1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910819582303321

Autore

Nopcsa Franz

Titolo

Traveler, Scholar, Political Adventurer : A Transylvanian Baron at the birth of Albanian Independence. The Memoirs of Franz Nopcsa / / edited and translated by Robert Elsie

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Budapest, Hungary : , : Central European University Press, , 2014

©2014

ISBN

615-5225-81-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource

Disciplina

914.9604/38

Soggetti

HISTORY / Europe / Eastern

Balkan Peninsula Description and travel

Albania Description and travel

Balkan Peninsula History 20th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

"A (partial) English translation of the German-language manuscript Reisen in den Balkan : die Lebenserinnerungen des Franz Baron Nopcsa (Travels in the Balkans : the memoirs of Baron Franz Nopcsa) which was edited by Robert Elsie and published in book form in Peja (Kosovo) in 2001; the present English-language translation of the memoirs ... was carried out in the years 2011-2012; it comprises the core sections of the German original, though it excludes the material on his early years, his military career in the First World War, and the ... episode of his life when he gave up his social position and lived as a Romanian shepherd in the Carpathian mountains"--Introduction.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Initial travels (1903-1904) -- Research in Albania (1905-1910) -- Between the annexation and the Balkan War (1910-1912) -- From the Balkan War to the World War (1912-1914) -- Index of names and places.

Sommario/riassunto

The Austro-Hungarian aristocrat of Transylvanian origin, Baron Franz Nopcsa (1877-1933), was one of the most adventuresome travelers and scholars of Southeast Europe in the early decades of the twentieth century. He was also a paleontologist of renown and a noted geologist of the Balkan Peninsula : many of his assumptions have been confirmed



by science. The Memoirs of this fascinating figure deal mainly with his travels in the Balkans, and specifically in the remote and wild mountains of northern Albania, in the years from 1903 to 1914. They thus cover the period of Ottoman Rule, the Balkan Wars and the outbreak of the First World War. Nopcsa was a keen adventurer who hiked through regions of northern Albania. With time, he became a leading expert in Albanian studies. He was also deeply involved in the politics of the period. In 1913, Nopcsa even offered himself as a candidate for the vacant Albanian throne. The Introduction also tells of Nopcsa's tragic death: he shot his Albanian secretary and partner before killing himself. The memoirs themselves reveal some references to his homosexuality for those who can read between the lines.