Anima
A Wild Pastoral
by Kapka Kassabova
You must sign in to see if this title is available for request. Sign In or Register Now
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date Aug 20 2024 | Archive Date Jul 31 2024
Talking about this book? Use #Anima #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!
Description
A dramatic evocation of the intimate bond between people and animals in one of Europe’s last wild places
In Anima, Kapka Kassabova introduces us to the “pastiri” people—the shepherds struggling to hold on to an ancient way of life in which humans and animals exist in profound interdependence. Following her three previous books set in the Balkans, and with an increasinging interest in the degraded state of our planet and culture, Kassabova reaches further into the spirit of place than she ever has before. In this extraordinary portrayal of pastoral life, she investigates the heroic efforts to sustain the oldest surviving breeds of our domesticated animals, and she shows us the epic, orchestrated activity of transhumance—the seasonal movement, on foot, of a vast herd of sheep, working in tandem with dogs. She also becomes more and more attuned to the isolation and sacrifices inherent in the lives shaped by this work.
Weaving together lyrical writing about place with a sweeping sense of the traumatic histories that have shaped this mountainous region of Bulgaria, Kassabova shows how environmental change and industrial capitalism are endangering older, sustainable ways of living, and by extension she reveals the limited nature of so much of modern life. But shining through Kassabova’s passionate, intimate response to the monoculture that is “Anthropos” is her indelible portrait of a circulating interdependence of people and animals that might point to a healthier way to live.
Advance Praise
“At once a dirge and a praise song for pastoralism. . . . In this community, domestication is not conquest but coexistence and interdependence. At turns muscular, tender, and sublime, Anima is one of the finest testimonies for saving the earth, and our humanity, that I've ever read. It is unforgettable.”—Imani Perry, author of South to America
“In prose as fierce and beautiful as the landscapes and lifeways it describes, Anima documents the vanishing connection between people, dogs, sheep and wildlife that once tied together much of the ancient world. This book is at once a testament and a mending and a blessing, full of glory and sorrow, and characters both human and animal who you will never forget."—Sy Montgomery, author of On Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell
Marketing Plan
National publicity campaign
Bookseller outreach
Targeted digital advertising
Social media outreach and promotion
National publicity campaign
Bookseller outreach
Targeted digital advertising
Social media outreach and promotion
Available Editions
EDITION | Paperback |
ISBN | 9781644453001 |
PRICE | $20.00 (USD) |
PAGES | 400 |