времето

The story of Paisius of Hilendar stands out brightly in the development of our literature, it outlines new trends in the cultural and political life of the Bulgarian people, exerts a strong influence on contemporaries and descendants. "Slavonic-Bulgarian History" ignites the soul of the Bulgarian, awakens and stirs in him a national consciousness, makes him dream of a brighter future. This great rejuvenating role of Paisius is the reason for the great scientific interest in him, thanks to which important questions from his life and work have been clarified. But despite the large scientific literature on Paisius, some questions still remain to be clarified, and others need new development. A very interesting question for our historical science is to see the state of Bulgarian literature during the time of Paisius - his predecessors, contemporaries and followers. What has been written on this issue is of a very general nature; it is usually expressed with the idea that Paisius shows some continuity with his predecessors, draws one or another news about Bulgarian saints from their lives, written and copied earlier. This is indeed so, but it does not exhaust the problem. Bulgarian literature before and after Paisius does not consist only of anonymous works, but is the work of many writers, some of whom left their names. Therefore, in order for the image of Paisius as a writer to stand out more clearly, in order to outline the meaning of his story more fully, it is necessary for his work to be outlined against a broader historical background. So far, the efforts of researchers have been directed at the main representatives of Bulgarian literature - Paisius of Hilendar and Sophrony of Vratsa, or at works with historical themes (hieroschimonk Spyridon, History of Zograf). The materials known today allow us to correct the incompletely presented picture of Bulgarian literature in the 18th century, to supplement it with new writers and works. The work of these writers is connected with the work of Paisius, which is of great importance for our literary development. Paisius is firmly connected with Bulgarian literature before and after him; from previous writers and works he zealously drew knowledge, which he carefully processed and passed on to his contemporaries and followers. Through the work of these writers, we obtain a much more complete picture of the state of our literature of that time, of the cultural interests of the Bulgarian people, and of the spiritual life of the people in general. Of course, the work of these writers cannot be compared in importance with the work of Paisius or Sophrony, but through their work they contribute to their ideological formation, and also contribute to the activation of spiritual life in our country.

For nearly four decades, the Bulgarian reader has been communicating with the artistic images and poetic wisdom of the writer Orlin Vassilev. And all the time he has met the restless and searching citizen, the thinking and exploratory poet of human justice - with a sharp reaction and lively impulsiveness - with an excited and captivating artist, who has tried almost all literary genres... He will try in the short story to listen very closely to the pulse of the "simple hearts" and to hear better the imperative and powerful "voice of the people", he will write stories and novels about the haidush past and the even more heroic present life-being of the people; will denounce the cruel "ring of fire" of fascism and will affirm the armed "resistance" and the beauty of the "white path" of the people's struggle, along which the working man, in a cruel class battle, at the cost of many victims, reached the happy shore of freedom, will remain captive for a long time to the heights of the native dramaturgy, in order to fertilize it with his "anxiety", "love" and "happiness". ..

Twenty years ago, in the summer of 1947, a Swiss publishing house published Thomas Mann's novel "Doctor Faustus." Now, the judgment of that unfortunate, sick Jew, the critic Samuel Lublinsky, was no longer necessary. About fifty years before that, it was he who had made a prediction about "Buddenbrooks," which time had fully confirmed: over the years, the importance of this book would grow and it would be read by many more generations. The author of "Doctor Faustus" was already a well-known writer, entered into the literary classics of the 20th century - he did not need the encouraging words once spoken to the young and unknown author of "Buddenbrooks." But precisely because of this, Thomas Mann's personal and literary responsibility became much greater - the entire literary world would gaze at the novel of the 72-year-old famous writer. Perhaps "Doctor Faustus" would remain his last novel, a summary of a long and rich civic and literary life. There were too many reasons for such attention from the literary world beyond the fame, beyond the literary reputation of the artist. "Doctor Faustus" was neither conceived nor realized as a single novel, as one of many novels. Even before the unequivocal confessions of the writer himself, the literary public sensed that this was a novel about the era in the form of a history of the artist's tormented and sinful life, that it contained many of the author's moods, that this was a frank authorial confession. Then came the confessions. "Doctor Faustus" is the writer's first major creative undertaking, which was clear to him in detail from the very beginning, whose spiritual and physical dimensions he saw in advance not in a "magic crystal", but clearly as in the palm of his hand. And perhaps not so much because the 68-year life and nearly 50-year writing experience bore their fruits - the complete coverage of the creative idea with the creative result - but rather because, as he himself admits, none of his fictional characters (perhaps with the exception of Hanno Buddenbrock) did Thomas Mann love so sincerely, so deeply and so sufferingly as he loved his Doctor Faustus, his Adrian Leverkuhn. He loved him as a person loves himself and those in whom he sees himself. As his fictional biographer Serenus Zeitblom, he surrounded him with his anxious love - from the years of haughty discipleship to the fulfillment of the devil's curse.