the bear

[Tom Priestly]

Pavel Samsonov, you are incorrect:

> I think =
>bears
>became extinct in Europe quite a while ago. Bears require quite =
>considerable
>areas of forest to survive. So the existence of bears in the forests of
>Russia could suggest to foreigners that Russia was/is a huge, forested, =
>and
>consequently, not exactly "civilized" country.

Where I research, in Southern Austria, they have had bears coming over the
mountains from Slovenia and eating the sheep. In Slovenia they are
relatively common, especially since the various wars further south and east
- sensibly, they  (the bears) sought forests  beyond the sounds of gunfire.
A late-20th-century version of the "uskoki".

In other words, various countries of South-East Europe have also had a bear
population in recent times. Of course, perhaps Anglo-Sacons knew about
bears only in Russia . . . We are discussing perceptions, not facts.

And, Genevra Gerhart, perceptions ARE interesting, indeed sometimes have
illogical and unfortunate consequences, and are therefore, I suggest, not
to be dismissed so lightly.


Tom Priestly

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
*  Tom Priestly, Professor
*  Slavic & East European Studies
*  Modern Languages and Cultural Studies
*  University of Alberta
*  Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E6
---------------------------------------------------------------

*  telephone:  780 - 469 - 2920
*  fax:               780 - 492 - 9106

*  email:           tom.priestly at ualberta.ca
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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