България

"RLF" - Workers' Literary Front. I leaf through the yellowed pages of this veteran with excitement. Here every slogan, every article, every verse and story is colored by the flame of the class struggle. The end of 1929. The wound from the September Uprising, from the pogroms in 1925 is still alive. The headscarves of the thousands of mothers, wives and sisters of the murdered are black. Even blacker is the blackness of fascism, hanging over the entire country. But the people who survived the five centuries of Turkish slavery, the people who fought with black bullets against the Sultan's empire, the people who refused to kill their brothers at the front and sprinkled Vladaya with their blood, the people who, in the name of communism, rose up in the first anti-fascist uprising in the world - this people is awake. It is gathering strength for a new struggle, for the last decisive battle. It is enough to felt the first breath of the rising revolutionary wave in our country and abroad, to erect a camp, to rise from the fire like the legendary bird, the ranks of the fighters. And again the fiery banner is raised and taken off. The Bulgarian working class, the working peasantry and the progressive intelligentsia are writing new glorious pages in their heroic history. An important place in the fierce ideological struggle, and especially on the literary front during this period, is occupied by the newspaper "RLF", which was published from December 1929 to June 1934 in the conditions of the bourgeois fascist state, of the dominant bourgeois, fascistizing culture, in it openly and boldly proceeded to organize and unite the progressive artistic intelligentsia in the name of communism. Of course, even before "RLF" in general political and special publications the party defended Marxist understandings of literature and art, fought for affirmation and development of the seeds of socialist culture. However, never during the period of capitalism and fascism was this struggle waged so openly, so massively, offensively and effectively as in the "RLF". For this, of course, the accumulated experience and revolutionary traditions of the past played a significant role. After all, among revolutionary democrats such as Rakovski, Botev, Karavelov and others, literature and art were an integral part of the common struggle for the liberation of the people! These traditions, in the conditions of capitalist society, were continued by Blagoev, Kirkov, Polyanov.

In October 1962, the Institute of Literature was visited by the prominent French Slavist Prof. André Mazon. A guest of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, during his two-week stay in Sofia, Prof. Mazon had set himself the task not only of conducting some scientific research, but also of getting acquainted with the work of our Slavic scientific institutes, of meeting with representatives of Bulgarian Slavic studies and of informing our public about the achievements of French Slavic studies - with this aim, he also read a report on the topic "Slavic studies in France". Prof. Mazon spoke with the director of the institute, Prof. G. Tsanev, and a number of scientific associates, showing a keen interest in their work. He became acquainted with the structure of the institute and its publications and expressed his admiration for the broad opportunities and the great material support that the Bulgarian People's Democratic State provides for the development and progress of science.

I predict that the reader will be perplexed when he reads the title of this article: is it possible that such general theoretical questions as the formation of the artistic image and the division of literature into genera and types can be solved or examined on the limited material of a literature for one decade and taken at that not in its best era: because in the 1840s of the 19th century, neither Botev, nor Vazov, nor Karavelov, nor Petko Slaveykov, nor Rakovski, nor even Chintulov had yet appeared on the literary horizon in Bulgaria. The literary field is mainly occupied by poets such as Neofit Rilski, Neofit Bozveli, Rayno Popovich, Konstantin Ognyanovich, Naiden Gerov and others.

Slavic studies in Norway have their support at the University of Oslo, at the Slavic Institute in the same city, and in some editorial offices of progressive newspapers and magazines. Prominent Slavicists are Professor Christian Stang, Professor A. Galis, and Professor Krag. According to the famous Soviet linguist Bernstein, Professor Stang is the first accentologist in Slavic philology. "When Stang publishes a new work, we, Soviet researchers, put everything else aside to get acquainted with it," says Berstein. Professor Erik Krag was also among the Norwegian delegates. He read a report at the congress on the topic "Some Notes on Dostoevsky's Style" (an excerpt from his book on Dostoevsky, which was published last year). The Russian scholar Pustovoit, in the discussions after the report, pointed out some characteristic differences in the language of the young and older Dostoevsky, noting that the report could also be interesting for linguists. Among the eight delegates from Norway at the Fifth International Slavic Congress was the Norwegian literary critic Martin Nag. The tall, blue-eyed son of the distant side of the fjords, about whom we know so little, aroused undisguised interest and sympathy among the delegates from the moment he appeared. He was born in 1927 in the city of Stavanger. He graduated in Slavic studies in Oslo. As a literary, theater critic and translator from Slavic languages, he shows particular interest in the work of Mayakovsky, on whom he wrote his doctoral dissertation. He has translated poems by Tvardovsky, Akhmadulina, and Rozhdestvensky into Norwegian. A great friend of Bulgaria, Martin Nag is an active figure in the Norwegian-Bulgarian Society in Oslo. An enthusiastic popularizer of Bulgarian literature in Norway, he has already translated quite a few works by Bulgarian poets, including the poem "September" by Geo Milev. He is currently working on translations of contemporary Bulgarian poetry. The young Norwegian scholar collaborated as a literary critic in the newspaper "Friheten", an organ of the Norwegian Communist Party. At one of the meetings of the Slavic Congress, M. Nag read a report on the topic "Vaptsarov and Mayakovsky". The report, read in Bulgarian, was very well received by the delegates, especially the Bulgarians. Recently, articles written by Martin Nag have appeared in the pages of the Norwegian press, in which the young Slavic scholar shares with his compatriots his impressions of the Fifth International Slavic Congress and of our country and people.

