живота

Before us is a biography that, with great detail and accuracy in terms of facts, depicts the life of one of the most deserving sons of the Bulgarian people from the era of the Revival - the writer and revolutionary Lyuben Karavelov. This biography, written by the skilled pen of the authoritative and respected not only in our country expert on the history of the national liberation movement in Bulgaria in the 19th century, Academician Mihail Dimitrov, is the result of the author's own long-term research and what has already been done by Lyuben Karavelov's previous biographers.

In his study of K. Fotinov, Iv. Shishmanov called the images of our Revivalists, whom he so lovingly knew how to extract from the darkness of the past, shadows. And this was true. What else, if not a shadow for us, is the face of Paisius, for example? What do we know about his life path? Hardly anything more than what he himself wrote about himself in his "History". This can largely be attributed to the majority of representatives of our Revival. And they were exceptional personalities. In order to properly understand the era in which they lived, as well as their works, we must certainly feel not only the writer, but also the person with his distinctive qualities, experiences and temperament. It is necessary for the researcher to see the creative individuality of the writer in its unique originality, in its connection with the laws of literary development. That is why, recently, the consistent study of the creative and life biography of the writer has acquired such great importance. And it is here, in this aspect of research work, that a number of generally accepted recipes often fail, "precisely" establishing the writer's method, his worldview, the ratio of proportions of one or another side of the literary process. Petko R. Slaveykov is one of our Revival figures, about whom we know much more than about the others. His lively and colorful autobiography, his large archive and rich correspondence have revealed to us a number of sides of his life path. But despite this, there is still something to add to what is already known. For example, we know relatively little about the years spent by Slaveykov in Constantinople, as editor of the newspaper "Macedonia" - the most mature and inspired years of his life, when his work became Bulgarian history. During this remarkable time, the image of a woman is intertwined in the poet's life path, who becomes unique and unrepeatable for him. The memory of her has long been buried under the heavy layer of years, and because of this, we have made no small effort to understand the bond that so firmly and forever connected them, hidden under the weeds of slander and misunderstanding.

Comrades, At our current meeting in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Union of Bulgarian Writers, we started an argument with the Chairman of the Committee on Culture and Art, Dr. Petar Vutov. I asked him to give me the floor later, so that I could prepare accordingly and get into tune, so to speak. But he told me: "It is not possible, Comrade Zhivkov, because the Chairman of the Union of Bulgarian Writers, Dr. Kamen Kalchev, will also speak, and other comrades will speak, and there will also be a literary program." It seems, as I understood from Dr. Vutov's information, that today's meeting will be more difficult than your solemn meeting last night. (Merry cheering. Applause). The second issue of our argument with Dr. Vutov concerns whether I should just raise a toast or deliver a speech. I do not know why Dr. Vutov, by giving me the floor, limits me and suggests that I raise a toast. I could not imagine how you, the writers, would exist if you did not write, and how we, the political and state figures, would exist if we did not deliver speeches. After all, that is how we earn our living. (Merry cheering. Applause). Dear writers, Dear comrades, Distinguished guests, I am fulfilling a pleasant assignment from the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party, the people's government and my comrades - members of the Politburo and secretaries of the Central Committee of the party, who are present at this meeting. I greet you most cordially, warmly fatherly - I mean the party, friendly - I mean our comradeship and ties, on the occasion of the glorious 50th anniversary of the Union of Bulgarian Writers. (Prolonged applause).

In the District State Archives - V. Tarnovo there is a "Diary of Panayot Vassilev Typographov" (Fund 65, archive unit 221), in which we find interesting information about the public figure and teacher Petko R. Slaveykov. The author of this diary briefly described his life and intended what was written for his heirs. He was born in Tarnovo in March 1854. He studied until the first grade and in 1866, when his father died, he left school. His mother sent him to learn the abadji craft, to which he apprenticed for 4-5 months. Then he met P. R. Slaveykov and the following excerpt from his diary tells about the connections of Panayot V. Typographov with Slaveykov in Constantinople and Edirne.

