Книжка-3

1967 Book 3 Contents

One of the paradoxes of the West is the maintenance of a mythical position of modern consciousness, and this with the simultaneous super-rational organization and centralized direction of all areas of material and spiritual production. Modern literature also develops a paradoxical state in which extreme intellectualism, and this in its most bloodless, almost mathematical forms, coexists with the unrestrained fetishization of everything primary, elementary and cave-like. Even intellectual constructions are used as a method for conscious and refined digging into the ancient, archaic layers of life. A tired civilization, a psyche torn by neuroses, an exhausted intellect seek stimulants and a transfusion of blood in order to regain lost vital energies, to be refreshed by the living water of the original sources. The modern writer - super-rational, skeptical and isolated in the chamber of his narrow specialization - creates modern myths. (The rational gaze, cooled and threatened by disastrous self-alienation, throws itself into the arms of the irrational blind elements in order to regain its lost primary vision. This is done through the great wave of modern mythmaking.)

In our political history, the image of Georgi Kirkov - the Master - is one of the most charming. Those who have seen or listened to him, from whatever background they come from, could not remain indifferent to the subjugating power of his word. Kirkov also respects with his books, which will always be republished. Because in them lives an entire period of the history of the party, an entire encyclopedia of thoughts and predictions. At a time when many other advanced countries are far from socialism, Bulgaria, which has just regained its sight, is illuminated by the first dawns of Marx's teachings. The Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party, created by Blagoev, is one of the earliest proletarian parties in the world. Even in the time of abbots and peasants, the first apostles of socialism predicted the path of economic and social development and sowed the seeds of Marxist enlightenment. No, these were not just seeds, they were sparks that, if they hit a stone, would be extinguished, but if they found awake and dissatisfied souls, they would blaze in uncontrollable torment. Along with Dimitar Blagoev, Georgi Kirkov is “the first trumpeter for the awakening and organization of the Bulgarian proletariat,” as his then young student and successor Georgi Dimitrov called him in the speech at his grave. Kirkov’s contributions to the building of the Marxist party are enormous. The unwritten history of the Bulgarian socialist movement fills an entire chapter with his activities; with a number of his manifestations (especially during the wars and the October Revolution) he also stands out as an actor of the international workers’ movement.

It was deep autumn, in 1842. With souls filled with love for their homeland and a burning desire to continue their education, Petko Slaveykov and Hristo Draganov set off for Svishtov. They traveled on foot through the villages, with bags on their shoulders, in which, along with bread, lay the manuscript of Paisiy's History. "This journey through the villages was extremely curious for me. At that time, I already knew Bulgarian history, but my geographical knowledge was still very limited," the poet wrote. When they saw the Danube, they realized that they had reached the city. The great river flowed majestically and silently. To the north of it spread out the endless plain, and to the south rose white hills with gray houses perched on them, squeezed into narrow streets. The city was a center for the export of grain from the Danube Plain and an important economic center with distant trade connections - through Serbia, Austria, France, Dalmatia, to the entire commercial Western and Eastern world. Work began early and ended late in the evening. The Svishtov merchants, who had traveled "from Europe", dressed in a "European" way - shirts with stiff white collars, ties. Their wives wore malakofs sewn in Bucharest, the daughters - outfits from Galati, Pest and Vienna.

Dimitar Dimitrov - a name that says almost nothing to the modern reader. One by one, those who, in their unfaded memories from more than six decades ago, could restore something of the image of this enthusiastic idealist - with the fragile physical figure of a restless workers' organizer, with the restless and temperamental pen of a talented publicist, with the searching thought of a promising socialist literary critic and scholar - are leaving. Dimitar Dimitrov is from the phalanx of the first socialist activists who, even in that early era, saw the need for a practical struggle for the liberation of the working class and participated directly in this struggle. And as writers, they are not contemplatives, but fighters who clear the way for socialist ideology and literature. For about 5-6 years of public and literary activity, he leaves an interesting and meaningful legacy that has its own definite place in our Marxist criticism since the end of the century. His social and literary work, his life, was very quickly put to an end by the "yellow guest", which suppressed so many young socialist forces.

