Imagining the Balkans attempts to trace the relationship between the reality and the invention. Based on a rich selection of travelogues, diplomatic accounts, academic surveys, journalism, and belles lettres in many languages, this work explores the ontology of the Balkans from the eighteenth century up to the present, uncovering the ways in which an insidious intellectual tradition was constructed, became mythologized, and is being transmitted as a discourse. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.