SERBIAN TRAVELOGUES AND THE WEST: PASTISM AS A PARADOXICAL ELEMENT OF INTERWAR TRAVEL WRITING

SERBIA AND THE BALKANS: THREE CENTURIES OF EMBRACE WITH EUROPE,  [pp. 309-327]  

AUTHOR(S) / AUTOR(I): Vladimir Gvozden

 

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DOI: 10.46793/7494.189.309G

ABSTRACT / SAŽETAK:

The article explores the prominence of travel literature in European and Serbian interwar prose, highlighting how it became a leading genre during this period. Travel writing was a hybrid genre that combined reality, art, history, and politics, reflecting broader social changes like increased mobility and technological advancements. Esteemed Serbian writers, alongside lesser-known authors, contributed to this genre, enriching the Serbian literary scene with diverse perspectives. The genre’s appeal lay in its aesthetic and ideological diversity, providing a platform for writers to express middle-class subjectivity and engage with contemporary cultural, literary, and political currents. The article emphasizes the democratization of travel and writing, noting how travelogues offered an optimistic perspective on observing other cultures and histories. However, it also critiques modernity’s impact on travel writing, noting a shift towards nostalgia, romanticism, and “pastism”—a yearning for the idealized past in response to the unsettling present. The chaotic modern world, marked by industrialization, capitalism, and social changes, led European and Serbian writers to seek refuge in the aestheticization of travel, art, and historical narratives. In essence, the article portrays interwar travel writing as a complex, culturally rich genre that grapples with themes of alienation, nostalgia, and the search for deeper meaning amidst modernity’s rapid changes. It underscores the tension between reality and utopian aspirations, positioning travel literature as both a reflection of contemporary anxieties and a quest for spiritual and aesthetic fulfillment.

KEYWORDS / KLJUČNE REČI:

travel literature, genre hybridization, cultural transfer, pastism, aestheticization, mobility, historical narratives, nostalgia

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT / PROJEKAT:

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