Bratislava in the Memoirs and Journalism of Milo Urban

Abstract

The article looks at the ways Bratislava is portrayed in Milo Urban’s (1904 – 1982) memoirs and journalistic texts. It starts with the reflection of an essay published in the mid-1930s in Elán magazine and continues with an analysis of the topographic outline of the city presented in the second and third part of Urban’s memoirs. The latter texts provide a look at the city from the point of view of a stranger, newcomer. The descriptions give an insight into the emotional state of the narrator and his view of Bratislava, characterised by his exclusion from the social space of the city. The texts also contain musings on urban imagination. Common attributes of all analysed texts lie in the confrontation of modernisation with Slovak tradition. The article also outlines the possibilities of further research into Urban’s work through the analysis of urban topoi: the formerly unfamiliar Bratislava gradually becomes a known and natural space – although this process is a problematic and not finite one.

Keywords

• bratislava
• city
• memoirs
• social space
• cultural journalism