Христофоров

The paper offers an attempt to analyze the meaning of the notion 'anti-totalitarian literature' per se and in its Bulgarian context. This is a complex phenomenon embracing several different trends, different types of writing, different political affiliations and aesthetic views. Also, there were writers that are still difficult to classify in the main types of 'anti-totalitarian literature': political emigrants, dissidents, communists that opposed the status quo, etc. One such author was Asen Christoforov (1910-1970). A graduate of London University, a young Bulgarian professor of economics in the first post-war years, he was dismissed from the University of Sofia, later accused of being a British spy and sent to the concentration camp in Belene. Christoforov lived a lonely life for many years near the village of Govedartsi, at the foot of Rila mountain. Nevertheless, in the late 1950s and later Chistoforov published several books. Almost all of them described the mountain and its inhabitants and especially the people of Govedartci. The paper traces the author's percecution for political reasons discretely mentioned in his work, claiming that their literary merits are greater than their 'anti-totalitarian' criticism.

The literary works of Christophorov should be studied in the context of several more general problems. Possible links between the author's economic writings and literary texts. The ratio between fact and fiction. The introduction of autobiographical elements in literary narratives. The writer's attitude to the social and political status quo. Examining the Christophorov's work and his rich archive as one big 'auto-text' and analyzing the hidden tensions in it. Scrutinizing the relationship of Christophorov's writings to texts by other Bulgarian and foreign authors as well as direct or indirect citations or references to foreign works. By combining these approaches the scholar can achieve a mapping of the world that Christophorov built and its mythology. The paper tries to combine the following approaches and summarizes some observations on the Christophorov's work and its place in the Bulgarian literature from the mid-twentieth century.

The paper explores the biography of Assen Christophorov (1910 - 1970) - an eminent Bulgarian economist and author. After completing the full course of Robert College in Istanbul (1931), he graduated as Bachelor of Sciences (Economics) from the London School of Economics in 1934. Back in Bulgaria, Christophorov built a solid reputation as one of the leading economists during the inter-war period. He made outstanding contributions to the fields of business cycle studies and theories, monetary economics, finance and the economics of war. In 1947 he was suspended by the communist authorities and forced to abandon his university career. During 1951 - 1952 he was persecuted by the regime's police and interned to a labour camp. Afterwards Christophorov devoted himself to freelance literary activities. Author, in 1945, of an acclaimed book, narrating his student's life in London, he published various novels and short stories. Concurrently, he was a prolific translator of English and American authors. The paper draws from archival sources and, in particular, from the recently opened files of the communist regime's secret police, gathered during Christophorov's imprisonment and the long period of surveillance that ensued. The focus is on his life during the 1950s and 1960s and on the compromises he had to face in order to pursue his intellectual endeavour. Christophorov is considered an insightful case of successful intellectual "conversion" that permitted him to abandon a strictly monitored ideological field (economics) and migrate towards a subtler one (prose) where certain freedom of expression was somewhat easier to achieve. A counter-factual exercise is designed: Christophorov's hypothetical trajectory as an economist in a "free world" is contrasted with his tangible accomplishments as an author in the communist realm. It is inferred that the biographical disruption in 1947 released another talent that gave birth to remarkable pieces of belles-lettres.

The article is a theoretical attempt to show the different descriptive ways of identical cultural practices in Assen Christophorov's books Macakurtsi and Iskrovete. The main emphasis is laid on the narrative strategies, used by the author to give the texts artistic value and ethnographic authenticity. The article focuses on the epistemic norms and scientific traditions in description of the people's ways of life in the traditional context. Creating an integrated historical and folkloristic account about the national cultural heritage and pushing away the "exotic" practices in the field of "cultural intimacy" is seen as an ideological context in which the strategies of Christophorov's texts are formed.

The one and only attempt of the writer Assen Christophorov in the field of dramaturgy is the play "Razvigorat". It is written in co-authorship with the humorist Haim Benadov. This creative tandem and the fact that Christophorov makes an unusual attempt for his writer's occupation, arouses questions whose answers are sought in this article. "Razvigorat" does not shine with specific literary merits. This is a mediocre play on anti-cult topics. Therefore, the objective is not a scientific literary analysis of the play, but placing it in the context of the dramaturgy of the 1960s. Thematically "Razvigorat" is closest to the "Prokurorat" by G. Djagarov. Together with the attempt to clarify the creative and the ideological atmosphere of that time, this article makes a parallel between the fates of the two plays.

This paper is an interview with the writer's wife and his sister taken in 1986. The author of the paper who was graduating from the University of Plovdiv at that time seeks interesting facts about the life and work of the late Assen Christophorov (1910-1970) and his family.

This paper is an interview with the writer's wife and his sister taken in 1986. The author of the paper who was graduating from the University of Plovdiv at that time seeks interesting facts about the life and work of the late Assen Christophorov (1910-1970) and his family.

The article features the archive stock for Asen Christophorov, which is kept at the Central state archives (CSA). It contains documents and photos that generally represent his entire life cycle and creative work - from his college years at the Robert College in Istanbul (1937-1931), through his studies at the London University (1931-1934), his time as a director of the Situation Office at the General Statistics Office (1935-1938), his work as a professor at the State School of Higher Education for Financial and Administrative Studies (present University of National and World Economy) in Sofia (1940-1947) and the State University "St. Kliment Ohridski" (present Sofia University) (1943-1947). The stock also contains documents concerning the "Stopanski Vesti" (Business News) magazine. There are also documents about Asen Christophorov's arrest and imprisonment at the Belene concentration camp (1951-1952) as well as files related to his stay and work in the village of Govedartsi, Samokov Region. The main part of the stock consists of documents regarding Asen Christophorov's scientific research and writing. It contains two monographs as well as a number of his research papers and articles on theoretical topics and issues of present interest. Some of these are manuscripts; others are published in various economic media. Hristoforov's archive stock contains typewritten versions of the "Matsakurtsi" short novel, the "Corvee" novel, the "Three Men and a Donkey in the Rila Mountains" short novel, the "Treasure Hunters" short novel, the "Revelations" article cycle, as well as Christophorov's translation of James Joyce's "Dubliners" and more.