Bosnia as a lieu de mémoire in the novels of Miljenko Jergović

Abstract

Memories and remembering, both the subjective and collective ones, are an inexhaustible source of inspiration and modus operandi present in every work by Jergović. Bosnia as a steady source of remembering serves as a lieu de mémoire and contains in itself a sort of chronotope of the author’s childhood, as well as all other implications of the writer’s life and actions, home and terra incognita simultaneously. With the help of the theoretical templates of eminent scientists like Derrida, Nora and Ricœur we want to incorporate the excerpts of the texts into a broad complex of literary theory, but also underpin the thesis presented in the paper. The aim of this paper is to show, in a number of paradigmatic examples from Jergović’s literary work, his techniques at presenting Bosnia as a lieu de mémoire, seen either through the prism of the private, the Other or the collective.