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On October 4 and 15, 1960, the Section of Bulgarian Literature until the Liberation continued the discussion of the materials for the collection dedicated to Lyuben Karavelov. Diverse and rich, still insufficiently studied and illuminated, the creative work of the editor of "Svoboda" provides for study interesting problems in the fields of literature, journalism, folklore, ethnography, linguistics. This to a significant extent predetermines not only the diversity of the topics that will be included in the collection, but also the striving for originality in their development. Svetla Gyurova's article, for example, "Lyuben Karavelov as the 143rd editor of P. Hitova's book "My Journey through the Stara Planina" is a successful attempt to give a true idea of ​​Karavelov's editorial manner through Hitova's memoirs. Comparing the original of the work and its first edition, made by P. Berkovski, with the text printed in 1873, the author comes to the conclusion that Karavelov, without making changes to the content, makes creative corrections” to the language, composition, imagery and social sharpness of the work. Along with tracing the editorial work on the Memoirs, Gyurova also provides an idea of ​​the work as a whole, of the interest shown in it in some Slavic countries and of the place it occupies in Bulgarian Renaissance literature. Highlighting the undeniable merits of the article, which were also pointed out in their statements by Prof. M. Arnaudov and Prof. P. Dinekov, the reviewer Docho Lekov expressed a wish to place more emphasis on those Karavelov’s additions that have a social and political character, to expand the concluding part of the work and to bring unity to the bibliographical notes.

On February 25 of this year, the Scientific Council at the Institute of Literature reviewed the first volume of the collection "Problems of Children's Literature". The material of the collection is divided into three sections: General Questions", "Essays and Studies" and From the History of the Periodical Press". Reviewer Simeon Sultanov finds the initiative of the authors, who for the first time in our country have undertaken to compile a collection of studies and essays on the issues of children's literature, commendable. Although very late, this collection still does not cover all authors who have written for children, and does not exhaust all issues of children's literature, since little work has been done in this direction for years. Sultanov examines the three sections of the collection in detail. The first includes the articles: "Towards a Systematic and Basic Study of Children's Literature" by Krastyo Genov, "The Optimistic Character of Children's Literature" by Ivan Popivanov, and "The Educational Significance of a Fantastic Fairy Tale" by Zhecho Atanasov. The reviewer finds that Genov's article has a programmatic character and identifies a number of problems facing Bulgarian literary scholars. Sultanov points out the need for serious additions to this article, especially on issues related to our contemporary children's literature and artistic mastery. In his notes on Popivanov's article, the reviewer points out the interesting and important problem of optimism in children's literature and finds that the author does not hold his thesis convincingly enough that "critical realism cannot be spoken of in works for the youngest" and recommends not to get carried away with the analysis of some poems. Atanasov's study, which from the point of view of the educator poses the problem of the educational nature of the fairy tale, could have greater value if the author's thoughts were deepened and illustrated with more interesting examples from children's literature.

The collection "From the History of World Literature" (edited by Prof. Emil Georgiev and Dr. Georgi Dimov, Publishing House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia 1962), conceived around 1959, has finally come out of print. Regardless of the delay, this is a good event. And it would be even better if the Literary Institute decided to make a non-periodical edition of similar collections, which would be published once or twice a year. Our literary research activity has good traditions in the field of Western European, ancient and Slavic literatures - it is enough to remember the names of Shishmanov, Krastev, Mich. Arnaudov, Al. Balabanov. And in recent years, work in this area has not subsided, but remains, unfortunately, limited to university publications. Finding readers outside the university environment is, however, vital for literary scholars who do not get space for their special studies in literary journals, which are limited in scope and related to more topical issues. So the question of contact with a wider audience remains unresolved for the time being.

On June 2, the Scientific Council of the Institute of Literature at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences discussed and approved for publication a collection of studies that the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Sofia State University prepared on the occasion of the 1050th anniversary of the death of the outstanding Bulgarian and Slavic educator, teacher and man of letters Kliment Ohridski. It includes 24 studies by Bulgarian authors-historians, literary critics, linguists, specialists in the history of Bulgarian fine arts and music, as well as a bibliography of Bulgarian literature on Kliment Ohridski for the period 1945-1966.

The October Revolution, which shook the entire world and caused radical changes in the socio-political life of a number of countries, also pushed the spiritual development of the peoples onto a new path. For the Bulgarian people it played a fateful role, largely determining their further economic and cultural development. It is enough to glance at the Bulgarian literature of those revolutionary years to feel the irresistible power of the new spiritual engines of our national consciousness, created by the Russian Revolution. After 1917, the entire cultural and literary life in Bulgaria radically changed, the people and the homeland again invaded the works of literature, the worldview of the Bulgarian writer changed, a qualitatively new literature of socialist realism was created, the democratic-realist principle in the work of almost all significant artists strengthened... These processes are very deep and complex, they affect different artists to varying degrees and become accessible and understandable only through direct acquaintance with the works of art born directly or indirectly from the Great October. In this regard, the newly published fiction collection "October" is a significant contribution. It illustrates the basic, irrefutable process of a deep ideological and aesthetic transformation in Bulgarian literature and the revival of its revolutionary traditions. This collection is published on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, edited by Zdravko Srebrov, Yordan Radichkov, Kamen Kalchev, Neviana Stefanova and Rozalia Lykova, and contains one work each by thirty-seven prominent Bulgarian fiction writers.

In December 1967, at the Institute of Literature, the Section for Bulgarian Literature before the Liberation discussed and accepted for publication the research presented for the collection "Literature and Folklore". The discussion, conducted under the leadership of Prof. P. Dinekov, was attended by: Prof. B. St. Angelov, Prof. G. Dimov, Dr. Kr. Genov, research assistants B. Nichev, S. Baeva, D. Lekov, Tsv. Undzhieva, L. Grasheva, St. Tarinska and others. Thirteen works were accepted for publication: P. Dinekov - Literature and Folklore", B. Nichev - "Literary and Folklore Artistic Consciousness", Kr. Genov - "Observations on the Typology of Bulgarian Folk Poetry", St. Nikolova - Paterical Tales and Folklore", D. Lekov - Folklore and the Formation of Bulgarian Fiction during the Revival", Tsv. Undzhieva - Slaveykov's Feuilleton and Folk Art", V. Valchev - Pencho Slaveykov and Folk Art", St. Boyadzhieva - Petko Todorov's "Prayer" and the Folklore Tradition", P. Totev - "With Contemporary Bulgarian Satire and Folklore", Iv. Koynakov - Botev's Poetry and Bulgarian Folk Songs to the Armed Anti-Fascist Struggle 1941-1944", E. Ognyanova - Mama and Her Tales", N. Kaufman - "The Rhyming Verses in Our Folk Song",

The theory of literature as the main discipline of literary science has gone too far in its development: it is about to become not only a theory of literature, but also a methodology of literary science. The problems of the methodology of Marxist literary science were left in the background for some time. Raised sometimes by individual authors, they were not always correctly formulated, which is why the results were partial, and the concepts of fiction as art one-sided. This underestimation of the methodology caused a certain stagnation in literary science and allowed the spread of the abstract-class approach, which has not been completely overcome even today. Here we must also look for the arguments of some Western literary scholars who underestimate or deny the importance of Marxist literary science.