Читать книгу An Ode to Life - Manja Siber - Страница 5

Prelude

Dear reader,

as with “A Song for Ghosts”, the same applies here.

Please be aware that in this novel you will quite often read the word “Gypsy” in relation to one of the main characters and his ethnicity. This word is today considered a slur and I refuse to use it in any modern-day context. Both “A Song for Ghosts” and “An Ode to Life” are set in 1848 and 1849, when the word was still a more neutral term. This doesn’t change a lick of the prejudice and ostracising Sinti and Roma faced then and still face today.

In the 19th century there was no other word. The use of the terms “Sinti” and “Roma” dates to as recent as the 1970’s. Even the most sympathetic, positive, or at least neutral writings would always use “Gypsy”, “Gitano”, “Zigeuner”, “Bohéme”.

The use of the term “Gypsy” is strictly in its historical context and I do not endorse its use outside of it. I ask you to respect that.