The Heroic Present: Life among the Gypsies
by Jan Yoors
List Price:
Our Price: $7.99
You Save: $27.01 (77%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.33 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Jan YoorsIntroduction: Ian Hancock
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-10-21
ISBN: 1580931375
Number of pages: 160
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Book Reviews of The Heroic Present: Life among the Gypsies
Book Review: sensitive and beautifully shot
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is essentially a series of extracts from Jan Yoors memoirs, accompanied by a good number of candid and informal black and white photos shot by Yoors (and later, others as well) in the 1930s, in 1961 and in 1971. As such, from the point of view of the text, it is a fairly short book - 150 pages, and loads of pictures among them. It is bolstered by a well done introduction by Ian Hancock, himself part Romani, and a brief biography of Yoors at the end of the book.
As a short general introduction to Gypsy life and history, the introduction is better than the book itself. Yoors' memoirs, carefully cherry-picked for brief anecdotes presented in this book, are unique, perceptive, and completely accepting of the Romani lifestyle, highly idiosyncratic as it is, and deal with a number of important, pivotal events: weddings, funerals, births, kris (courts of justice or of elders), music, celebrations, and so on. Various rituals, oaths, relations between men and women, notions of cleanliness, and the like, are all brought up, and are illuminating. Throughout the book, one gets a very good idea not only of the walls put up by the outside world against the Romanis, but of the very sharp divide the Romani themselves construct between themselves and everyone besides themselves - where theft, lies, deception and mockery are considered completely appropriate.
The photos are all outstanding. People are photographed against their wagon caravans, with their horses, celebrating, drinking (a lot), smoking (apparently required above the age of 6 or 7), dancing, cleaning, repairing goods, just living. They are very intimate and real; professional sociologists would never be able to get this close to the people.
The book as a whole is a very well produced volume. One wishes for more in the vein of the introductory material, but the book as it stands is beautiful and fascinating.
Summary of The Heroic Present: Life among the Gypsies
As a boy of twelve, Jan Yoors fulfilled many an adventurous youth's fantasy when he left his comfortable Belgian home to live and travel with a tribe, or kumpania, of Gypsies. Adopted into the extended family of Pulika, Yoors passed his days with the patriarch's sons and nephews, learning the traditions and participating in the rituals of the Gypsies, or Romani. As the years passed, he divided his life between the world of his birth, where he became a noted tapestry artist, filmmaker, and war hero, and the world of the Romani, where he returned regularly for more than five decades.Yoors was also a gifted writer and photographer: his memoir, The Gypsies, is a riveting account of his life with the Romani; his many hundreds of images -- most of them never before published -- document the personalities and daily existence of his kumpania. The Heroic Present: Life Among the Gypsies brings together Yoors's photographs and excerpts from his memoir. The nuanced portrait details the rhythms of life among the Romani; the exceptional occurrences of birth, marriage, and death; and the highly codified system of conduct of the Gypsies. Roadside caravans, evening meals, multifamily feasts, village fairs, convocations of the kris (the Romani tribunal of justice), and wedding celebrations: all are powerfully evoked in both word and image. Comprehensive and vivid, expressive and lyrical, this volume is testimony to the author's remarkable facility with language -- both written and visual -- and an unequalled portrait of daily life among the Gypsies.
Photo Essays Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Photo Essays Books
Ezekiel's Horseby Keith Carter
University of Texas Press; Published: 2000-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $28.70
Price in other shops:
Please Pass the Biscuits, Pappy: Pictures of Governor W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel (Clifton and Shirley Caldwell Texas Heritage Series)by Bill Crawford
University of Texas Press; Published: 2004-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $27.85
Price in other shops:
Jaroslav Rossler: Czech Avant-Garde PhotographerThe MIT Press; Published: 2004-03-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $86.71
Mineheadsby Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher
The MIT Press; Published: 1997-08-08; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
South Streetby Barbara Mensch
Columbia University Press; Published: 2007-03-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.50
Price in other shops:
Daring to Look: Dorothea Lange's Photographs and Reports from the Fieldby Anne Whiston Spirn
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 2009-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.06
Price in other shops:
Letters on Landscape Photographyby Henry Peach Robinson
General Books LLC; Published: 2012-01-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.86
Price in other shops:
The Muslims of India: A Documentary Record (Oxford India Collection)Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2004-12-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.46
Price in other shops:
Robert Kennedy: The Last CampaignHarcourt; Published: 1993-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $40.00
Santa Speaks: The Wit and Wisdom of Santas Across the Nationby Michael Patrick Collins
Collins Pub San Francisco; Published: 1995-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.96
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Gypsies (The Peoples of Europe)by Angus Fraser
Wiley-Blackwell; Published: 1995-03-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.94
Price in other shops:
Crossingby Jan Yoors
Simon and Schuster; Published: 1971-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $157.02
The Church of Cheese: Gypsy Ritual in the American Heydayby Carol Miller
GemmaMedia; Published: 2010-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.98
Price in other shops:
Gypsy Folktalesby Diane Tong
Mariner Books; Published: 1989-04-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.73
Price in other shops:
Gypsies: The Hidden Americansby Anne Sutherland
Waveland Pr Inc; Published: 1986-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $25.36
Price in other shops:
Gypsy Caravan: When the Road BendsNew Video; Release date: 2008-08-26; DVD
Best price: $10.29
Price in other shops:
Gypsies: An Illustrated History, 2nd Edition DISTRIBUTION CANCELLEDby Jean-Pierre Liegeois
Saqi Books; Published: 2005-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.31
Price in other shops:
We Are the Romani People: Volume 28 (Interface Collection)by Ian F. Hancock
University Of Hertfordshire Press; Published: 2002-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.51
Price in other shops:
Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journeyby Isabel Fonseca
Vintage; Published: 1996-10-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.91
Price in other shops:
The Gypsiesby Jan Yoors
Waveland Pr Inc; Published: 1987-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.90
Price in other shops: