In this paper it had been started from the question what was in diachronic included in the term Middle Europe, and why it was impossible to define it precisely in any sense. 'New Middle European Concept', actual in the 80s of the previous century, had also political background, but in his creation Middle European intellectuals had part in it, and it meant the fight for cultural unity of Middle European, for the recognition of their European identity. One of the first, and the most important supporter of this concept from Yugoslav area is Danilo Kish in whose literary oeuvre this virtual space is additionally mythologized. The research attention was directed to Kish's essay 'Variations on Middle European Themes', in which he had elaborated in a concise manner his comprehension of Middle Europe, Middle European culture, Middle European writer, and numerous interviews in which he had thoroughly been elaborating these attitudes. There the writer expresses his comprehension of fascism, and Stalinism, Ahasuerus, and Judaism as 'family happiness', nationalism of small peoples, inferiorities of their 'barbarian languages', and attitudes on ironic lyrisms, 'consciousness on form', and stateless people as basic poetic features of Middle European writers. Due to all mentioned, and some universal truths on the mentioned symbolic tops, this essay is rightfully considered as one of Kish's most important self-poetic texts.
Овај рад представља сажетак истраживања у којем је српска документарно-уметничка проза друге половине 19. века сагледана као драгоцени извор за упознавање токова и веза између српске културне и музичке историје. Истражена грађа потврђује да је музика, у сфери јавног и приватног, била важан сегмент живота свих слојева српског друштва 19. века, у сложеним геополитичким и културноисторијским контекстима. С обзиром на природу извора, сведочанства носе индивидуализовану, парцијалну перспективу, често подређену функцијама и облицима текста, поетици појединих аутора и концепцијама конкретних мемоарских дела. Посебно је коментарисан "ниво документарности" мемоарских извора, односно условљеност типа записа о музици природом документарно-уметничких жанрова. ; In this study the documentary prose (memoirs, diaries, autobiographies and travelogues, as well as selected biographical essays about the renowned individuals) written in the second half of the XIX century by prominent Serbian cultural workers, artists, statesmen, journalists and politicians is regarded as a valuable material for exploring the links and flows between Serbian cultural and musical histories. The sources confirm that, both in the public and private spheres, music was an important segment of all strata of the XIX-century Serbian society in complex geopolitical and cultural-historical contexts. In a diachronic perspective the analysed material reflects the dynamics and evolution of the types of presence of music and musical life in all countries populated by the Serbs in this period: the Habsburg Monarchy, the Principality and Kingdom of Serbia and the Serbian enclaves in other nations. The documents testify about the place of music in the spheres of personal interest, affinities and experiences of the writers and their contemporaries, i.e. they reflect the status of music in the context of everyday cultural life of the Serbs in the XIX century. By means of separate thematic descriptions of music in the sources, the music creators, performers and audiences are portrayed, the activities of important music institutions are presented, various types and opportunities for making music are described, the aspects of musical interpretation are commented on, and the features of traditions of vocal and instrumental musical practices from different regions are analysed. The collected sources have been analysed and assessed with respect to their contents and the authors' attitudes, and the deliberation of the hypotheses posed here is compliant with the inspection of the relevant studies from the realms of general and cultural histories, histories of literature and literary criticism, music history, cultural anthropology and art history. Due to the nature of the sources, these testimonies usually point to an individualised, partial perspective, often subordinated to the function and type of text, the poetics of certain authors and the concepts of specific memoirs. The "level of documentarity" of the memoire sources is discussed separately, as well as the dependence of the types of writings about music on the nature of the genres of documentary prose.