V. M. Garshin is one of the most original Russian writers, a great master of the socio-psychological narrative and a sincere defender of the people's interests. He is a bright representative of the generation of the 70s - 80s of the last century, of people with a sick conscience, who suffered a collapse in their populist ideals and did not find the strength to overcome the deep contradictions of life. Throughout his life, Garshin painfully experienced social inequality between people, sought justice, but did not find the true path to struggle against the cruel bourgeois system. This impasse, characteristic of the entire Democratic intelligentsia of the 70s - 80s, led him to suicide. But although he lived only 33 years, Garshin left us such works that characterize him as a great master of the word. In a letter to Garshin, I. S. Turgenev wrote: "Of all the young writers, you are the one who inspires hope. You possess all the signs of a truly great talent: artistic temperament, subtle and true understanding of the characteristic features of life - human and general, feeling for justice and measure, simplicity, beauty of form and - as a result of everything - originality." Garshin enjoys special sympathy in our country. The Bulgarian public has always perceived him not only as a highly humane person and an original writer, but also as a direct participant in the great struggle of our people against Turkish slavery. Bulgaria played a significant role in the initial formation of public views and Garshin's artistic talent.

I am not aware of any other publication that has been made that was conceived and carried out by the small team of Stoyko Bozhkov, Stoyan Stoimenov and Hristo Dudevski. To search for numerous publications and documents relating to the penetration, spread and influence of Soviet literature in Bulgaria from the October Revolution to September 9, 1944, to organize the writing of memoirs by writers, cultural figures, book publishers, distributors and ordinary readers of Soviet books - this is a truly difficult task, but it turned out to be within the power of the three compilers and editors. First of all, it should be emphasized that they had set themselves a real and useful task. Real - because all three have the work of Soviet literature and Bulgarian-Soviet literary ties close to their hearts and have solid direct practical and research experience in this area. And mainly - because our history itself really offers a lot of material. And yet, it was inevitable that the implementation of the task would involve attention and effort for nearly 14 years - such a large volume of research, collection and editorial work had to be carried out. The two-volume collection "Soviet Literature in Bulgaria - 1918-1944" covers the penetration, distribution and influence not only of artistic and literary creation, but of Soviet literature in general - ideological (historical, philosophical, economic, aesthetic, pedagogical), natural science, etc. In addition, its scope partially includes the distribution and influence in Bulgaria of works of Soviet cinematography, music, theater, fine arts.

Ricarda Huh is the heiress of a great humanist art. A student of Goethe and Keller, brought up in the spirit of the democratic bourgeoisie before 1848, Ricarda Huh continues the classical line in the development of German literature and occupies a place in its history alongside such major figures as Thomas Mann and Hermann Hesse. The scope of her curiosity is wide. History and philosophy, along with literature, are areas that attract her to her last day. Her versatile interests make her express herself creatively in a variety of genres: from the critical essay to the historical and philosophical study, from the small lyric poem through the story, the novel and the novel to the multi-volume epic. The unifying link in Ricarda Huh's artistic and critical work is her Renaissance worldview. The collective image in her art is the man who has overcome bourgeois morality and who is burning to fully develop and realize himself. Huh's humanism is always subordinated to the problems of modernity. When she turns her historical novels to heroic past times, she calls upon the present ("The Great War in Germany", "Wallenstein", "The Life of Count Federigo Confalonieri". The Struggle for Rome", etc.). She points out to her contemporaries ideals that will shape the man of the future.

