Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars

by Christopher Merrill

Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars is a chronicle of poet and critic Christopher Merrill's ten war-time journeys to the Balkans from the years 1992 through 1996. At once a travelogue, a book of war reportage, and a biography of the imagination under siege, this beautifully written and personal narrative takes the reader along on the author's journeys to all the provinces and republics of the former Yugoslavia―Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, and Vojvodina―as well as to Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, and Turkey. His journeys provide the narrative structure for an exploration of the roles and responsibility of intellectuals caught up in a decisive historical moment, many of whom either helped to incite the war or else bore eloquent witness to its carnage. What separates this book-the first non-native literary work on the conflict-from other collections of reportage, political analysis, and polemic, is its concern for capturing the texture of particular places in the midst of dramatic change-the sounds and sights and smells, the stories and observations of victim and perpetrator alike, the culture of war. Here is a literary meditation on war, a fascinating portrait of the poetry, politics and the people of the Balkans that will provide insight into the past, present, and future of those war-torn lands. Hear an interview with the author on NPR's Weekend All Things Considered,

Genres: History, Nonfiction

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed, in-person account of people trying to make sense of the often senseless violence at the end of the Yugoslav national project, from hiking with poets in the mountains of Slovenian to crossing Sniper Alley in Sarajevo under siege. No easy conclusions.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a literary travelogue through the weird historical and ideological swamp of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Poet Christopher Merrill hiked, swam, rode old buses and dodged sniper bullets for several years while he interviewed poets and writers in every precinct of the war torn Balkans. There was so much cross-fertilization between the political and literary realms there that what emerges is a profound look at what nation, language, history and myth mean to people whose lives, societies and worldviews are in upheaval.

The subject matter is often grim, but Merrill tempers the horror with the poetry and black humor of the people he meets. Merrill has a wonderful way with words, and his grasp of the ironies and complexities of the time and place is phenomenal.

[Blazz J · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5. Merrill se je med pomladjo 1991 in jesenjo 1992 mudil v slovenskih literarnih oz. intelektualnih krogih, doživel rojstvo nove države, spremljal profiliranje (po)osamosvojitvenih kulturnikov, posredno pa prejemal informacije iz oblegajočega Sarajeva. Če se ob strani pusti nekaj faktičnih zmot v Američanovem tekstu, pa gre za pogled "od zunaj", ki ga slovenska tako nomenklaturna kot alternativna "scena" več kot nujno potrebuje za samorefleksijo.

[John Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slightly dated now, but Merrill's on the ground chronicle of the Balkan Wars is second to none.
Read this after finishing Balkan Ghosts and Black Lamb, Grey Falcon...highly recommend reading all three, starting with West and ending with Merrill.