Town and city: Memories of daily life in pre-war Belgrade

Abstract

Construction of autobiographical memory in life histories is important research subject in humanities and social sciences. Although autobiographical memory can be selective and unreliable, it is important for investigation of microhistory, tradition, identity, space, social perception, as well as daily life in the city. Memories of city in life histories include reconstruction and mapping of different spaces, places, objects, phenomena, which designate recognizable symbols or marks of identity. Relying on contemporary research of space and place in semiotics, narratology, social history and anthropology, the paper discusses an oral history interview with Djordje Trifunović (b. 1934), Professor of Medieval literature at Belgrade University, Faculty of Philology, and examines his autobiographical memories of daily life in the Belgrade “periphery of Cvetko’s coffeehouse” (Cvetkova mehana), from the late 1930’s until the end of the Second World War, which is today an urban neighborhood in the Belgrade municipality Zvezdara. In analysis of chosen fragments of Trifunović’s memories, several points are indicated: representation of centre and periphery, creating the image of the city, representation of space and place. Special attention is paid to the freedom of movement and shaping of narrative identity in the period when Belgrade was growing from town into city, and when war and German occupation brutally interrupted that growth.

Keywords

• autobiographic memories
• life histories
• oral history
• Djordje Trifunović
• Belgrade
• Zvezdara
• place
• space