Книжка-4

1961 Book 4 Contents

Poetry is the leading principle in the artistic culture of our people. And this is undoubtedly one of the main features of our national character. The poetic temperament of the Bulgarian people has manifested itself in all spheres of life. However, with the greatest and most concentrated force, it has manifested itself in the field of poetic literary creation. In the mountain range of our literature, the most numerous and highest peaks belong to poetry. And if a few years ago the conquests of our artistic prose exceeded the conquests of poetry, then recently we have again witnessed the undeniable rise of poetic creativity. A new wave of creative successes has raised its crest in our poetry - a whole series of poets from different generations have created books that have found a strong and spontaneous response in the hearts of the widest circle of readers. These books draw the line of a very interesting and characteristic phenomenon of our poetry today, into which we are obliged to look, to explain its inner meaning, to realize the lessons hidden in it. The creative successes of our poetry, which are in question, were born not because of the application of revisionist recipes for "refreshing" artistic creativity, not because of the refusal or deviation of poets from the fundamental principles of our contemporary literature. These successes, in their ideological and artistic essence, mean the strengthening and further development of socialist realism in our poetry, the unfolding of its possibilities, and on the other hand - overcoming, precisely on this solid foundation, some dogmatic prejudices and schematic stratifications in views and creative practice. In other words, in recent years our poetry has been making serious and effective efforts to participate in its own specific way and in its own irreplaceable way even more actively in the communist education and re-education of the people, by mastering in a versatile and diverse way the truth of life, the truth of real experiences, of the living, rich and complex spiritual experience of our contemporaries. With this, it becomes more necessary to readers, more deserving of their trust and appreciation, more sought after and respected by them.

In the creative circles of Poland, two completely contradictory phenomena emerged after the 20th Congress of the CPSU and the 8th Plenum of the Polish United Workers' Party. One was expressed in a criticism of dogmatism and in the revelation to writers of new creative socialist perspectives. On the other hand, however, under the influence of sometimes unprincipled criticism, a process of ideological regression took place in some circles. In the midst of the criticism, revisionist voices spoke out, placing political issues at the center of their attacks: the attitude of the authorities towards the masses, the role of the party in society, the importance of socialist ideology in practical state and public life. Even individual authors came to the conclusion that in order to avoid mistakes, one must act without relying on any ideology, on the basis of a technologically practical attitude towards social issues. These revisionist views found their most vivid expression in Leszek Kolakowski's essay "The Priest and the Fool", in which the author tries to prove that man is faced with only one basic alternative: to adopt the attitude towards life of a priest or a fool. And Kolakowski proved all the advantages of the fool's attitude. All kinds of systems and ideologies limited freedom and conscience with dogmas, stiffened the mind - the only expressor of human dignity. The main mistake in the past was to put history in the role of the former god, to replace facts with assessments, while only the mind, unconstrained by any systems and dogmas, ready to mock the accepted order, could judge the facts. For Kolakowski, the "fool's attitude" meant a technological attitude towards problems, it was a revisionist transition to the positions of bourgeois neopositivism. I will dwell in detail on this "revelation" of revisionism, to understand the essence of the revisionist manifestations in Poland during the years 1956-57 and so that we can also grasp those positive phenomena that have been observed in Polish cultural life for the past three years.

Of the three greatest epic works by Y. Yovkov, The Reaper, The Farmstead on the Border, and The Adventures of Gorolomov, the latter turned out to be almost completely outside the interests of literary criticism and literary history. The two short articles by M. Arnaudov,2 the study by G. Tsanev in the first anniversary of "Art and Criticism," the attempt at an ideological assessment of the work contained in the book by Iv. Meshekov, as well as the interesting review by P. Dinekov - this is in fact almost everything that has been written so far about this novel. Among other articles and historical and literary works, apart from individual notes, we do not find a single work that represents an attempt to clarify the ideological and artistic meaning of the work. How can such indifference on the part of critics and literary historians be explained? Two reasons have an influence: first - the novel was published in fragments for seven years, and second - it remained an unfinished work. Chapters I-IV were published in books II-V of the magazine "Bulgarian Thought" from 1931, and chapters V-X in books II-VII of the same magazine from 1937. In the manuscripts remaining after the writer's death, an almost illegible and stylistically underdeveloped sketch of the eleventh chapter was found, which was read with great effort by Dr. D. Yovkova and printed in the already mentioned magazine "Art and Criticism".

