Beneath Pirin, by the Struma: Ecological, Historical, and Literary Memory of Sandanski in the Anthology „a Conversation With a City“

The article examines the literary construction of Sandanski as a resort and urban locus through ecological, historical, and literary memory. Focusing on the anthology “A Conversation with a City” (“Razgovor s edin grad”, 1979), it traces recurring natural and topographical imag- es – the Pirin Mountains, the Struma and Sandanska Bistritsa rivers, mineral waters, the plane tree, and southern vegetation – that shape a recognizable literary geography of the city. Histori- cal figures, events, quotations, and literary references add different temporal layers to this im- age. The study argues that ecological and historical memory are themselves constructed through literature. Particular attention is paid to the changing image of the resort: the earlier associations with healing and leisure give way to a dynamic urban space marked by construction and renew- al, combining the natural specificity of Sandanski with the socialist motif of building the new city.