Bazdulj

Byron and the Beauty is very loosely based on Byron’s biography and takes place during two weeks of October 1809, during his visit to the Balkans. Besides being great love story, this is also a novel about East and West, about Europe and the Balkans, about travel and friendship and cruelty. Bazdulj marvellously combines facts with imagination, history and romance, resulting in an exceptionally beautiful novel. Lord Byron ends up experiencing and embodying the lyrical Balkan condition of unrequited love called sevdah, but his valiant behavior also lands him in a regional folk song; this nod to changing cultural production in the Ottoman lands calls to mind the works of Ismail Kadare.

Bazdulj’s keen eye seeks out just the right amount of detail to construct a bracing atmosphere for the reader, who will encounter in the book some memorable and key elements of Albanian, Bosnian, and Turkish thought and everyday life. From coffee to customary law, from courtship rituals to the culture of conversation, Byron navigates the invigorating culture of the Balkans with the help of his Muslim and Jewish guides. Connoisseurs of Byron studies will find here an exciting reworking of the great poet’s youth and also ample reflections on his world view and literary influences.

Muharem Bazdulj is one of the leading writers of the younger generation to appear in the countries of the former Yugoslavia. He is active as a journalist and a translator. Bazdulj is the author of nine books, including the short story collections One Like a Song, The Second Book, and The Travnik Three, as well as the novels Concert and Sowing Salt.