Efrem Karanfilov is one of those authors for whom writing is not a casual occupation. He is usually not satisfied with a banal, impersonal examination of works and problems, because writing an article for him is a way to express himself, to express his attitude towards things, to communicate his discoveries about people and literature. He feels a writing vocation within himself, he is possessed by the ambition to involve readers in his thoughts, to instill in them his convictions. Naturally, the literary works he writes about are not indifferent to him, his attitude towards them is very active. With their images and ideas, they unleash the flow of his own thoughts and moods and always evoke certain emotional reactions. These features apply to E. Karanfilov's work in general, but they are manifested to the highest degree in his essays. Because this is indeed a very suitable genre for an author with his inclinations and temperament. The essay gives him exactly that complete freedom that he needs - to follow his thoughts, unbound by preconditions.

Svetoslav Milarov is among those Bulgarian figures from the Bulgarian Renaissance era who, although not consistent supporters of the revolutionary program of the Bulgarian Communist Party in Bucharest, always had in mind the national interests and the sacred ideal of national freedom in their lives and activities. His Renaissance ideal of a free and democratic Bulgaria unswervingly imposed a progressive orientation on all his journalistic and public activities before and after the Liberation, directed against Ottoman slavery and the despotic regime of Battenberg-Stambolov. It is no coincidence that some of his contemporaries, who knew him more closely and even communicated with him, confess in their memoirs their admiration for both his high literary culture and for the views and those traits of his character that show the patriotism of the publicist, writer and man Milarov, the purity of his thoughts and ideals. "In vain would we search among the heroes of the latest Bulgarian literature for another face so enchanting, another face that would inspire the deep sympathy that the martyr Svetoslav Milarov inspires. Botev alone stands at an untouchable height in our hearts...Poor, poor Svetoslav Milarov, Dr. Krastev exclaimed pathetically shortly after his tragic death in 1892. What unspeakable feelings filled his great and noble soul when the executioner stepped forward to lead him on the last, longest journey of his wandering life. What a bitter irony of fate! The great idealist of the new Bulgaria is a robber for the Bulgarian state and it has no other crown for him, except - the crown of the gallows!" The death sentence and its execution also shocked Milarov's Croatian friend Jovan Hranilović, who long before and also after 1892 expressed his admiration for his personality and patriotic activities. "Eternal sufferer, eternal martyr, fearless fighter," he wrote to him on August 3, 1876, "I see you in my thoughts, I marvel at you, I congratulate you." And the national writer Ivan Vazov, who had a precise criterion for personalities and deeds of national significance, felt sympathy and respect for Milarov, which characterized his attitude towards the first figures of the Renaissance and post-liberation era.

And in the many studies on the life and work of Petko Slaveykov, his personality as a public figure and creator with great charm continues to be at the center of scientific research on the national peculiarities and the rapid development of Bulgarian Renaissance literature. And this is mainly due to the exceptional importance that Slaveykov has as the creator of New Bulgarian poetry, as an editor of meaningful periodicals and as a courageous tribune of Bulgarian national consciousness, who retained self-control in the face of more than one mishap in his diverse patriotic endeavors. But not only for this important reason. It so happened that in the literature about this our poet and public figure, quite a few aesthetic, bourgeois-idealistic, subjective and essentially unscientific assessments were preserved for the longest time, either for his political and social views, or for his individual works or - which is especially important - for the main directions of his poetic work.

The Soviet scientist K. A. Poglubko continued for several years to research the Bulgarian-Russian revolutionary relations of the 1960s and 1970s. The result of his research are the interesting studies "Iz istorii Russko-Bulgarskikh revolutionarynyh syvyaz kontsa 60-kh ogode XIX c." (News of the Academy of Moldavian SSR, No. 1, 1965), "Some new materials about the connections of Russian revolutionaries with H. Botev in the early 1970s." (Izvestia AN Moldavskoi SSR, No. 2, 1966), "Connections of Bulgarian and Russian emigrants (1869)" (Izvestia AN Moldavskoi SSR, book 1, 1968) and others. The studios are interconnected. They are obviously key moments of a comprehensive monographic work that will shed new light on a remarkable heroic period of our national Revival and on the activities of the greatest figures of the era.

At the end of last year, the book "From the Life and Work of Ivan Vazov" by Iliya Boyadzhiev and Tsocho Delev was published, State Publishing House "Narodna Prosveta", Sofia, 1968. The exposition of the life and work of Ivan Vazov is based on carefully collected and well-arranged documentation (photographs, portraits, memories, quotes, diagrams and tables). Some of the elements of this Documentation have been known since earlier, and there are some that were discovered later. But it is interesting that now both of them are placed and examined in a new light - something that is one of the merits of the book.