Жинзифов

K. Zhinzifov (1839 - 1877) spent half of his life, almost 19 years, in Russia. In Macedonia, under the influence of D. Miladinov and his personal participation in the struggle for his native language and school, he developed into an ardent patriot of his enslaved fatherland. Such Zhinzifov remained until the end of his life. After his arrival in Russia, Zhinzifov, like many other representatives of Slavic youth, was taken under the protection of the Slavic Committee and became one of its graduates. He became close to the Slavophiles (I. S. Aksakov, N. A. Popov, P. I. Bartenev) and entered their ideological circle. Of the Bulgarians who received education in the 1950s-1970s in Russia, K. Zhinzifov was the most orthodox like-minded person and associate of I. S. Aksakov. In 1861, Zhinzifov began collaborating with I. S. Aksakov's newspaper "Den" (1861-1865), then continued in the newspapers "Moskva" and "Moskvich" (1867-1868). After Aksakov's publications ceased to be published, Zhinzifov participated in the organs close to the editor of "Den" - "Moskovskiye Vedomosti", "Sovremennaya letopis" and "Pravoslavnoe obozrenie". The Bulgarian publicist was a close person in the Aksakov household. He treated I. S. Aksakov with extreme respect, as an exceptionally noble, good and honest man", 1 In one of his letters, Zhinzifov wrote: The house of Aksakov and the house of Bartenev will remain forever in my memory, wherever my fate takes me. "2 It was probably not pleasant to make a remark to you about the exam in more than one glass of wine, but Zhinzifov perceived Aksakov's words as from a close and playful person and therefore shared with Bartenev:,, Ivan Sergeevich gave me quiet and calm instruction and suggestion about the way of my life 3

The 125th anniversary of the birth of Rayko Zhinzifov is a good occasion to look at him again as a poet and to indicate the place of his poetry in our literature, more precisely in our literary history, insofar as this place cannot yet be considered fully established. Our interest in our Revival, a truly important era in the development of our people, on the one hand, and our love for the literary heritage of those who created Bulgarian poetry, on the other, are a constant stimulus to return to his poetic image, to seek a living or historical meaning for his poems, to republish his poetic heritage, despite the voices of denial of his poetic gift that have been heard more than once. Assessments of Zhinzifov's poetry have been very contradictory since its appearance. While Lyuben Karavelov greeted the "New Bulgarian Collection", published in 1863, with a negative review (printed in the newspaper "Bulgarian Bee", issues 7, 8 and 9), Vasil D. Stoyanov pointed to its author as the most gifted among the young poets. This high assessment of Zhinzifov, given in an early critical study on contemporary Bulgarian literature, which remained unknown in our country because it was printed in Czech, in the central organ of Czech science and culture of that time - the Journal of the Czech Museum, is interesting. "Zhinzifov is still very young - writes here the future secretary of the Bulgarian Literary Society, which grew into the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences after the Liberation - and we can hope that in due time he will become a famous Bulgarian poet, and a lyrical poet, if Amor and the Bulgarian Villas do not abandon him. "1

The participation of representatives of the revolutionary Bulgarian emigration in Romania and other Renaissance figures in the establishment of the Bulgarian Literary Society is well known. Nevertheless, some new documents point even more specifically to their contribution in the preparatory stage of the Society's establishment and in its further development.