reviews 749 EasternEurope'somission from thelistoflocations privileged bypostcolonial critique - as practised inEnglish departments acrosstheAnglophone world. To makeup forthisomission and to counterbalance canurgeto essentializationthatremains an important partofour [Anglo-American?] spatialawareness ',Hammond suggests that'Balkan Studies'(alternatively: 'Second World Studies' [myemphasis - LK]) be introduced within 'literary and cultural scholarship '(p. 285). The proposedprojectsmackstoo much of whatMichael Croninhasdiagnosed as 'theglobalparochialism ofAnglophone monoglossia' [Translation andGlobalization, London,2003,p. 60). However,itis alsopossible to takea moreoptimistic viewof thematterand envisionit as partof an emergent international network forthe dissemination of knowledge which mighteventually takeus beyondcertainoutdatedsocio-historical divisions withinglobal space and (who knows?)even provide a cure for 'global parochialism'. Department ofEnglish andAmerican Studies LudmillaKostova University ofVeliko Turnovo, Bulgaria Levi, Pavle. Disintegration in Frames: Aesthetics andIdeology in theYugoslav and Post-Yugoslav Cinema. Stanford University Press,Stanford, CA, 2007.x + 203pp. Illustrations. Notes.Bibliography. Index.$49.50. Wars area richsourceofcultural myths. The newsocialand political orders whicha lengthy periodofarmedconflict engenders forcea fresh reckoning withtheworldthattheyreplace.The warswhichaccompaniedthebreak-up oftheformer Yugoslaviaare no exception and,judgingbythelargeamount ofmaterial they havegenerated, mayevenbe considered an archetype ofsuch mythopoeic activity. Manyscholars haveturned their attention totheculture industry of recentdecades,oftensearching through fictional narratives for cluesto thecausesofthewarsofthe1990sor forexpressions ofthechanges innationalmoodthatled to openethnic hostilities. Researchin thisfieldhas provoked excellent analyses offilmic andliterary texts, thoughtful insights into waysin whichartistic expression can be linkedto ideology, and some rash attempts to make suchconnections wherethereexistslittleevidence.Pavle Levi'sbookcontains in somemeasureexamplesofall thesemixedblessings. The first chapteris a highly subtleand nuancedexamination oftheBlack WaveinYugoslavcinema.Levitouches on theconflicting messages ofreformistzeal and theLeague ofCommunists' conservative reaction whichform the background to theyearsat theend ofthe1960sand beginning ofthe1970s. He showshow theworkof Dusan Makavejev,ZivojinPavlovicand Lazar Stojanovicwas critical ofthedominant ideologynotjust in thestories they had to tellbutin theirchoiceofpoeticstrategies bywhichtheyconstructed theirfilmictexts.Levi combinesanalysisof deep structure withpolitical content inan exemplary fashion. His discussion on theBlackWave,itsorigins and impact,also servesas a reminder thatthereis muchscope forfuture research on cinemaand popularculture in theSocialistFederative Republic ofYugoslaviaand notjustin thoseareascritical oftheregime. 750 SEER, 87, 4, OCTOBER 200g In laterchapters Levi drawshisreaders'attention to directors and films oftendiscussedin the contextof culturalpoliticsin the 1990s (e.g. Emir Kusturica's Underground and Srdan Dragojevic's Pretty Village, Pretty Flame).He also includesotherfilms whichare sometimes overlooked in studiesabout recentcinema.These examplesvaryin theirartistic merit, but suchmerit is notthereasonfortheirinclusion in thisvolume.The films castlighton different reactionsto the conflicts, offer different understandings of their causesand consequences, and are drawnfromdifferent partsoftheformer Yugoslavia(e.g. Oleg Novkovic'sSay Why YouLeft Me, AndrejKosak's The Outsider and Vinko Bresan's How theWarStarted onMy Island).The long section on Sarajevo'sNew Primitivism, in particular the comic TheTopListofthe Surrealists, provides a welcomediscussion ofpopularculture which,although notfrom cinema,was influential initsportrayal ofaspectsofYugoslavlifeas experienced in theyearsleadingup to thewarin Bosnia. These careful and measuredstudies throw thelesswellarguedsections of thebook intosharprelief. Almostthewholeof ChapterThree containsa discussion ofKusturica's film aesthetic, strangely omitting mention ofprevious long studiesof the director's oeuvre by Goran Gocic and Dina Iordanova. Kusturica's filmUnderground is markedin thebookforitscontribution to the myth ofYugoslaviaas an anti-Serb conspiracy. Partoftheevidenceforthis viewis givenin thefight scenethatis stagedcinopenlyethnophobic terms' (p.99),withBlackyand Markoteaching a Croatand a Muslima lessonfor stealing Partyfunds. Whereas,thetwomaincharacters actually facea third opponentwho is an ekavic-speaking Serb.The Muslimis calledMustafato whomBlackymakesa deliberate comment aboutMoscow.Thiswouldseem to indicatean allusionto MustafaGolubovic,an NKVD agentkilledbythe Gestapoin Belgrade.Levi also pointsto a 'correspondence' (p. 104)between Underground and thefunction performed byMira Marko vie's YugoslavUnited Left(JUL).However,theargument lacksa clearexplanation fora possible parallelgiventhataudiencesin cinemasand the public at politicalrallies entertain different relationships withthetexts presented tothem.The production and circulationof meaningsin these two contextsrequirefurther elaboration in orderto sustain suchclaims. Thesedrawbacks aside,Levifulfils hisintention toinvestigate 'thecomplex relationship betweenaestheticsand ideologyin the Yugoslav and postYugoslavcinema '(p.3). His bookis a useful additionto thisfieldofenquiry inwhichhe opensmanyquestions, clarifies someimportant issuesand points outavenuesforfuture research. Department ofRussian andSlavonic Studies D. A. Norris University ofNottingham Beumers,Birgit(ed). The Cinema ofRussiaand theFormer Soviet Union.24 Frames.Wallflower Press,Londonand New York,2007.xvi+ 283 pp. Illustrations. Notes.Filmography. Bibliography. Index.¿50.00; £18.99. The premiseof the '24 frames'seriesis thatthe artistic, industrial and technological history ofa region'scinemacan be conveyed through analysis ...