Ivan Popivanov

Georgi Markov's new book presents the author to us as a well-oriented literary critic, who makes conscious and in-depth efforts to reveal the specific laws of literary creativity, to penetrate the secrets of artistic mastery, into the world of the writer. The fruit of theoretical thinking, the book has a close proximity to the sphere of art. It does not give abstract logical interpretations and analyses, but rather approaches them concretely, in connection with the artistic features of literary works. The author's growth is evident. 1 G. Markov, Life Truth and Artistic Truth, ed. Narodno Prosveta, Sofia, 1968. A few years ago he published the book "Questions of Literary Analysis". If we compare it with the current one, we will see many common problems and at the same time - a big difference in their development. A manifest aspiration towards a complex research approach, towards a modern scientific level. Georgi Markov's theoretical interests are directed primarily towards the problems of ideology and artistic analysis, towards revealing the complex relations between literature and reality. These issues, which have a fundamentally important methodological significance for clarifying the essence of artistic creativity, have always been little developed so far, and there are many unresolved problems in connection with them. In the past, a considerable tribute was paid in this area to schematism and simplification, to vulgar sociology. To this day, many theorists are often satisfied only with general definitions and formulations, without detailing and arguing in essence. However, in his new book, G. Markov approaches the problems from different aspects, seeks the root causes of the phenomena, connects theoretical issues with examples from various literary works, mainly by Bulgarian poets and writers.

It is always interesting to follow the creative development of a talented poet, to see his persistent searches, those elusive, barely noticeable zigzags in his path, his gradual growth, the changes that occur with him. And this tracing is so instructive. It can protect us from mistaken and hasty enthusiasms when assessing artists, especially young ones. Every true development of talent is terribly individual, uneven in its external manifestations. And yet there is always a common basis. The life and activity of the creative personality are the same and at the same time - always different, new, unique. In the original, inspired creativity, as in a starry sky, the diversity of the near and far, bright and paler stars, of the iridescent combinations of colorful contrasts, amazes. In each of the individual particles there are impulses, separate worlds are hidden, paths to the infinite. There is no beginning and no end - and at the same time, it seems that each of the stars is both a beginning and an end... AND AND When we admire the work of an interesting poet, we may be surprised by the beginning of his searches. Often the first creative impulses present the artist in a special light. Often later on he is completely different, at least that is how he appears externally. Because at the core there is always something that connects the diverse manifestations, gives a strictly outlined completeness, makes even polar phenomena acceptably united in a unique and healthy unity, in a whole. In poetry we always observe a deep individual meaningfulness, there is always something regular, truthful, LOGICAL.