Александър

When it comes to Alexander Balabanov, the first thing that comes to mind is the celebration of the Czech writer and diplomat František Kubka - the last of the series of celebrations that the Union of Bulgarian Writers organized in the spring of 1946 in the salons of the Bulgarian-Soviet Society. Of course, I knew Balabanov for a long time before that. I first remember one of his stories on ancient Greek literature from the idyllic times of my student days in Pazardzhik. His fame as an eccentric and absent-minded person was already spreading and the audience had filled the "Videlina" community center, warned by the rumor that they would hear an amusing professor. I have forgotten the details, but I well remember the joyful excitement of the listeners from that strange combination of the grotesque and the serious, which was a basic feature of his entire personality. What we learned from this story - I don't know, but one thing was indisputable: it turned out that ancient Greek literature is not as uninteresting and distant from us as some textbooks presented it to us. A few years later, already as a student in Sofia, I had the opportunity to meet Balabanov almost every day. I still see him anxious and perpetually in a hurry, moving along Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard with a bag in his hand, a carelessly placed soft hat on his head, under which his curly, uncombed hair peeked out, surrounded by students and acquaintances, talking excitedly or arguing with some imaginary opponent. I even had the opportunity to stop in front of the University and watch with defiant curiosity whether he took off his galoshes before getting on the tram, as the legend created around him claimed. And after September 9th, I don't know exactly when or how, we became close, and since we lived in the same neighborhood, we would walk the distance from the then club of cultural figures to the Doctor's Garden almost every evening. And despite all this, when it comes to him, I first remember that celebration on Mizia Street, which I mentioned.