поета

The City People's Council in Stara Zagora has set itself the noble task of building a house-museum for the writers of Stara Zagora, to be called "Literary Stara Zagora" from now on. The initial stage of the creation of this first-of-its-kind institute in our country will be the collection and systematization of materials related to the life and creative activity of literary creators. The first results in this direction are encouraging. Some time ago, materials were made available to the council that reveal some moments of the life, public activity and artistic creativity of Kiril Hristov. Of particular interest among them is a literary study written by Iliya Ivanov (pseudonym - I. I. Radin). The author was a classmate and close friend of the poet, a former high school teacher in Shumen, a man with literary interests, erudition and culture, who died ten years ago. Radin himself evaluates his study very modestly, although the work arouses considerable interest not only from a factual point of view. In the introduction, Radin notes that he had absolutely no intention of making a serious study and assessment of the poetic work of Kiril Hristov and only for the sake of consistency and systematicity of the exposition has included here and there creative questions. The author's goal, as he himself defines it, is to examine some of the poet's works from their factual side; to indicate their origin and significance for the creation of one or another relationship of K. Hristov with people of literature and society; as well as to highlight some moments of his life and temperament, which "had created for him a heavy and suffocating atmosphere, in which it was difficult to breathe, let alone create, and which atmosphere forced him into voluntary exile". B And so far this interesting portrait of the man and poet Kiril Hristov has not been brought to public attention. It was sent by Radin to the poet's wife. In one of her letters to the curator of the "Geo Milev" museum in Stara Zagora, she shares: "For a long time, while he was healthy, I. Ivanov was occupied with the idea of ​​writing something more extensive about the works of his friend Kiril. He knew that I would preserve such a thing most carefully until it could be printed. When he finished the two articles (the second article is entitled "The Slavic Feeling in Kiril Hristov"), he gave them to me with a request that I keep them as my property and one day hand them over to wherever I find it useful." Here we publish excerpts from Radin's essay.

Much has been written about the life and work of the poet of "Hidden Cries." And almost always with love and admiration for his rich artistic nature, with sincere piety for his original poetry. Debelyanov's poetry survived many of the critics' incorrect views of it, it withstood the objective assessment of time. Narrowing the circle of social impact of Debelyanov's poetry, artificially placing it within certain frameworks, our literary criticism of the past has accumulated quite a few prejudices about its essence, declaring it the poetry of symbolism - although freed from its extreme forms, from its unconditional aesthetic requirements. Critics continued to search for symbolism, "irreality" in it, to categorize and generalize, to formulate and deny formulas, and Debelyanov's poetry continued to live, to excite hearts, to inspire a love of life. Because in its most significant achievements it acquired the meaning of poetry-confession, of poetry-fate.

I lived with my aunt Todorka for two years. I finished high school with her, because they lived in Kyustendil. This was in 1906 and 1907. Her husband had passed away. His house was in the same yard of Grandpa Slaveykov's small house, where Slaveykov, from Bolgrad, lived. Kosta Atanasova, niece of Pencho's daughter-in-law 62 Slaveykov, Todorka Ivanka Slaveykov, lived with Pencho Slaveykov, on Slaveykov Square. Our windows looked out onto Pencho's windows. Here at my aunt's, I saw him for the first time. A tall, handsome, black-eyed man with a cane. He made a strong impression on me, especially since he moved with difficulty and used it slowly, slowly. He came very often, usually after lunch for coffee, and on Sundays at around 10 in the morning. From afar I could hear his stick on the cobblestones when he came to my aunt's. He would come down to the dining room and talk to my aunt. As soon as he came in, I would jump up and down, ready to hand him this or that, to help him with something. My aunt would tell me that this embarrassed him - not to sit so alert and not to show that I noticed his disability, because it bothered him. One day he came over and told my aunt:

"Your Mother" - Botev's first poetic work not only sets a brilliant beginning to his work. It becomes a kind of concentration of his talent, it discovers the unsuspected possibilities of the individual to express himself. "Your Mother" marks the birth of our greatest poet, the extraordinary vitality and artistic uniqueness of his talent. There is no other example in our literature for such a spontaneous, unexpected birth of talent. Vazov, one of Botev's peers in poetry, long before the creation of "The Pine", a poem that brought him poetic fame, made very pale, insignificant "experiments". Slaveykov had to go the long way of imitative poetry before he found himself, his own poetic theme. Even Chintulov - a poet who stands closer to Botev with the immediate manifestation of his talent, in his first poems is almost completely "different" from the well-known poet of the romantic youth of our Revival - the author of the first rebellious songs.

Poet, fabulist, feuilletonist, author of aphorisms, epigrams, travelogues, memoirs, literary and theatrical articles, works for children, Dimitar Podvarzachov is truly a complex nature, distinguished by his bright creative individuality. Having spent a difficult childhood as an orphan, nurtured with the ideals of the Narodniks, with his first poems (printed in "Na dezhda" and "Bulgarian Collection") he attracted the attention of Iv. Vazov, who assigned the young poet Nedezdi. In his literary collection "Rays of Poetry" 1901, G. Bakalov included poems by Podvarzachov with emphasized critical realism. "Among the poems of Podvarzachov's young works - he writes in the preface - they are distinguished by greater artistic endurance and originality, above all they meet the most important requirement of democratic and humane creativity." Having fallen under the influence of populist-socialist ideas at the beginning of the century, the young poet later deviated from this solid realistic beginning, his poetry became impoverished of militant thoughts and moods, and in a number of his works he sang not of the people's suffering, but of his personal woes. This is evident from the titles of the poems "Sorrow", "Without a Path", "Abyss", "Curse", "Grave", etc., printed in the magazines "Khudozhnik", "Savremennik" and in the magazine "Zveno" edited by him, 1914, written in the spirit of symbolist poetry. But Hr. Radevski rightly claims: "Symbolist motifs are not very characteristic of him. Podvorzachov is above all a humorist, an active judge of social struggles, and the poetry of symbolism is characterized precisely by alienation from public life" ("Art and Criticism", 1939, vol. 8). Podvarzachev did not close himself off in the knightly castles of solitude, did not enclose himself with icy walls, did not escape from the crowds. He lived with the anxieties of his time and established himself as a poet, humorist and satirist. When the first years of our century were at their brightest, D. Podvarzachov edited several humorous publications ("Bulgaria", 1904-1909, "Osa", 1909-1910, Smyah", 1911-1914), where he included humorous works of a markedly satirical nature. This already clearly speaks of the poet's lively connection with the people. The only book he published during his lifetime, the collection of feuilletons "How the Devil Reads the Gospel" (signed with his most popular pseudonym, Hamlet Prince of Denmark), confirms the idea that the poet valued his humorous works above all - he established himself as one of our most prominent fabulists and feuilletonists.

There is something remarkably optimistic in the unexpectedness of his seventieth birthday. Anyone who has recently met the silver-haired jubilee, hurrying through the streets of Sofia, or in a heartfelt conversation, among the villagers in Dragalevtsi or amidst the white expanses of his native mountains, has undoubtedly taken with him the impression of inexhaustible vitality and strong health. Anyone who has read the latest poems or has been in close contact with his poetry and fiction endeavors of recent years has become convinced that the poet Lamar enjoys not only physical vigor, but also enviable spiritual energy and youth. Even the most prejudiced seeker could not find in them the calmness, spiritual balance and calmness characteristic of the wise resignation of creative maturity.