живот

Our dramatic authors in a number of their works reflected the new man in the context of modern life, of the construction of socialism. Our dramaturgy on a modern theme contained a number of socio-psychological and socio-critical elements. Its main feature was the denial of the then capitalist reality, the affirmation of the new that was coming. These works outlined the rapid development of socialist realism from the initial period after September 9 to the present day.

Fifty years ago, on the day of Leo Tolstoy's death, I wrote an article that defined my attitude and admiration for the life and work of the great writer. And then, as today, Tolstoy is for me a poet and artist, a great painter of the human soul, an interpreter of events and history, a subtle describer of nature. His novels of that time, the article says, "are epics, just as immortal as the poems of the blind Theosophist". In Tolstoy's work from beginning to end we see one, great loving soul, melting with grief for the sufferings of the poor earthly inhabitant - the wronged man". The article says: "The human race had one comforter - that was Tolstoy. With his death, it was as if some old high mountain had collapsed, which protected us from the cold winds and snowstorms of the era". When we read Tolstoy's novels, stories, and short stories, we have the feeling that the stormy ocean of life rages beneath us, which he tames like some all-powerful magician. Throughout his long life, Tolstoy fought for the truth that Others suppress, against power, public opinion, church fanaticism, and tsarism, so that the truth he reveals turns out to be stronger than anything. Questions about art dominated Tolstoy's thoughts from the early to the last years of his life. He rejected the idea of ​​art as a metaphysical play of beauty, a mysterious divine revelation and inspiration, as a means of pleasure - he considered art a way to bring people, humanity, together, uniting human souls in common feelings and aspirations.

At two consecutive meetings, the Scientific Council of the Institute of Literature at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences discussed and accepted for publication Vasil Kolevski's work "The Pathos of October", dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. In his review, Angel Todorov emphasized the importance of the topic, gave a positive assessment of the work and concluded that the influence of Soviet literature on Bulgarian is a profound regularity for the activation and development of our entire culture and literature. From this position, the author also considers the issue of the reflection and reception of Soviet literature in Bulgarian progressive periodicals from 1917 to 1944. Angel Todorov made a brief overview of the material presented in the book, emphasized its breadth, systematization and assessment from a modern scientific point of view. He characterized the study as seriously and competently written. He also made some critical remarks.

I think this is one of the most complex topics for any citizen who is actively involved in public affairs. This is all the more complex for a writer who is convinced of the civic mission of literature. Because the explosion of the October Socialist Revolution not only swept away the entire gloomy tsarist-landlord edifice of the blackest injustice and police brutality in Russia, but caused a wide detonation throughout the globe. It changed the course of history on our planet. And this shock was felt especially strongly in countries like ours, where there have always been social unrest and where the people take an active part in the political life of the country. The socialist movement in Bulgaria had already established itself as a political factor long before the October Revolution, and this had an impact on our entire national culture.

The historical fate of the Bulgarian people has not been particularly favorable for the free and full expression of its intellectual and creative potential. Nevertheless, the national conquests in various fields of knowledge, of spiritual life in general, give us every reason to be proud, to present ourselves with dignity to the outside world. In less than a hundred years of independent national and political life, scientific thought has developed with rare intensity and today we can already compete with other advanced nations with dignity. Therefore, all the greater are the merits of those pioneers of scientific research who had to plow virgin lands, to blaze trails, especially in the field of Bulgarian studies. They were destined to overcome innumerable obstacles of every nature, to overthrow layered prejudices, to dispel the fog with which some wanted to veil our nationality. The primary task of the people of humanitarian scientific thought was to bring our centuries-old cultural heritage out of oblivion, to reveal the cultural-historical, moral-aesthetic riches of previous eras, to study and make known the spiritual conquests of new generations, to clear the way and create the necessary prerequisites for further advancement. And considering that the ruling circles in Newly Liberated Bulgaria, caught up in political disputes, in a race to get rich, did not care about the fate of people possessed by higher spiritual impulses, of the creative intelligentsia, the feat of those who, striving for new spiritual horizons, devoted themselves to scientific research activities in order to shed light on the diverse problems related to the past, present and future of our people, will stand out even more clearly. That is why our gratitude to these builders of a new cultural Bulgaria, who went through many trials, but remained faithful to their calling, to their national duty - to elevate our national scientific thought to the level of advanced cultural nations, is today all the greater and historically justified.

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.

On April 24, 1969, the public defense of Hristo Yordanov's dissertation on the topic "Veselin Andreev - Life and Creativity" took place. In the presence of the members of the scientific council, the research associates of the Institute of Literature and many citizens, the reviewers Acad. Pantelei Zarev and Prof. Efrem Karanfilov read their reviews of the proposed work, emphasizing its merits: conscientious study of the material, penetration into the contemporary problems of our literature, kinship with the work of Veselin Andreev, building an accurate portrait of a moral and creative personality. In his review, Acad. P. Zarev emphasized that he fully shared the main concept of the dissertationist: the beauty and humanism of the socialist revolution give birth to poets and communists worthy of the traditions of our literature, coming from Botev. He also pointed out that the life and work of Veselin Andreev are presented in relief and so illuminated that they are turned into a truthful apology for communist ideas. Prof. E. Karanfilov pointed out that Yordanov comes to some interesting problems about the transition between realism and romanticism, about socialist humanism in our poetry, about revolutionary optimism, etc.

On May 29, 1969, the defense of the dissertation on the topic "Georgi of Elka Konstantinova Raychev. Life and Creativity" took place. The scientific supervisor was our late literary historian and critic Minko Nikolov, and the reviewers were Prof. Stoyan Karolev and Assoc. Prof. Zdravko Petrov. The members of the scientific council, literary workers and many citizens were present. The director of the Institute of Literature, Stoyko Bozhkov, who chaired the discussion, introduced those present to the content of the presented documents and gave a characteristic of the scientific achievements of the graduate student. The head of the section at the institute, Prof. Georgi Tsanev, presented the work of Elka Konstantinova, and the two reviewers read their reviews. Both emphasized the seriousness of the work done, the penetration into the world of the writer and the difficult time of its formation and creative realization.