The spirit of the times: Realistic song bitter as the singer's life (2)

04.November 2026 Milan Milošević

Song to the last breath: Edith Piaf did not regret anything

Her mother gave birth to her and left her; the grandmother in the Circus abandoned the flea and put her to sleep with wine, the girls from the brothel nursed her half-blind and prayed for her sight. She sang with her father, a street acrobat. She lost her daughter. As a girl who had been left unscathed by life, she was the voice of people from the edge. Historical events did not interest her, but social or political meanings were attached to her songs, whether she wanted it or not. She sang in front of the Germans and prisoners of war and justified herself before the Purification Commission in 1945; she helped Jews, survived four traffic accidents, three hepatic comas, addiction to drugs, alcohol and morphine, and when she died, with a desperate need to be loved, she sang until only her voice was left

SPIRIT OF THE TIMES: Realistic song bitter as the singer's life (1)

28.October 2026 Milan Milošević

Song to the last breath: Edith Piaf did not regret anything

Her mother gave birth to her and left her; the grandmother in the Circus abandoned the flea and put her to sleep with wine, the girls from the brothel nursed her half-blind and prayed for her sight. She sang with her father, a street acrobat. She lost her daughter. As a girl who had been left unscathed by life, she was the voice of people from the edge. Historical events did not interest her, but social or political meanings were attached to her songs, whether she wanted it or not. She sang in front of the Germans and prisoners of war and justified herself before the Purification Commission in 1945; she helped Jews, survived four traffic accidents, three hepatic comas, addiction to drugs, alcohol and morphine, and when she died, with a desperate need to be loved, she sang until only her voice was left

SPIRIT OF THE TIMES: Seventy-Five Years of Salinger's Holden Caulfield (4)

07.October 2026 Milan Milošević

The Catcher in the Rye between spoiled boomers and chaste zoomers

Seventy-five years ago DŽ. D. Salinger, emerging from the war with post-traumatic stress disorder, rose to fame with a bestseller The Catcher in the Rye, and his literary hero Holden Caulfield became the alter ego of the "rebel without a cause" from the "baby boomer" generation. Then, avoiding publicity as the "Greta Garbo of literature," he secluded himself in a house near Cornish, New Hampshire, which ignited sensationalist curiosity, gossip, and the vengeful memory of those close to him; he loved women much younger than himself and abruptly broke off those relationships; for more than 50 years he wrote as if he were searching for enlightenment, and he did not publish any of it because he considered it a violation of privacy. He died at 91. His Holden Caulfield is holding up well at 75, they say, thanks to Zoomers, natives of the Internet, among whom Salinger's language resonates strongly

SPIRIT OF THE TIMES: Seventy-Five Years of Salinger's Holden Caulfield (3)

30.September 2026 Milan Milošević

The Catcher in the Rye between spoiled boomers and chaste zoomers

Seventy-five years ago DŽ. D. Salinger, emerging from the war with post-traumatic stress disorder, rose to fame with a bestseller The Catcher in the Rye, and his literary hero Holden Caulfield became the alter ego of the "rebel without a cause" from the "baby boomer" generation. Then, avoiding publicity as the "Greta Garbo of literature," he secluded himself in a house near Cornish, New Hampshire, which ignited sensationalist curiosity, gossip, and the vengeful memory of those close to him; he loved women much younger than himself and abruptly broke off those relationships; for more than 50 years he wrote as if he were searching for enlightenment, and he did not publish any of it because he considered it a violation of privacy. He died at 91. His Holden Caulfield is holding up well at 75, they say, thanks to Zoomers, natives of the Internet, among whom Salinger's language resonates strongly

SPIRIT OF THE TIMES: Seventy-Five Years of Salinger's Holden Caulfield (2)

23.September 2026 Milan Milošević

The Catcher in the Rye between spoiled boomers and chaste zoomers

Seventy-five years ago DŽ. D. Salinger, emerging from the war with post-traumatic stress disorder, rose to fame with a bestseller The Catcher in the Rye, and his literary hero Holden Caulfield became the alter ego of the "rebel without a cause" from the "baby boomer" generation. Then, avoiding publicity as the "Greta Garbo of literature", he secluded himself in a house near Cornish, New Hampshire, which inflamed the sensationalist curiosity, gossip and vengeful memory of those close to him; he loved women much younger than himself and abruptly broke off those relationships; for more than 50 years he wrote as if he were searching for enlightenment, and he did not publish any of it because he considered it a violation of privacy. He died at 91. His Holden Caulfield is holding up well at 75, they say, thanks to Zoomers, natives of the Internet, among whom Salinger's language resonates unusually strongly