Those who live in Bulgaria and learn Bulgarian should definitely read Bulgarian literature. Firstly, it helps the study of the language, and secondly, the understanding of the country, people, its cultural code, traditions and habits. Authors and their works can be found in school literature lists starting from first grade. Since the Bulgarians teach this to their children, then immigrants will also not hurt. Everyone else can easily find books by Bulgarian authors in Russian.
The most famous Bulgarian writer in the world is Ivan Vazov. I like to call him Bulgarian Leo Tolstoy. Of course, they can not be compared, here we mean only significance in the native literature.
Personally, I immediately developed good relations with the texts of Ivan Vazov, because they are easy, understandable, and even funny. Vazov had a light pen, he knew how to work in different genres and well conveyed emotions and moods. The characters of heroes sound especially interesting to him: at first glance, Vazov does not describe them at all, paying more attention to the surrounding nature, but at the same time he manages to quickly convey the essence of the character - you immediately understand who is in front of you. I felt this when I first read his stories about Sofia, in particular, "Flooding" about the Yuchbunar quarter. Vazov somehow easily depicts people, immediately grabs the most important feature and reveals it, without plunging into small details, without complicating the perception of the hero, leaving the reader to understand and think out other qualities.
This is especially evident in his first novel, "Under the Igoto."
"Under the yoke" or in Russian "under the yoke", this is the first novel in Ivan Vazov's prose. Before that, he wrote poetry. In Bulgarian literary criticism "Under the Igoto" is called the first real Bulgarian novel, which marked the beginning of Bulgaria's original novel fiction. It is also defined as historically everyday, because it interprets real historical events and describes the national life of the late 19th century and as an epic novel, because it is a recognized epic work of significant nationwide theme.
The novel was written by Vazov in exile in 1888. After the coup in August 1886, carried out against Alexander I Batenberg, relations between Bulgaria and Russia cooled, and Ivan Vazov was then a Russophile, so there were troubles in his life, because of which he was forced to emigrate to Odessa. There, he missed his homeland very much and undertook to describe the events preceding the Liberation, specifically the preparations for the April uprising and the uprising itself. The main action takes place in the city of Byala Cherkva, the prototype of which is the hometown of Ivan Vazov Sopot. The main character of the novel, Boycho Ognyanov, is a collective image of the Bulgarian hero, the apostle of freedom, a revolutionary and a popular “wizard”. All events take place from May 1875 to May 1876.
This novel has it all: exploits, love, meanness, shame, death and hatred. I would call it an adventurous novel, because it reads like a "village detective" - on the one hand, everything is very simple, and on the other, it’s interesting not to come off. I also like the description of nature and the elements, many Russian words and the manner of constructing sentences. Even if you don’t know any words, in a couple of chapters you’ll understand and remember for sure. There are a lot of interesting words and phrases in the novel, of course, some of them are outdated, but not so much as to fall out of use and if you use them somewhere it will not be funny, but rather will give you a well-read person 😊
For a Russian person, “Under Igoto” is very easy to read. It seems that 150 years ago, the Bulgarian and Russian languages were closer to each other than now.
The novel "Under the Igoto" is small - only 3 parts and 88 chapters. Do not think that this is “War and Peace” 😊 I read it in a month, along with other books and did not open it every day.
For those who live in Bulgaria, I recommend buying a Soviet-era publication from old-timers - there will be fewer errors and typos. The price is around five leva (2.5 euros). Well, or take the same thing in the library. This novel is taught to schoolchildren in a strong contraction, so a textbook is not suitable.
At home, “Under the Igoto” was first published in the form of one (first) part in a scientific collection in 1889, and in its entirety, as a separate publication, it was published only in 1894. However, before being published in Bulgaria, the novel was published in English in England. This was done by Edmond Gos, the compiler and editor of the International Library, published by the publisher William Heinemann. Roman Vazova was at number 14, on a par with Tolstoy and Maupassant.
Subsequently, “Under the Igoto” was translated into many foreign languages, and into Russian in 1896 and published in the capital’s publications.
Of course, films and plays were staged based on the novel.
All the photos were taken by me personally in one Sofia autumn.
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