The end of a publishing era

[helena goscilo]

I enthusiastically echo the sentiments below. Slavic Studies benefited
immeasurably from the series, as did readers with a curiosity beyond the US
(and "us").

Helena Goscilo

On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 10:25 AM, Ellen Elias-Bursac
<eliasbursac at gmail.com>wrote:

> Dear Andrew,
> I, and, I am sure, many others, want to thank you and all your colleagues
> who edited Writings from an Unbound Europe for your remarkable,
> ground-breaking work. You did much more than just focus interest on Eastern
> European literature. Your efforts have awakened interest in translated
> literature in the States. You brought American readers remarkable authors
> who are read by students and readers in the general public all over the
> country. That the readers borrow the books from libraries, buy them
> second-hand, or take them off the web may make it hard for you to justify
> continuing the series, but it does not diminish the importance of the fact
> that the authors are being read and appreciated. We are all in your debt,
> Sincerely,
> Ellen Elias-Bursac
>
>
> 2011/5/7 ANDREW WACHTEL <awachtel59 at gmail.com>
>
> > RIP - Writings from an Unbound Europe
> >
> > The editors of Northwestern University Press have decided to end the run
> of
> > Writings from an Unbound Europe, the only more or less comprehensive book
> > series devoted to translated contemporary literature from the former
> > communist countries of Eastern/Central Europe.  The final title in the
> > series, the novel Sailing Against the Wind (Vastutuulelaev) by the
> Estonian
> > Jaan Kross (1920-2007) will appear in a translation by Eric Dickens some
> > time in 2012.  With that title Unbound Europe will have published 61
> books
> > since its inception in 1993.  Among the highlights of what has been
> > published over this twenty-year period are the first English-language
> > editions of David Albahari, Ferenc Barnas, Petra Hůlová, Drago Jančar,
> > Anzhelina Polonskaya, and Goce Smilevski.  By far the best selling title
> in
> > the series is Death and the Dervish (Drviš i smrt) by the Bosnian writer
> > Meša Selimović (1910-1982), which has sold close to 6000 copies since it
> > appeared in 1996. In recent years, however, changes in book-buying habits
> > and diminished interest in Eastern/Central Europe in the English speaking
> > world have led to significantly lower sales, even for masterpieces by
> such
> > major writers as Borislav Pekić and Bohumil Hrabal.  I would like to
> thank
> > the series co-editors Clare Cavanagh, Michael Henry Heim, Roman
> Koropeckyj,
> > and Ilya Kutik as well as several generations of Northwestern University
> > Press editors and directors for their work on this project.  Most of the
> > books published in the series remain in print and will continue to be
> > available on the Northwestern University Press backlist.
> >
> > Andrew Wachtel
> > General Editor
> > Writings from an Unbound Europe
> >
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-- 
Helena Goscilo
Professor and Chair
Dept. of Slavic & EE Langs. and Cultures at OSU
1775 College Road
Columbus, OH 43210
Tel:  (614) 292-6733



Motto:
"It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book."
Friedrich Nietzsche

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