TWILIGHT OF THE IDOLS: Recollections of a...

TWILIGHT OF THE IDOLS: Recollections of a Lost Yugoslavia by Ales Debeljack, translated from the Slovenian by Michael Biggins, photographs by Elizabeth Rappaport (White Pine Press: $10; 83 pp . , paperback original). In this eloquent essay, the Central European poet denounces politicians who celebrate diversity while ignoring the brutal war in the Balkans. Decrying the destruction of the eclectic society that existed in the former Yugoslavia, Debeljack declares, “We were the ones who learned in the hardest way possible that the masses on Europe’s periphery, if not in its heart, don’t give a damn for reasoned co-existence in a diverse society.” Although he recognizes the restrictions that existed under Tito, he argues that a truly diverse culture existed then, with members of various ethnic and religious groups living in mutual tolerance, if not harmony.