THE BALKAN AND THE LEVANT TRILOGIES
The trilogies are made up of the following titles: The Balkan Trilogy:Published 1964 – no price given
‘Great Fortune’, ‘The Spoilt City’
‘Friends and Heroes’ and
The Levant Trilogy:
Published 1964 – no price given
‘The Danger Tree; ‘Battles Lost and Won’,
‘The Sum of Things’
Two interesting trilogies by Olivia Manning. Although published in the 1960’s
they still contain much of interest. The studies of certain characters are vivid,
and her record of a vast historical event gives a eye witness impression of the
war in the desert.
The novels, based on personal experience and written during the 1950/60’s shortly
after her return to England, depict a vanished way of life in a “Mittle European” city.
Olivia Manning and her Civil Servant husband spent the major part of the war in
Romania and the Middle East, and the work gives a vivid and interesting account of
Bucharest, and its varied characters in academic and middle-class society. Seen
from a unique vantage point, her experiences and feel for the countries have enabled
her to tell the tales most convincingly.
The action moves from Bucharest to Cairo and then Palestine at the start of the war,
while the interconnecting personalities and their fates give an interesting and different
angle to the academic world in those over-heated days. The narrator, an unworldly
English girl recently married to an Englishman working for the British Council,
reluctantly accompanies him on his return to Romania where he teaches English to
University students in Bucharest.
Unworldly, naïve and inexperienced, she forces herself to accept her husband’s
spendthrift ways. His selfish and demanding ‘friends’ create severe strains on the
relationship, causing her to question her marriage as well as the wisdom of leaving
Britain as such a critical time.
A fascinating portrait of Romania at the start of WW2 and the interplay of politics, rich
financiers and self-seeking academicians creates a vivid canvas superbly handled by
a master storyteller.
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The second trilogy continues the tale after she has left her husband and gone to live
in Palestine. She later joins the Army and finally resolves her dilemma in respect of
her marriage, coming to appreciate her husband as an honest and dedicated man
who truly loves her. Manning's pen portraits of the city and her characters are very
clear and certain personalities stay with one always.
Her characterisation is fascinating, although I found the husband maddening, and
constantly questioned how such a commonsense woman could put up with his
inability to relate to events and practical matters. The second trilogy, where she has
left her husband and is in the Army in Palestine and Egypt during the early stages of
WW2, is extremely interesting and gives an evocative picture of the Middle East in
the early stages of the war.
Much of the description of the war in the desert is so detailed that it surely was based
on personal diaries or accounts, it is a very interesting and insightful account of a war
which, sadly, is now fading into the mists of history and where all the survivors sadly
– are now departing.