The Days Of The Consuls

"Andric's sweeping novel spans the seven years 1807-1814, when French and Austrian consuls served alongside the Turkish Viziers in the remote Bosnian town of Travnik, distant outpost of the Ottoman Empire." "Divided as the community is, Muslims, Catholic and Orthodox Christians, Jews and Gypsies all unite in a common contempt for their visitors. Isolated in a claustrophobic atmosphere of suspicion and mutual distrust, the consuls and Viziers vie with each other, following the fluctuations of their respective foreign policies. When international politics permit however, they console each other as best they can in this harsh and hostile land." "Andric uses his native Bosnia as a microcosm of human society, stressing its potential for national, cultural and religious misunderstanding and conflict, and identifying the barriers of all kinds that hinder communication between individuals. Written against the background of violence released in these mixed communities during the Second World War, the novel now has renewed and poignant relevance."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Set in the provincial town of Travnik, then part of the Ottoman Empire, Bosnian Chronicle tells of the struggle for supremacy in a region that stubbornly refuses to submit to any outsider. The era is Napoleonic and the novel, both in its historical scope and in its psychological subtlety, is Tolstoyan. Told from the viewpoint of the French consul, a rationalist who struggles to make sense of Balkan life, the novel presents Ottoman viziers, foreign visitors and Austrian plenipotentiaries, all consumed by an endless game of diplomacy and double-dealing. Courtly and expansive face-to-face, they brood and scheme behind closed doors. As they have for centuries, the Bosnians themselves observe and endure the machinations of the greater powers that vie, futilely, to absorb them. Ivo Andric's masterwork is imbued with the richness and complexity of a region that has brought so much tragedy to our century and known so little peace.

In modern times there have been studies of the Roman Republican institutions as a whole as well as in-depth analyses of the senate, the popular assemblies, the tribunate of the plebs, the aedileship, the praetorship and the censorship. However, the consulship, the highest magistracy of the Roman Republic, has not received the same attention from scholars. The purpose of this book is to analyse the tasks that consuls performed in the civil sphere during their term of office between the years 367 and 50 BC, using the preserved ancient sources as its basis. In short, it is a study of the consuls 'at work', both within and outside the city of Rome, in such varied fields as religion, diplomacy, legislation, jurisdiction, colonisation, elections, and day-to-day politics. Clearly and accessibly written, it will provide an indispensable reference work for all scholars and students of the history of the Roman Republic.

Set in the town of Travnik, Bosnian Chronicle presents the struggle for supremacy in a region that stubbornly refuses to submit to any outsider. The era is Napoleonic and the novel, both in its historical scope and psychological subtlety, Tolstoyan. In its portrayal of conflict and fierce ethnic loyalties, the story is also eerily relevant. Ottoman viziers, French consuls, and Austrian plenipotentiaries are consumed by an endless game of diplomacy and double-dealing: expansive and courtly face-to-face, brooding and scheming behind closed doors. As they have for centuries, the Bosnians themselves observe and endure the machinations of greater powers that vie, futilely, to absorb them. Ivo Andric's masterwork is imbued with the richness and complexity of a region that has brought so much tragedy to our century and known so little peace. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

"The book has four main themes. The first is the purely historical and political theme of Bosnia as the background of intrigue between Napoleonic France and Imperial Austria, each represented by its Consul and each trying to win over to its side the Turk, who at heart is equally hostile to both. The second theme is that of the gradually disintegrating effect of the East on western Europeans who have to live there: this is worked out in a masterly fashion in various figures in the book, some of whom have already succumbed to its insidious influence, while even those who resist are marked by it. The third theme is a study of the effect upon an honest, unimaginative man of serving a dictatorship in which at first he sincerely believes but whose aims and methods he comes with growing horror to doubt. Last and central to all is the theme of Bosnia itself, the spirit of the land and its people and the problem of their rescue from the pit of ignorance, backwardness, and poverty into which history has plunged them." (Kenneth Johnstone, translator's note, page 11)

A fun, pragmatic index to key information for a successful practice as an Honorary Consul. A voyage of discovery to information from the origins to the presence of Consuls in film, literature, theatre, spying, war, and peace. It includes a sartorial touch on dressing codes and etiquette to round up the unassuming share of worldly facts at the reach of the reader's hand.