Bulgarian Literature - Bulgarian Literature Between The World Wars

Bulgarian Literature Between The World Wars

Dimcho Debelyanov (1887–1916) was a poet whose death in the First World War cut off his promising literary career. His body of work was collected by friends following his death and became very popular in post-war Bulgaria. Hristo Smirnenski (1898-1823) is another talented symbolist poet with extremely melodious language whose early death could be mourned.

The interwar period in the Bulgarian literature will be remembered not only because of the dramatic social changes but also because of the reforms in the literary genres. A great part of them is associated with the figure and the activity of Geo Milev (1895-1925) who published the modernist magazine Vezni (Scale), in Sofia, contributing as a poet, translator, theatre reviewer, director, editor of anthologies and even as a painter. He experienced the influence of avant-garde movements like the German expressionism and the French surrealism. His skillful poems (The Cruel Ring (1920); The Icons Sleep (1922); September (1923)) and prose pieces (A Little Expressionist Calendar for the Year (1921)) combine traditional motives, modern ideas and experimental language. He was killed at the age of 30 and although his career did not span more than 6 years, he is greatly respected and regarded by many as one of the most influential modernist poets and translators.

Bulgarian poetry will reach a new peak with another prematurely killed poet – Nikola Vaptsarov (1909-1942). He managed to publish only 1 book of poems during his lifetime (Motor Songs (1940)), in 1,500 copies. He was sentenced to death because of his underground communist activity against the Government.

Bulgarian prose flourished in the period between the world wars manly because of the stories and the short novels of Elin Pelin (1877-1949) and Yordan Yovkov (1880-1937). Both of them were quite prolific and became popular not only in their home countries but also abroad. In their subjects, they stand close to the traditions of the realism. Both of them focus on the rural life, but Yordan Yovkov is known for his fondness of traditions and myths, while Elin Pelin is more light-hearted and witty; the latter is also a famous writer of children literature. Both of them used vivid, elaborate language and images.

A remarkable writer of historical novels, Fani Popova-Mutafova reaches the peak of her popularity before the Second World War but despite her talent, suffers repressions from the communist regime after it. Another figure which can hardly be forgotten from this period is the humorous writer and drawer Chudomir (1890-1967) whose short stories (often no longer than 3-4 pages) are brilliant both in style and originality. The unique finesse of his writings is to remain widely admired.