Only the Nails Remain

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, February 20th, "Balkan Poets."

I do not know of a thing written on the Balkans that is so attentive and appreciative of those artists who have both absorbed and reflected on the troubles of their land—in theory, at least, their real job in life. Who else has even come so close to recording their observations?, Only the Nails Remain is a beautiful, thoughtful, and surprising tour through the heart and soul of the Balkans at the end of the 20th century. Only a poet-journalist could accomplish this, and there's none better than Christopher Merrill. His first-hand experiences, compassionate insights, and unblinking eye for the telling detail make this book as fascinating as it is indispensable., An intelligent, incisive, and extremely well-written report from the Balkans which gives body and human dimension to the strange, terrible events of recent years., Christopher Merrill has given us a deeply moving account of a poet's journey into the dark heart of the war that punctuates our most broken century. Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars is informative as history, instructive as geography, penetrating as political analysis—and ennobling as literature. Merrill illuminates the Balkan conflict by bringing to life the bearers of its particular names, the speakers of its unforgettable voices. Merrill leads like Virgil. Alas, his tragic vision proves to be prophetic. During and after Kosovo, this book is mandatory for Americans, There’s no finer, more eloquent book written about the Balkans—its literature and cultures, its bloodsoaked history and deluded politics, and certainly its fascinating people—than Christopher Merrill’s Only the Nails Remain. Equally compelling as both a storyteller and correspondent, Merrill is our own Ryszard Kapuscinski—the highest praise I can offer to an American writer trying to comprehend the events of our time; the forces that, even as you read this, sweep promiscuously across the world.

Christopher Merrill is a poet and critic and is the author or translator of more than a dozen books, including the highly praised The Old Bridge: The Third Balkan War and the Age of the Refugee. He reviews regularly for the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. His writings have appeared in such publications as Sierra, Sports Illustrated, The Nation, DoubleTake, Orion, and The Paris Review. He holds the William H. Jenks Chair in Contemporary Letters at the College of the Holy Cross and lives in Connecticut.