In world literary history, there are artists whose historical significance becomes more and more evident with the passage of time, who push for reflection, for new quests of the mind and heart. Such a notable personality is V. G. Belinsky, 150 years since the birth of whom today the progressive public from all countries marks with gratitude, making new efforts to delve into the rich heritage of this great son of the Russian people in order to establish the impact of his revolutionary-political, theoretical-philosophical, literary-critical thought on and later generations. contemporaries Having passed an instructive path of ideological and creative development, Belinsky stands on the most progressive positions of his time, understands the needs and tasks of the era, strives for new revolutionary concepts of social, ethical and aesthetic values. Many of the principles he established still resonate today with undiminished force, have lost none of their vital relevance, and serve as the basis for further research. Belinsky's multifaceted and rich work seems to embody the comprehensive spirituality of the great Russian people, as if the socio-political, moral-philosophical, and literary-theoretical problems of the era are gathered. The insights of the great thinker cut through the gloomy atmosphere of bourgeois-landlord Russia like lightning - groaning and struggling against oppression and injustice, against the Nicholas monarchical dictatorship, and outline the radiant horizons to which human thought has been striving for centuries. What excited and worried his contemporaries, what flashed in the minds of honest people, disturbed the squeamish consciences of all sorts of oppressors of the human person, manifests itself in Belinsky with astonishing power, to charm and inspire the wronged, to frighten those in power. His articles take up the most pressing issues of the time, are met as a revelation. In them one feels the bubbling of an immense energy, the daring of a penetrating thought, the rebellion of a restless civic pathos of a loving heart.

Until recently, the question of the beginning of critical realism in Bulgarian literature was undisputed - Lyuben Karavelov was considered its founder. Recently, however, G. Tsanev came up with an article "The Beginning of Critical Realism in Bulgarian Literature", in which he believes that "a careful examination of the facts is necessary, which would lead us to new conclusions". In this article, he reviews and analyzes Slaveykov's work, emphasizing its critical-realistic character. He also focuses on his literary-critical articles and his translated literature. Based on our social reality, G. Tsanev points to critical realism as the main trend in Bulgarian literature, and its first representative is P. R. Slaveykov. On the same occasion, P. Zarev has recently written an article - "Our Literary History and the Wealth of the Literary Process". The author focuses more on the analysis of the aesthetic views and artistic practice of P. R. Slaveykov. As a result, he comes to the conclusion that Slaveykov's work "by character, by its system of exposition, is the work of pre-critical realism and is a transition to it." 1 While trying to reveal the general direction" of his poetry, he adopts a position that is, in our opinion, erroneous, that the main feature of Slaveykov's work is his "specific interest in the intimate, in the world of the awakened personality" - his love poetry. On the other hand, he believes that since Slaveykov is a realist with a very versatile attitude to reality, without focusing on the specific conflicts and trends of the time - his realism is characterized by "completeness" and "multifacetedness" in depicting life, without a single definite and consistently expressed tendency. This prevents him from growing as a critical realist. Without agreeing with the idea that Slaveykov's work lacks a specific and consistently expressed trend, or that it lacks a focus on the specific conflicts and trends of the time, nevertheless, a number of the author's thoughts and observations in this part of the article are so interesting that they make the reader think again about these problems.

A huge area of ​​Bulgarian literature has not yet attracted the attention of our researchers - anonymous literature. Bulgarian anonymous literature hides significant riches. Touched by individual researchers, on specific occasions, it has not yet been the subject of systematic research by bibliographic workers, historians, writers and publicists. Over a long series of decades, reasons of a diverse nature have forced many writers, public figures, publicists and all other workers of the pen to conceal their names, not to indicate them on their publications either with pseudonyms or with any initials or signs. Together with pseudonyms, various types of mystifications (regarding the author, year, place of publication, publisher, etc.) and plagiarism - anonymous works are one of the forms of what is called literary fraud in bibliography. Some authors also include the so-called subliminal works 2 (pseudonyms and apocrypha) in this group. In terms of scope and distribution, pseudonyms and anonymous authors have the greatest importance among the various types of literary fraud. And in our country, as elsewhere, over the years the number of individual anonymous publications (let alone anonymous articles) has constantly grown, reaching today, in my estimation, 30,000 copies, that is, approximately 18% of all books published in our country since the Liberation! Some see anonymity as a great social evil, but such opinions have prevented this interesting cultural and social phenomenon from spreading, because, along with some of its negative sides - which, by the way, only reactionary forces have abused - anonymity has served as a shield for progressive public figures of all times and peoples, and under its protection their ideas have inspired the masses of the people in their fight against reaction.

