Dragan Nichev

The temporary ebb and flow from the field of contemporary literary criticism is gradually being experienced. A number of our prominent literary critics are increasingly appearing in operational criticism, and the problems of contemporary literature are becoming the subject of their works. The efforts of our criticism not to lag behind the contemporary development of literature are becoming increasingly tangible. Yako Molhov ranks among this group of critics who have focused their attention entirely on the problems of contemporary literature. His recently published book "Contemporary Fiction Writers" is another testimony to these interests. The first part of the book includes two voluminous articles - an essay on the novelistics of Dimitar Dimov and a survey of the novel in 1960.

Professor Emil Georgiev possesses an energetic and fresh pen, he is not alien to the polemical passion of the publicist and the pioneer, and all this - as in this case - combined with a rich erudition and a Marxist worldview, assigns him a leading and leading place among the figures of our and international Slavic studies. At the same time, his long-standing work as a professor at the Department of Slavic Literatures at Sofia University helped to build a number of young Slavic scholars. One of his latest books, "General and Comparative Slavic Literary Studies", is based on lectures read to students. But Professor E. Georgiev does not stop at facts, he is not satisfied with just discovering, researching and analyzing them, but above all illuminates them in a literary-theoretical aspect and outlines the path of a general and comparative examination of literary phenomena. His book, divided into chapters-essays, each of which claims to be independent, is written on the basis of abundant critical and factual material. It is rich in valuable bibliographical and literary references, which once again emphasize its academicity. But the original interpretation and creative assimilation and generalization of the works used have helped the essays to go beyond the framework of a teaching aid and to turn the book into a significant and valuable contribution to literary science and Slavic studies. Of course, the entire diversity and breadth of Slavic literary relationships are not and cannot be under the gaze of only one scholar, to be highlighted in only one scientific work, no matter how voluminous it may be. Prof. E. Georgiev himself defines the framework of his scientific research, bringing to the fore, first of all, moments of the Bulgarian-Slavic literary community in the era of the Bulgarian Revival.