The proposed work, which has 312 pages in total, represents an important contribution to the general Literary Studies in our country. Although similar studies have been attempted earlier by writers and scholars who were interested in Bulgarian-German literary relations, the study by the Germanist Stefan Stanchev has the great advantage that it covers a larger period of translations and research and that it examines the problems of the penetration and assessment of Goethe's works in our country from a strictly critical and consistently advanced standpoint. What is special in this case is that the author everywhere brings the perception of Goethe in Bulgaria 1.St. Iv. Stanchev, Goethe in Bulgaria, part I, II, III. Yearbook of Sofia University, volume LVII and LIX Sofia, drzh. Publishing House Nauka i izkustvo, 1963-1965, pp. 150, 74 and 88. 140 in close connection with the overall process of literary life in our country, perceiving the dependence of the choice and interpretation of Goethe's works on the character and directions of the poetic creativity and the literary views of the Bulgarian writers. Accordingly, Stanchev's work includes, compositionally speaking, four chapters: 1. Translations until the Liberation; 2. Translations and literary-critical views until the October Revolution; 3. Goethe in our country until September 9, 1944 and 4. The same theme in literature about Goethe until recent times. A detailed bibliography finally complements the broad plan of the study. Goethe himself, with his comprehensive literary education and the rapid spread of his works in numerous translations into various languages, had more than once the occasion to pronounce on the importance of Literary communication between nations and on the meaning and justification of translations. Especially during the last period of his life, when Goethe was already one of the most recognized representatives of his native literature in all cultural countries, he felt more and more strongly the need to include his work in the scope of the new "world literature", making this Literature accessible everywhere, despite the diversity of national languages. Goethe passionately advocated the introduction of international solidarity in the name of a common artistic culture and the great idea of ​​fraternizing nations through art and science capable of enhancing human dignity.

No one in our country has contributed so much to revealing the true face of the great Gorky, to the correct interpretation of his revolutionary work, to its translation and popularization, as Georgi Bakalov. For nearly forty years he has been his tireless translator and passionate critic, editor and publisher. This multifaceted and diverse activity of Bakalov has been the subject of research more than once in our country, and recently in the Soviet Union. Very rich and new material was presented in their articles and works by A. Todorov, 105 St. Karakostov, Zh. Avdzhiev, Iv. Tsvetkova, the Soviet Bulgarian scholars V. Zlidnev and L. Erikhonov.

When Bulgaria was completely liberated in 1878, the Croats also exclaimed with joy and gradually began to come to the liberated land as artists, teachers, merchants and tourists. A large number of Bulgarians, especially during the period between the two world wars, studied at the University of Zagreb, and many of them visited Croatia throughout our century. There are two main reasons for these mutual visits: first - the beauty of the two lands, second - the feeling of Slavic solidarity. The Croatian writer Franjo Horvat-Kiš (1876-1924) visited Bulgaria in mid-July 1911 and about this trip he left a very interesting but little-known travelogue entitled "Seen and Unseen", Zagreb, 1911. Since I, more than half a century after him, spent in Bulgaria not two days, like Horvat-Kiš, but three months, I would like to present to the readers Horvat's travel notes with a few of my explanations and additions. His and my attitude towards this sympathetic country is the same: objective, mixed with elements of sincere sympathy.

Recently, the publishing house "Narodna Kultura" released a monograph on Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. The publication is a jubilee one - in August of this year, the entire cultural humanity solemnly celebrated the one hundred and fortieth anniversary of the writer's birth. Numerous articles and notes - original and translated - have been published in Bulgarian so far, starting from 1898, when the seventieth anniversary of Tolstoy's birth and fifty years of his literary activity were celebrated. I will recall the most significant of them - Dimitar Blagoev's review of the treatise "What is Art?" on the occasion of its Bulgarian edition in 1900, Petko Todorov's preface to Lev Tolstoy's brochure "The Times are Near", individual works by Vasil Kolarov, Vela Blagoeva, Georgi Bakalov, confessions and assessments by Ivan Vazov, Aleko Konstantinov, Stoyan Mihaylovski and others. All this and additional material collected by the author formed the basis of the monograph "L. N. Tolstoy and His Influence in Bulgaria". There is no doubt - this is the first comprehensive study by a Bulgarian literary critic on the life, literary work and philosophical-ethical ideas of the great sage from Yasnaya Polyana. Among the vast - both in size and in thought - critical literature on Tolstoy, Georgi Konstantinov's book will rank not least. Above all, it captivates and excites with the researcher's personal attitude to the many and often mutually exclusive problems and ideas that Tolstoy himself advocated during more than half a century of his most active and fruitful creative activity, and under whose pen so many amazing works of art were born.

The second Lamartine Days were for me an occasion to point out the reasons why the Bulgarian scientist comes to join your gathering. Many times since then I have glanced at Lamartine's legacy in the Paris National Library. In the silence populated with memories, I was particularly attracted by the extraordinary bearing of this great citizen of his time. All the more so since Lamartine's political thought, considered by most researchers as extraneous, remains much less known today than his literary work.

A quarter century - this is, one might say, the minute hand of history. Especially for a people like the Bulgarians, whose history and culture have existed for so long. And at the same time, the last twenty-five years are an entire era in the social life and consciousness of this people, saturated with a huge and diverse historical experience. The desire to make sense of this experience, to understand its roots and meaning, is a characteristic feature of contemporary Bulgarian literature. Bulgarian writers with remarkable intensity develop the dramatic events of the September Uprising of 1923. For the first time in Europe, the dawn of anti-fascist battles flared up. The Bulgarian people took the front lines of the front, which had, as it soon became clear, global significance. The scale and historical meaning of this struggle are clearly felt in Georgi Karaslavov's epic "Ordinary People" and in Emilian Stanev's "Ivan Kondarev".