The representation of urban space in Newcomers by Milutin Uskoković

The work examines the city from a slanted perspective, through psychological experience and social, societal, cultural and educational interaction between space and newcomers in the novel The Newcomers by Milutin Uskoković. The theme of newcomers is expressed as an all-pervading thread of the novelistic world, depicting the mental spaces of the heroes in interaction with the Belgrade relief. The city is studied by simultaneously observing private and public spaces of residence, their interaction and mutual correlations. The topos of the tavern is reflected on two levels, by the gradation of urban modernization processes and as a contrast between Belgrade and Užice, while on the other hand, social dynamics and cultural and political intertwining are observed. By dynamizing Belgrade, noticing elements of the phenomenology of imagination and folklore code, the degree of integration of newcomers into the new environment is expressed, as well as the perception of the mental representation of the homeland and, in this regard, the shaping of psychological space and adaptation in relation to the domicile population. Using an analytical method and a comparative approach, Belgrade-Homeland analyzes and deepens the formation of the social representation of the city in the process of innovation and epochal changes (oriental town, city in the modern sense) and the intertwining of the individual identities of Miloš and Zorka with the collective interpenetration of newcomers and Belgraders. The goal of the research is to detect in all domains of everyday life the intertwining of newcomer motives and the urban environment, as well as the manifestation of the psychological process of modifying personal identity in response to changed life circumstances.