Vidka Nikolova

"The tragedy begins!" - writes Geo Milev about the bloody September of 1923. In fact, the tragedy began years before that. Bai Ganyo lit the first fuse and with political fireworks presented Alek's head as the greatest achievement in the hands of Ferdinand. This was the opening blow, the first cry of those in power - In the name of the people!" Parties and governments passed this "motto" to each other like a baton. "Lies lie, lies rule, lies steal." The new time invades and with a stunning blow proves that one cannot live only with memories and the past, throwing them overboard like ballast. The spirits of the martyrs of the Bulgarian National Revival excite, perform the insidious movement in the minds, but do not give an answer. "Power is my eternal mistress" - every political department brazenly and loudly confesses. The idols, the "collapsed idols" press their shoulders. But the Buzludzha Congress in Bulgaria is indisputable proof that living water exists. It brings "first love" to an entire generation of the Bulgarian intelligentsia, without, however, providing it with a protective armor at the crossroads. The revolutionary romanticism of a pre-liberation era does not allow for much reflection, but the end of the past and especially the beginning of the 20th century necessitates a logical reassessment, a painful search for new sources. Under other social and political conditions, this search is already a fact in Russia, France, Belgium, Germany. Ethically pure natures face chaos - hopeless and dreamy - protected only by the tormenting images of their "drunken ships", their wanderers, loners and eccentrics. The creators, the creators of spiritual freedom, embodied in poems, colors and music, turn out to be both the Achilles' heel of society and its saviors. Earthly purity is already infinitely compromised in the world of capital and the leaps of human minds from "supermen", from Maeterlinck's "Treasure of the Humble", through the multinational, fragmented internal dialogues of symbolism, through the roar of Verhaeren's "The Ringer" to Ernst Toler's "Massa-Man" - are fully justified by the brutality of the era. In Bulgaria, this era is pouring out in a very short period of years, when our progressive thought must collectively pass through populism and socialism, through symbolism, impressionism, expressionism. A review of the periodicals of just a few of the magazines such as: "Den", "Delo", "Novo Vreme", "Nash Zhivot", "Misl", "Khudozhnik" to the magazine "Cherven Smyah", to the magazine "Plamak".

Pencho Slaveykov's attitude towards our folk art is not one of the unclear and unknown issues of his thought and poetry. Moreover, he is one of those artists who turn to the folklore of his people not only directly - with his personal poetic work - but also through a number of statements, articles, studies. This facilitates the study of the problem posed and to a certain extent directs its solution. I will not dwell on Pencho Slaveykov's views on Bulgarian folk art, expressed theoretically, but on those that we find in works such as "Ralitsa", "Chunar", "Lud Gidiya", "Nerazelni", "Lyatna Vecher" and many others, which grew under the direct influence of folk works or were nourished by them. On the other hand, I will try to trace the dependence of Pencho Slaveykov's journalistic statements on the relationship between the talent of the artist and the talent of the folk singer; to what extent is the influence between them; to what extent these statements become a principle for his personal creativity.

"Life is not about happiness, life is about searching" - these words can be used to characterize the lives of many people - many poets, artists, musicians, politicians, scientists. Perhaps for each of them they will sound like the truth, as the only correct ones, although for a life, for a burning in the name of a great idea, in the name of people or art, it is very difficult and in some respects too superficial to give such definitions. And despite everything, I would like to say that our poet Geo Milev completely justifies, proves the correctness of Bruce's thought, shows all its complexity and richness, with his behavior as a poet, a person, a citizen until the end of his life.