хора

The epic narrative in Georgi Karaslavov's multi-volume epic "Ordinary People" has always reminded me of the mighty flow of a wide and deep river - calm and even, but hiding unsuspected depths within itself, spilling out into side branches that whimsically curve and rejoin in the main direction, covering ever larger and larger spaces, imperiously pushing towards its ultimate goal.

The merits of Boris Delchev's new book - the collection of memoir essays "I knew these people" I find in three directions: in the excitement with which the author communicates with the artists; in the erudition of the literary critic; in the conscientiousness of the scientific worker. And if all these features are expressed and collected through such a peculiar genre as the memoir essay, then the author would present us - and in our case it is so - an interesting and bright book. Moreover, here the concept of "memoir essay" is used very conditionally and should not be understood in the narrow sense. The subject of the image is not random communications or meetings, nor everyday details related to the personality of the artists under consideration: in a colorful way in Boris Delchev's essays, the memoir coexists with the actively expressed contemporary position; literary-critical assessments are intertwined with artistic journalism. The author does not seek the dimensions of moral and literary qualities of his characters through the concreteness of the situations. His ethical measure is much more voluminous and multifaceted, the concrete situation is skillfully woven as a detail of an overall picture. With each fragment, a creative profile stands out more and more brightly against a corresponding socio-historical background.

When in 1926 the name of Georgi Karaslavov was noticed, it was difficult to guess how the young talent would shine. He was heading towards the village that had been plunged into sorrow and angry silence after the April days of 1925. He also wrote about the lives of children from the outskirts of the capital, who, with the loss of many human dignity, resemble the Gavrosh family from Smirnensky's "Winter Evenings". He also told about the moral resilience of the fighters from the construction proletariat in the vicinity of Prague, led by a conscious political avant-garde ("Spor Zhilov"). He also created quite a few images of urban intellectuals - folk teachers, dreamers and realists, who died at the stake of the revolutionary struggle. However, Karaslavov's main personal theme gradually became clear and it remained the village until the end. The village with its transparently serene natural pictures, spring and winter moods, the village with its cruel possessive ambitions, with the drama of the sharpened class struggles. It, this post-war, already changed village, different from Elin Pelinovoto and Yovkovoto, sounded like a constant melody - restrained, but strong and noble. Two terrible forces rage in it: the power of property, which gradually, mechanically destroys humanity; the power of its negation, inspired by the tenderly embraced world of the desire for liberation.