История

This article proposes a new reading of an inscription on a pitcher discovered in 1955 in Pliska by Stamen Mihaylov. The inscription is read as a mixed Cyrillic and runic text. One of the runes used in the inscription is present in the runic script from the Yenisey Basin in Siberia and thus connects the Proto-Bulgarians that inhabited Danube Bulgaria with this Asian region.

The paper analyzes the place and the social roles allotted to intellectuals in post-totalitarian societies, with a special focus on the Czech situation. From the sources relevant to the topic, the choice here falls on Václav Havel’s public speeches since they offer particularly rich study material. Attention is paid to the political, social, and cultural contexts that have served as a stimulus for each of the analyzed texts, as well as the intention, implicit in them, to model the environment in which they are to function. The paper also touches upon the themes of historical and cultural memory, personal choice, the intellectuals’ resignation, and the sense of cultural isolationism, among others.

This study examines the shift in the prosecutorial strategy of Ernest Pinard in the cases against Gustave Flaubert (“Madame Bovary”) and Charles Baudelaire (“Les Fleurs du mal”), offering an interpretation that explores the ways in which legal professionals read literary works. Using examples such as the poet-detective Gabriel Syme, a character in G. K. Chesterton’s “The Man Who Was Thursday”, and the investigating monk William, a character in Umberto Eco’s “The Name of the Rose”, the article investigates potential connections between poetry and law. These connections create legal spaces where both laughter and music become possible. Particular attention is given to the relationship between text and music within the framework of court proceedings (the so-called “courtroom acoustics”) as well as in the formation of judicial practice (understood as a harmonious performance).

The article, part of a larger study, provides the first accurate reconstruction of the funeral of Pencho Slaveykov, which was held on June 1/14, 1912, in Brunate (Italy). The text, based on rich archival and documentary material (memoirs, press articles, archival sources), aims to theoretically substantiate the heuristic of the scientific approach to such “marginal” micro-plots. It demonstrates that the funeral of Pencho Slaveykov in Italy was conceived as a fulfillment of the poet’s unspoken will and a merging with the “solemn psalm of the entire universe” (“Psalm of the poet”). At the same time, the article shows how the burial of the renowned author could be interpreted as a supreme expression of mercy and a manifestation of Bulgarian-Italian reciprocal understanding and friendship.

This analysis is a contribution to the study of the phenomenon of the Orange Alternative protest-art movement. It interprets the literary work “Six Short Stories” as a supplement to the programmatic texts of the latter. In the research, the significance of the movement against the background of European avant-garde currents and the ideas of the “Manifesto of Socialist Surrealism” are briefly presented. Moreover, the study outlines the profile of its creator, Waldemar “Major” Fydrych. The article also shows the most important themes that appear in the texts: “Manifesto of Flowers,” “Mars Amandi,” “Dawn,” and “Opera for 44 Pieces of Silver.” In particular, their several surrealist aspects are highlighted.