Formation of Urban Culture and Modern Publicity in Bulgaria: A Reflexive Look at the Balkan Experience of Western Modernity through the Pages of the Bulgarian Humorous Press (1878–1920)

Authors:

Pages: 301-311
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/KYRU2145

Abstract:

The topic of this study is based on the idea of a local micro-analysis of the “оverseas story” of Western modernity through the example of Bulgarian city. The main purpose is to outline the socio- psychological nature of cultural transition in the Balkans, in terms of its urban-spatial dimensions. In this case, the problem is considered from the perspective of Bulgarian intellectuals committed to the highest mission to “enlighten” the masses, but moreover to protect the native spirit. This typical dilemma of the late modernizations is clearly recognizable in the pages of the humorous periodicals. Seen from the peripheries of the West World, the meaning of the term “urban culture” contains a wide range of concepts and ideas about “European” as a higher state of human existence. This evolutionary notion is accompanied by a feeling of strangeness and fatal disability in terms of Western civilization. But what new could humour and satire tell us about Balkan modernizations? Using different views on social sciences and the method of discourse analysis, we expect the answer especially to this question. For this purpose the following humorous publications are examined: Bаlgaran” (1904–1909), Smyah i sаlzi (1898–1899), Baraban (1908–1921), Zhilo (1902, 1910), Lyudokos (1913–1914).

Keywords:

Bulgaria, modernization, urban culture, public spaces, humorous press

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