A Stranger's Supper: An Oral History of Centenarian Women in Montenegro
SynopsisPlot
Interviewed by Zorka Milich, herself a descendant of Montenegrins and a fluent speaker of their language, these articulate centenarians explain what life was like for the women behind Montenegros warriors. They talk about their relationship with their husbands, their experience of childbirth (which women often underwent outdoors or in a barn, sometimes alone), the pain of losing a son to war and not being able to grieve openly (pride that he gave his life for Montenegro was the correct response). And they give eyewitness accounts of historic events---the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II---as they played themselves out in this remote and barren country the Montenegrins call Crna Gora, or Black Mountain.
Story
About this book
A Stranger's Supper is an oral history built from interviews with ten women aged one hundred or older, all living in Montenegro. Zorka Milich, whose parents were born in the country and who speaks the language fluently, conducted the conversations. Her family connection helped open doors in a culture where reserve toward outsiders is common. The women describe daily life in a mountainous, isolated land they call Crna Gora, meaning Black Mountain.
Their accounts cover marriage, childbirth, and the division of labor in a tribal society organized around its male warriors. Childbirth sometimes took place outdoors or in a barn, and women were often alone during delivery. When sons were killed in conflict, mothers were expected to express pride rather than visible grief. The women also provide firsthand observations of events spanning the Balkan Wars, the First World War, and the Second World War, describing how each conflict reached their villages.
Milich's role as interviewer shapes the book. Because she could speak to the women in their own language and understood their customs, the conversations move between the practical and the personal with a directness that a less familiar interviewer might not have achieved.
