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Recently, the first volume of the four-volume Marxist "History of Bulgarian Literature" under preparation was discussed at the Literary Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.1 The volume under discussion covers our literary and historical development from the emergence of old Bulgarian literature to Paisii Hilendarski. This scientific work is the fruit of the systematic efforts of a team of authors: Petar Dinekov, Emil Georgiev, Velcho Velchev, Ivan Duychev, Bonyu St. Angelov and Kuyu Kuev. It should be noted at the outset that all specialists and the entire institute staff greeted the first volume with marked interest, which is why its six-day discussion turned into a truly creative discussion dedicated to the characteristic problems associated with the specific features of our old literature. A serious conversation took place about the appearance, methodology, national identity, literary aesthetic essence, stylistic features, artistic criteria, literary movements and schools and all the distinctive features of our ancient centuries-old literature and culture. Almost all those who spoke expressed their views on certain aspects of this rich Bulgarian literature, made high demands on the authors' collective, gave interesting recommendations, defended familiar theses or presented new original hypotheses...

The impact of the October Socialist Revolution and Soviet fiction does not only imply the dissemination of ideas, the translation and reading of books. This is perhaps the purely external side of this complex and deeply contradictory process. But as an "external side" it also has its place and significance. However, it is no less important to see the ideological and aesthetic changes that occurred in the creative development of individual our writers and in literature as a whole after October. A new aspect in this regard is the way in which we responded to the first October events. Because new art, new production means, first of all, the discovery of a new form, on the one hand, and, on the other - the rejection of the "old" rules in order to manifest the new ones. And not only that. The new is never born suddenly, on the contrary - the elements from which it will "crystallize" accumulate for a long time. The new inherits and simultaneously elevates to a higher level that which prepared its appearance.