The art of small literary genres (proverbs, maxims, aphorisms, maxims, reflections) encompasses the multifaceted figurative sententious phraseology of folklore; the rhythmically condensed figurative formulas of Ecclesiastes, Tacitus, Juvenal; the psychological insights of writers from the “school” of La Rochefoucauld. Coming as an enlightenment and catharsis of the spirit, these works harmoniously unite reflection and feeling, poetry and eternal truth. The organic fusion of vivid impression and reflection connects the sententious to the great questions of life. Pascal’s “Thoughts”, Goethe’s “Maxims in Prose” or the aphorisms of Fr. Kafka reveal an inner penetration between art, on the one hand, and science and philosophy, on the other. Sententious thought proceeds from the fullness of views and accurately captures the nature of things. Depending on the nature of these works, Jul. Petersen places them in the outermost sphere of literature, since they go beyond the limits of purely poetic experience and reach the realm of thought, a moral or theological lesson. Petersen's treatment follows Goethe's classical statements and allows for rich observations on the problematics of literary genres and types. Maxims are seen as a "monologue depiction of a state" and are placed between the epic and the lyric, but remain closer to the lyric.

Until recently, in our literary history, the great and very interesting, for his era new writing style, South Slavic and Bulgarian writer Parteny Pavlovich, born around 1695 in the city of Silistra, did not receive the appropriate place for his literary work. He was mentioned episodically in general literary-historical reviews, noting that he was the author of a curious and meaningful autobiography, which, however, remained unknown to the mass reader; the excerpts from it in a New Bulgarian translation, printed by Professor Yordan Ivanov, pursued academic and educational purposes, so their fame hardly went far beyond the walls of the University. This gap was partly filled by an essay by Dr. V. Sl. Kiselkov about Parteny, published as the final chapter in his compiled work "Studies and Outlines of Old Bulgarian Literature", Sofia, 1956, pp. 394-398. The most comprehensive and in-depth exposition of the personality and work of Parthenius has recently been made by Bonyu St. Angelov. In his study, Angelov traces in detail the life path of Parthenius, brings to light and analyzes his larger and smaller works. The great merit of B. St. Angelov is also that, thanks to his publication, today the Bulgarian reader has at hand one of Parthenius' most important works adapted to our current spelling system: his Autobiography, published so far only once in the almost inaccessible Serbian magazine "Serbian Zion".

It is an undeniable historical truth that the Bulgarian nation affirms its conquests in the field of culture, art and literature with organic closeness and deep brotherly love for the great Russian people. Without denying the undoubted independent contribution of our people to the treasury of human thought and art, one should not underestimate the enormous contribution of Russian culture to our spiritual development. More than half a century ago, one of our greatest writers and thinkers - Pencho Slaveykov - made the following significant recognition: "Russia liberated us politically. Even children know this. But Russia liberated us mentally; to her, above all, we owe that small culture that we have for now and which is the best guarantee for the culture of the spirit in our further life and development.

Before examining the most general propositions that Isaac Passy formulates and defends in his book on tragedy, I will dwell on that chapter of it which bears the title "Aristotle's Dispute with Plato". Let me be allowed to begin with a topic that I myself have been developing for years. I will justify my desire with one more circumstance: my research, although unmentioned in Passy, ​​has had an impact on his book, and for me it is not without importance how this happened. I want to assure the reader that I will not abuse his patience and will not devote the initial part of my article exclusively to personal authorial interests. Because, on the other hand, the chapter in question reveals some important features that characterize Passy's book in general.

