Arian’s Reviews > Black Lamb and Grey Falcon > Status Update
Arian
is on page 104 of 1181
This extract details Croatia’s internal struggle for free speech and a free press - notably against the Roman Catholic Church which had become predominantly Italian in the 20th century.
— Apr 09, 2026 06:29AM
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Arian
is on page 129 of 1181
Two historical extracts on Napoleon's negligence of Dalmatia in the 'reading of his correspondence with Marmont on the subject of the Illyrian provinces.' It is said that he 'ignored Marmont's letters altogether, and his exchequer grudged every halfpenny sent to Dalmatia.' The other, of the decaying morality of the Uskoks, who were originally of 'blameless character' turned into lawless pirates of the Adriatic sea.
— May 17, 2026 05:38AM
Arian
is on page 115 of 1181
West writes of Bishop Strossmayer of the Roman Catholic Church - and a pro-Croat - 'We regard him with suspicion, we look for the snake beneath the flower. All of us know what it is to be moon-struck by charmers and to misinterpret their charm as a promise... and all of us have found later that that charm made no promise and meant nothing, absolutely nothing. Hence the biographies of charmers...
— Apr 21, 2026 04:18AM
Arian
is on page 83 of 1181
My favourite extract so far. So so much to unpack. The highlighter has been in use more than ever before!
West’s written observation of the patients at the sanatorium is so so nuanced.
— Mar 29, 2026 05:25PM
West’s written observation of the patients at the sanatorium is so so nuanced.
Arian
is on page 68 of 1181
Marko, addressing West. speaks of the Englishman, 'your friend, who showed no emotion at the thought of the spires of Vienna being replaced by minarets, doubtless would expect us to forgive the Austrians for building oubliettes for our heroes so long as they built us chalets for our necessities' - Marko, informing the Englishman that Ottoman Europe was an 'uncomfortably recent' threat . (1937).
— Mar 24, 2026 03:00PM
Arian
is on page 57 of 1181
West opens her extract in Croatia by introducing the reader to her three friends - Valetta, Constantine, and Marko.
Valetta, a Croat from Dalmatia, believes in an autonomous Croatia and is anti-Yugoslavian, contrary to the other two. Although Marko and Constantine are pro-Yugoslavian, to Marko, Constantine 'seems impious in the way he takes Yugoslavia for granted' as he was born a free Serb.
— Mar 23, 2026 01:04PM
Valetta, a Croat from Dalmatia, believes in an autonomous Croatia and is anti-Yugoslavian, contrary to the other two. Although Marko and Constantine are pro-Yugoslavian, to Marko, Constantine 'seems impious in the way he takes Yugoslavia for granted' as he was born a free Serb.
Arian
is on page 27 of 1181
Took me awhile to get through the prologue; West packs a lot in just 30 pages.
How Luccheni foreshadowed the fascist movement, then manifested by Mussolini who orders a successful assassination attempt on the King of Yugoslavia, believing that ‘with the King’s death the country would fall to pieces and be an easy prey to a foreign invader’
— Nov 20, 2025 12:51PM
How Luccheni foreshadowed the fascist movement, then manifested by Mussolini who orders a successful assassination attempt on the King of Yugoslavia, believing that ‘with the King’s death the country would fall to pieces and be an easy prey to a foreign invader’
Arian
is starting
Finally decided to pick up this mammoth of a book.
I am reading the Canons edition, introduction by Geoff Dyer.
— Nov 11, 2025 07:15AM
I am reading the Canons edition, introduction by Geoff Dyer.
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Apr 09, 2026 11:17AM
West’s husband to Valetta, ‘you lived for long under the Habsburgs, whom you could blame for every interference with individual liberty. Since the great pro-Croat Strossmayer was a bishop you could even think of the Roman Catholic Church as the arch-opponent of the Habsburgs, and therefore the protector of liberty. Now the Habsburgs are swept away you should see the Roman Catholic Church as it is; not at all democratic, not at all in favour of speculative thought; far more alarmed by the vaguest threat of social revolution than by any actual oppression, provided it is of monarchical or totalitarian origin, and wholly unsympathetic with any need for free expression but its own. You should proceed to the difficult task of deciding whether you can reconcile yourself to this bias of the Church for the sake of the spiritual benefits it confers upon you’.
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