Pencho Slaveykov on Russian writers and Russian literature

The interests of our great poet and cultural figure Pencho Slaveykov in Russia, Russian literature and Russian culture appeared in his earliest years, and deepened and developed throughout his life. At different times and on different occasions, he gave not quite the same assessments of individual writers, poets and literary critics, and even expressed contradictory thoughts. But this is the fleeting, episodic aspect of his work, of his life. Characteristic of his entire creative development, of his literary and aesthetic views, of his mature artistic taste and preferences, is his understanding and deep conviction that Russian literature is leading, that Russian writers utter new truths, that their work is original and unique, that the path to great art leads through Russian literature. Pencho Slaveykov received the correct direction of his interests in Russian literature first from his father, and then from other of his predecessors, writers and poets: Karavelov, Botev, Drumev, Vazov. It grew and took shape in the first years after the Liberation, when the atmosphere in our country was filled with the influence of Russia, an influence represented in many ways by progressive-minded Russian specialists and public figures working in Bulgaria.