Further Western Lit and Gypsies: John Updike

Gypsies in Literature, Gypsies in Arts

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With many sites focusing on well-known Gypsies, such as Charlie Chaplin, here at Montreux, Switzerland, welcome to a longer background narrative.

Charlie Chaplin, Gypsy (Roma), Montreux, Switzerland

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A review of John Updike's book, "Drawn to Gypsies, Six Years in the South of France," appeared in the New Yorker magazine in 4/10/06. Read the review at http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/04/10/060410crbo_books1.
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This is an excellent resource for people who already have a solid grounding in Gypsy culture.  That resource was not available to us as we traveled on our own, and researched the culture later. We have no independent experience with the Roma, as John Updike has.

Update:  Add to the list of authors focusing on Roma, Jessica Duchen, http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/aug/12/1.  She lists her top 10, among which are:

• Carmen (opera),
• Esmeralda (from Hunchback of Notre Dame), and a new one for me,
• Kizzy in a children's book, The Diddakoi, by Rumer Godden, http://www.rumergodden.com/diddakoi.php, story with a bullying theme, see review at http://sarahbbc.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/the-diddakoi-rumer-godden/. In libraries, this can be listed either as adult Fiction or in Juvenile, so look both places. Diddakoi: defined as "Gypsy outside the Romany tribes and of mixed blood", see http://www.diddakoi.com/kay_diddakoi.htm
• Mr. Rochester (Jane Eyre) when he takes on a teller's disguise, and others new to me: here so I can look them up at the library:
• Emil (Fires in the Dark by Louise Doughty, holocaust topic, CZ),