Pro-Femina" and the "Women's Studies Journal"
now form a crucial part of women's writing in Yugoslavia.
The vast majority of the book is devoted to writers in Serbia, and the final
chapter looks quite generally at women's writing in Bosnia. This covers
particularly interesting work due to the influences of Muslim and Christian
cultures upon the region and therefore, women's writing.
Hawkesworth's book is an enjoyable and unique work. It is a pity that it has
taken so long for a writer to have made these voices known to us in English -
this, however I hope is a beginning and I would love to see more of the writings
of women made accessible to all. "Voices in the Shadows" could make more use of
historical and political contexts to enable the reader to think about why
women's voices have been so excluded and marginalised. Although there are
references to historical, political, social developments, I think these could
have been made more explicit - to set the scene for women's lives as they wrote
and struggled to be acknowledged.
One criticism which could be made of this book is that it has a very loose
academic style, its analysis could be accused of simplicity. However, I think
this is a strength, for two reasons, firstly that it would appeal to a wide
variety of readers, of literature, of women's studies, of history and for anyone
interested in Serbia and Bosnia. I have been particularly interested in the work
for its contribution to the imagery of women in the regions which has important
resonances today. Secondly, I believe as the books aim is to find women's voices
in literature, and so history, this reflects the need for a woman's experience
to be represented. These experiences, being of the expression of life - and the
joy and pain it brings cannot be made any more complex than what is in the
writer's own words - and this is what Hawkesworth offers us by bringing together
a collection of women's creativity that needs to be so lucidly described.
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Book available at: www.ceupress.com
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(c) 2000 Balkan Academic News.

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