"Мъртвият брат" - анализи и тълкувания

The paper examines the appearance of Ivan Shishmanov’s study “The Song of Dead Brother in the Poetry of Balkan Peoples” (1896–1898) in its international and Bulgarian context. It traces out several interpretations of the dead man (brother or lover) motif, who comes back among the living people in search of his sister or beloved (“Lenore”, AT 365). The main aim of the paper is to show the continuity and accumulation of source material, and the examination of previous hypotheses, as well as the new perspectives and methods applied.