<DIV>Francesco Koslovic--even his name straddles two cultures. And during the spring of 1955, in the village of Materada on the Istrian Peninsula, his two worlds are coming apart. <i>Materada, </i>the first volume of Fulvio Tomizza's celebrated Istrian Trilogy, depicts the Istrian exodus of the hundreds of thousands who had once thrived in a rich ethnic mixture of Italians and Slavs. Complicating Koslovic's own departure is his attempt to keep the land that he and his brother have worked all their lives.<br><br>A picture of a disappearing way of life, a tale of feud and displacement, and imbued with the tastes, tales, and songs of his native Istria, Koslovic's story is a testament to the intertwined ethnic roots of Balkan history.<br></div>