Кръстев

One of the most characteristic features of Dr. Krastev as a person is his civic virtue. Nurtured by this civic virtue and repeatedly expressed during his activities as a literary critic and public figure is his sincere concern for the fate of Bulgarian science and culture. Among the numerous articles by Dr. Krastev dedicated to issues of public life, perhaps the most interesting are the articles concerning educational work or spiritual life in Bulgaria in general. In these articles we encounter thoughts and characteristics of individual social groups, which often surprise us with their progressiveness: the lack of prospects for the bourgeois intelligentsia, deprived of any social ideals and "cultural aspirations", the indifference of the monarch to Bulgarian art and science, the question of the actual emancipation of women in the field of education. Dr. Krastev developed many times the thesis of the freedom of the worker of science and culture. It was sharply stated in the response to the letter of the Ministry of Public Education of 25. IX. 1896, by which Dr. Krastev was dismissed from the university for the second time. Dr. Krastev's opinion on all these issues is most fully manifested in his behavior during the university crisis of 1907. "Baptism of the university", which should be an "awakening of consciousness" and "a government act - an incomparable disgrace for a "cultural state" - This is his two-sided assessment of the events that took place on January 3-4, 1907: the youth demonstration, the booing of Ferdinand at the opening of the National Theater, the dispersal of the demonstrators with the police and, as a result, the issuance of the decree to suspend classes at the university for six months and to dismiss the members of the professorial body. Considering the energy of Dr. Krastev and the thoughts expressed in his other articles on the issue of the university crisis: "The Beginning of the End of the University Crisis" and "The University Question and the Class School", as well as the memories of contemporaries, he was obviously one of the inspirers and organizers of the determined resistance of the professorial body against the lawlessness of Ferdinand and his lackeys and one of the compilers of the two appeals "To the Bulgarian Society" and the third appeal - "Message", with which the negotiations between the professors and the government were terminated.

On 5. IV. 1919, a fatal accident took the life of the prominent Bulgarian literary critic and long-time editor of the magazine "Thought" - Dr. K. Krastev. Returning home unwell, he swallowed a poison pill instead of medicine. Thus ended the life of the last of the famous "four" - not long after his three comrades: P. P. Slaveykov (1912), P. K. Yavorov (1914) and P. Yu. Todorov (1916). Since then and until now (and even during his lifetime) his work has repeatedly been the subject of high praise and unwavering denials. This is not about the principled struggle of the Marxist critics (D. Blagoev, G. Bakalov, T. Pavlov, G. Tsanev, P. Zarev, P. Danchev, St. Karolev) against the views of Dr. Krastev. He was also sharply attacked by representatives of bourgeois criticism itself, and these attacks expressed the internal differences within it, its striving to affirm and deny one or another name, the irreconcilable enmity between the individual groups and schools. Moreover, some bourgeois critics have sought most fiercely to destroy and liquidate Krastev's entire work without appeal. Read the book "Critics" by Y. Marinopolski (1910) or the surgical article by S. Radev (magazine "Khudozhnik", 1905), or the essay "The Work of Dr. K. Krastev" by A. Balabanov (magazine "Filosofski pregled", 1939) and you will see how much passion was invested in the attempts to liquidate the critic without a trace, so that there would be no need to rummage through the countless furious attacks against him in the yellow pages of the bourgeois press. But what to do - such is the fate of a critic: he is forced to endure the attacks of those he has denied, their friends, those wounded egos, about whom he has never written and who are considered neglected, and finally all the enemies of those whom he has affirmed with his articles. Dr. Krastev is also honored with greater attention. He is the main character of Vazov's story "Doctor Jan-jan", of "Japanese Silhouettes", and his close friend Kiril Hristov later dedicates bitter verses to him in the epigram "Doctor Stavri":

In the history of our literary customs, Dr. Krastev's letters to Kiril Hristov are a bright page, a magnificent act of trust and devotion and at the same time a testament to the ethical and aesthetic positions of one of the greatest Bulgarian critics. Kiril Hristov became close to the editor of the magazine "Misl" while still a student at the 1st male gymnasium, where at the same time Krastev taught philosophy. In early 1895, not immediately before his departure for Italy, Kiril Hristov entrusted him with some of his literary works. In the following months, the poems "Octava" appeared in "Misl". "To the Seaside", "Under the Window", "Zuylema", and the Sea Sonnets (Kiril Hristov included the aforementioned poems in his first collection of poems "Songs and Sighs"). Convinced of the young poet's poetic talent, the editor of "Misl" attracted him as a contributor to the magazine, promoted him in literary circles, wrote enthusiastic reviews for "Songs and Sighs" and "Tre peti". What's more, this outwardly dry and focused critic became a patron, friend and teacher of the young Kiril Hristov, striving to give some direction to his poetic talent, to soften his painful predispositions, to facilitate and clarify his personal life. "The only support in this difficult time - Kiril Hristov shares - I had in the strong character of Krasteva, whom I loved more and more and to whom I became more and more attached. His influence on me, both then and later, was irreplaceable, gracious... I felt that this man could go through water and fire for the one he valued and loved... The editorial office of the magazine "Misl", in fact the home of Dr. Krastev, became for me a blessed, quiet harbor from the very first day. I could visit my recent teacher, who had become a close friend, at any time. I felt him as my closest relative, blood and spiritual. I could share my greatest worries with him. There was no mental, painful state or external unexpected unpleasantness that he would not meet with the greatest participation and with a reasonable practical plan for sobering up" (From the memoirs of Kiril Hristov "Clogged Sofia"). Because Dr. Krastev does not seek the meaning of his critical activity solely in the evaluation work.