For the second time I was going to Bagryana's house. On the way, I struggled in vain to recall anything from the order in her reception room and office. Was there nothing distinctive and alluring in what surrounded the poetess, and nothing in particular attracted my feminine gaze? It seemed that the conversation about Bagryana's celebration in Rome had completely absorbed us. Everything else had disappeared on that rainy autumn afternoon. Only she remained, in whose eyes the delight of the "eternal city" was constantly lurking and flashing. And ah, yes... Like a gentle veil, light sycamore curtains had been drawn over all the windows. They covered the objects, created intimacy, and eliminated any curiosity that would otherwise be natural. And now... Now it's spring, I'll wait for the lights to come on so I can see everything. e Bagryana welcomes me warmly. She drives away the fatigue from the long work on her proofs, who knows where. She imperceptibly quickly prepares tea: "Let's wake up a little." Both the tea and the tulle curtains disarm me. But I feel an insatiable thirst to talk, to marvel at the naturalness, simplicity and beauty. The enchantress of Bulgarian verse was sitting next to me in a blouse with purple tones and smiling at me. I could look and ask whatever I wanted!

The epic narrative in Georgi Karaslavov's multi-volume epic "Ordinary People" has always reminded me of the mighty flow of a wide and deep river - calm and even, but hiding unsuspected depths within itself, spilling out into side branches that whimsically curve and rejoin in the main direction, covering ever larger and larger spaces, imperiously pushing towards its ultimate goal.

In German idealist aesthetics, Hegel occupies a middle position in time and in the range of problems between Kant, Schiller, Schelling, on the one hand, and Schopenhauer, Herbart, Schleiermacher, on the other. Hegel starts from the position of Kant and Solger, for whom aesthetic activity is not theoretical, but practical (something practically realized in its perfection), so that art belongs not to theoretical philosophy, but to practical philosophical thought. Following Schelling and Solger, Hegel finds no place for art in the "Phenomenology" and "Philosophy of Spirit", where the forms of theoretical thinking are analyzed. For Hegel, art is not representative of abstract creations, it represents the concrete concept, a form of realization of the freedom of the spirit - immediate, sensually subjective knowledge. Therefore, artistic fantasy (a concept inherited from Schiller and the Romantics) does not act like the passive, receptive imagination, but seeks the rational in the real (objective) and the inner truth of the object. “The rational in the object,” writes Hegel, “which the artist has chosen must not alone arouse his consciousness: the artist must have well considered the essential and the truth in all their extent and depth.

During the solemn scientific session for the 1050th anniversary of the death of Clement of Ohrid, achieving its jubilee purpose with the greatest accuracy, the cleverly and interestingly written book by Nadezhda Dragova about the outstanding Bulgarian and Slavic enlightener was published. Without a doubt, in the bibliographies of those dedicated to Clement 1 N. Dragova, Kliment Ohridski. A Story about Him and His Enemies. S., Publishing House of the National Council of the Fatherland Front, 1966, 266 p. Works it will find its place in the section "popular scientific literature". It is not excluded that it will be passed over negligently by both individual representatives of strict academic thought and some of the creators of contemporary historical fiction, if they a priori attribute to it the known shortcomings of books of its kind. And it is neither elementary, nor dry and lifeless. From its first to its last page, we are greeted by the results of a perfectly clear, meticulously thought out and precisely executed plan, and we are delighted by the qualities of a high-class popularizer.

TODAY, and apparently since yesterday, it is almost unknown in our country. We do not know the essence and functions of Czech and Slovak literary criticism, we do not know about its relations to literary theory and history and, of course, to aesthetics, as well as to sociology, psychology and philosophy, about its connections to cultural policy and the social situation. And the long-standing disputes and polemics, especially of the last ten years, would tell us a lot about its subject, method and criterion, about the contribution of literary critics, with a unique creative expression and with a sharp eye for general and characteristic tendencies of literary development in Czechoslovakia. It is necessary to present in our country this complex of problems of contemporary Czech and Slovak literary and critical thought, at least in the most characteristic creative expressions. It is naive to assume that it can be revealed in separate, moreover, so sporadic, reviews and surveys. Today, our access to authentic material can be facilitated by the History of Czechoslovak Literary Criticism, by a significant number of anthologies with selected articles, essays, critical and analytical studies by prominent Czechoslovak literary scholars and writers, and not least by the high literary-theoretical and critical level of today's Czech and Slovak literary journals."