It is difficult to find a Bulgarian writer of my generation who, in one way or another, has not gone through the literary school of Bojan Angelov. And it is easy to explain why this is so: barely having crossed the threshold of high school, through his "Stylistics" and his "Theory of Prose and Poetry" we first began to penetrate the technique of artistic creativity. However, this meeting with the author was necessitated by the requirements of a single program, pursued a single educational goal, and usually ended in the lower grades, without leading to any lasting reflections. Thus, most of us became acquainted with the textbook and teacher without getting to know his research and literary-critical assessments of Bulgarian writers. And if this is the case even with those who learned from his books, even less awareness can be expected from the younger generation: very often they have not even heard his name. That is why the collection "Literary Articles", which was published recently and contains some of Bozhan Angelov's more characteristic works, comes just in time to respond to a ripe need. It will help our new reader to become acquainted with a little-known writer, with whom until now mainly specialists have dealt, and at the same time it will enable many older readers to convince themselves that the author of some textbooks on literary criticism was not an ordinary dry theorist, as they seem to think from old memory, but was primarily concerned with the problems of living Bulgarian literature. The collection "Literary Articles" is divided into three sections, which combine similar works: on folklore (1), on the history of Bulgarian literature (II) and critical essays on some prominent Bulgarian writers (III). To the last section, without being connected by subject with the others, two articles on sensational literature have been added. Obviously, the aim of the compiler was to present the author in such a way that the reader, after getting acquainted with the book, would gain a relatively complete idea of ​​the main directions of his literary work. And it must be said that methodologically this approach is correct. However, I have one objection of a practical nature, which concerns part two of the book.

Many collections of poetry begin with dedications. Often this is the most sincere, the strongest poem in the book - a secret assessment of the journey, dictated by a sense of duty fulfilled or by the pangs of a rebellious conscience. Dedication - these are the poet's tablets, on which his civic and artistic credo is ardently written. These are manifestos of an aesthetic creed, excited promises to readers, to the people, to himself. Alas, poets do not always remain at the height of their aesthetic creed, they are not always able to resist their promises. On their own path, on the path of their cherished "Dedication" only true poets walk, and only then when their talent is elevated by a passionately searching, free creative spirit. Oh, this world must suffer, it must be reborn in you, and every thing and image around you must be recreated by your heart.. ("Dedication")

In June of this year, at a joint meeting of the section for Bulgarian literature after the Liberation, for Russian classical and Soviet literature and literary theory at the Institute of Literature, the work "Some Problems of Humor and Satire in Soviet Literary Studies" by Velichko Valchev was discussed. The reviewer Boyan Nitchev finds that the author has diligently and conscientiously studied almost all the works of Soviet researchers published in the last ten years, who deal with the work of prominent Russian and Soviet satirists. The review in this area highlights questions about the specificity of the genre and artistic mastery, distinguishes the various shades of the comic, devotes significant space to the character of Soviet satire and its ideological positions, etc. The author focuses on the works of prominent Soviet literary scholars Ya. Elsberg, Yu. Borev, L. Ershov, V. Kirpotin, A. K. Bushmin. The reviewer finds that, in general, the first three sections of the article are informative in nature. The presentation is concise, there are no problems, and in places the content of the works under consideration is impoverished. B. Nichev evaluates the second part of V. Valchev's work as more interesting. In it, the author shows more in-depth observations and presents correct opinions. The reviewer pointed out that V. Valchev should develop this part in a broader plan, focusing on more recent published works and making more complete and comprehensive summaries. In conclusion, B. Nichev pointed out that V. Valchev's work has no specific goal and in this form is informative in nature. After serious cuts (in the first part), revision and recomposition of the material, it can be used for the review department of the Institute's Bulletin.