Antoaneta Balcheva

The Path of Memory - a Southern Slavic Context

Summary

In the complex game of mirrors, whereby the societies find their reflection, imitation and definition, the religious, ideological and political determination is a frequent occurrence along the transforming course of memory. The function of memory becomes inherent in the self-conscious group identities. The spirit of modern nations recovers its origins in the ancestral culture while national self-knowledge precedes universal values. The regained past implies meanwhile a power over the present. “The will to succession” will be marked by the delicate balance between original and introduced, between the urge to spiritual autarchy and longing for the universalization.

The pressure of time will give rise to a precarious concentration of responsibility - the one that can throw a bridge between modernity – solely directed towards future historical consciousness, and a problematic, as if tied in a knot, present.