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A review by lauren_endnotes
Dancing Bears: True Stories of People Nostalgic for Life Under Tyranny by Witold Szabłowski
4.0
In Dancing Bears, Szabłowski investigates the Romani dancing bears - kept and trained for centuries to perform and serve as the livelihood for the traveling peoples. When Bulgaria joined the European Union this practice of bear-keeping became illegal, and the bears were gathered up and placed in a reserve where they were allowed to live their days "as bears", even though they didn't know how. They were taught to hunt, to eat by themselves, to hibernate, and to live in this new way. Some made it, but many did not.
Szabłowski employs this metaphor of the dancing bears for various people groups after the fall of Communism. He travels to Cuba and several Eastern European communities, interviewing people about their lives, their nostalgia for that life "under tyranny", and their distaste for the current ways and structures.
The first half of the book focuses solely on the bears and their Romani handlers. This was the strongest section of the book, with Szabłowski sharing the stories of many bears, the veterinarians who care for them in the new reserve, and the Romani stories of before and after the bears were confiscated. The second half of the book seemed less organized and polished, but nevertheless intriguing, and linking back to the central theme of longing and nostalgia.
Sidenote: The English translator (Antonia Lloyd-Jones) made the decision to translate the people group discussed in this book as "gypsy". I am not sure if this is something specific to the Polish language, or other languages represented in the book (Bulgarian?), but in American English this is considered a derogatory term. In the context of the stories, it seemed like a name and a title that the people gave themselves, said without derision. I am curious to learn more about her reasoning for this word choice, but there was no discussion of that in my copy of the book. If you have any insight, please feel free to comment / DM me.
Szabłowski employs this metaphor of the dancing bears for various people groups after the fall of Communism. He travels to Cuba and several Eastern European communities, interviewing people about their lives, their nostalgia for that life "under tyranny", and their distaste for the current ways and structures.
The first half of the book focuses solely on the bears and their Romani handlers. This was the strongest section of the book, with Szabłowski sharing the stories of many bears, the veterinarians who care for them in the new reserve, and the Romani stories of before and after the bears were confiscated. The second half of the book seemed less organized and polished, but nevertheless intriguing, and linking back to the central theme of longing and nostalgia.
Sidenote: The English translator (Antonia Lloyd-Jones) made the decision to translate the people group discussed in this book as "gypsy". I am not sure if this is something specific to the Polish language, or other languages represented in the book (Bulgarian?), but in American English this is considered a derogatory term. In the context of the stories, it seemed like a name and a title that the people gave themselves, said without derision. I am curious to learn more about her reasoning for this word choice, but there was no discussion of that in my copy of the book. If you have any insight, please feel free to comment / DM me.