Bulgarian literature
Encyclopedia
Bulgarian literature is literature written by Bulgarians or residents of Bulgaria
, or written in the Bulgarian language
; usually the latter is the defining feature. Bulgarian literature can be said to be one of the oldest among the Slavic peoples
, having its roots during the late 9th century and the times of Simeon I
of the First Bulgarian Empire
.
, the country became a centre of rich literary activity during what is known as the Golden Age
of medieval Bulgarian culture. In the late 9th, the 10th and early 11th century literature in Bulgaria prospered, with many books being translated from Byzantine Greek, but also new works being created. Many scholars worked in the Preslav
and Ohrid Literary School
s, creating the Cyrillic alphabet
for their needs. Chernorizets Hrabar
wrote his popular work An Account of Letters, Clement of Ohrid
worked on translations from Greek and is credited with several important religious books, John Exarch
wrote his Shestodnev and translated On Orthodox Christianity by John of Damascus
, Naum of Preslav also had a significant contribution. Bulgarian scholars and works influenced most of the Slavic world, spreading Old Church Slavonic
, the Cyrillic and the Glagolithic alphabet to Kievan Rus'
, medieval Serbia and medieval Croatia
.
As the Bulgarian Empire was subjugated by the Byzantines
in 1018, Bulgarian literary activity declined. However, after the establishment of the Second Bulgarian Empire
followed another period of upsurge during the time of Patriarch Evtimiy in the 14th century. Evtimiy founded the Tarnovo Literary School
that had a significant impact on the literature of Serbia
and Muscovite Russia
, as many writers fled abroad after the Ottoman conquest. Apart from Evtimiy, other established writers from the period were Constantine of Kostenets
(1380-first half of the 15th century) and Gregory Tsamblak
(1365–1420).
Medieval Bulgarian literature was dominated by religious themes, most works being hymn
s, treatise
s, religious miscellanies, apocrypha
and hagiographies
, most often heroic and instructive.
The main literary form of the 17th and 18th century were instructive sermons, at first translated from Greek and then compiled by Bulgarians.
A literary tradition continued to exist relatively uninterrupted during the early Ottoman rule in northwestern Bulgaria up until the Chiprovtsi Uprising
in end of the 17th century among the Bulgarian Catholics
who were supported by the Catholic states of Central Europe
. Many of these works were written in a mixture of vernacular Bulgarian, Church Slavonic and Serbo-Croatian
and was called "Illyric". Among these was the first book printed in modern Bulgarian, the breviary Abagar
published in Rome
in 1651 by Filip Stanislavov, bishop of Nikopol
.
The Illyrian movement
for South Slavic
unity had an impact on the Bulgarian literature of the 18th and 19th century. Hristofor Zhefarovich
's Stemmatographia of 1741 is thought of as the earliest example of modern Bulgarian secular poetry for its quatrain
s, although it was essentially a collection of engraving
s.
of Bulgarian literature began in the 18th century with the historiographical writings of Paisius of Hilendar
, Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya
. In the period 1840-1875 the literature came alive with writings on mainly revolutionary, anti-Turkish themes. The noted poet and revolutionary Hristo Botev
worked in the late 19th century and is nowadays regarded as arguably the foremost Bulgarian poet of the period. Among the writers who engaged in revolutionary activity was also Lyuben Karavelov
.
Georgi Sava Rakovski
's best-known work, Gorski Patnik (translated as A Traveller in the Woods or Forest Wanderer) was penned during the Crimean War
(1853–56) while hiding from Turkish authorities near Kotel. Considered one of the first Bulgarian literary poems, it was not actually published until 1857.
A typical feature of the period was the formation of an interest in Bulgarian folklore, as figures like the Miladinov Brothers
and Kuzman Shapkarev
made collections of folk songs and made ethnographic
studies.
After Bulgaria achieved independence (1878) the national literature lost much of its revolutionary spirit, and writings of a pastoral and regional type became more common. Ivan Vazov
was the first professional Bulgarian man of letters, whose 1893 novel Under the Yoke
, which depicts the Ottoman oppression of Bulgaria, is the most famous piece of classic Bulgarian literature and has been translated into over 30 languages. The poet Pencho Slaveykov
brought other European literatures to the notice of Bulgarian readers. His epic Song of Blood (1911–13) dealt with the struggle against the Turks.
Aleko Konstantinov
(1863–1897) was best known for his character Bay Ganyo, one of the most popular characters in Bulgarian fiction, and was the first Bulgarian to write about his visits to Western Europe and America.
, considered to be one of the finest poetic talents in the fin de siècle
Kingdom of Bulgaria
. Yavorov was a prominent member of the Misal group. Geo Milev
published the modernist
magazine Везни (Scale), in Sofia, contributing as a translator, theatre reviewer, director and editor of anthologies. Dimcho Debelyanov
(1887–1916) was a poet and author 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.
After the second World War Bulgarian literature fell under the control of the Communist Party and, particularly in the early years, was required to conform to the Stalinist style called "Socialist realism
". Dimitar Dimov
was forced to revise his best-selling novel Tobacco (adapted for cinema as the 1962 film Tobacco
) to make it acceptable from the viewpoint of socialist realism by adding Communists and working-class characters. In 1981, Elias Canetti
won the Nobel prize for literature. Canetti, a German-language writer, born in the city of Ruse, Bulgaria, became the first Bulgarian to win the Nobel Prize
.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, or written in the Bulgarian language
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
; usually the latter is the defining feature. Bulgarian literature can be said to be one of the oldest among the Slavic peoples
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
, having its roots during the late 9th century and the times of Simeon I
Simeon I of Bulgaria
Simeon I the Great ruled over Bulgaria from 893 to 927, during the First Bulgarian Empire. Simeon's successful campaigns against the Byzantines, Magyars and Serbs led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion ever, making it the most powerful state in contemporary Eastern Europe...
of the First Bulgarian Empire
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...
.
Middle Ages
With the Bulgarian Empire welcoming the disciples of Cyril and Methodius after they were expelled from Great MoraviaGreat Moravia
Great Moravia was a Slavic state that existed in Central Europe and lasted for nearly seventy years in the 9th century whose creators were the ancestors of the Czechs and Slovaks. It was a vassal state of the Germanic Frankish kingdom and paid an annual tribute to it. There is some controversy as...
, the country became a centre of rich literary activity during what is known as the Golden Age
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology and legend and refers to the first in a sequence of four or five Ages of Man, in which the Golden Age is first, followed in sequence, by the Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages, and then the present, a period of decline...
of medieval Bulgarian culture. In the late 9th, the 10th and early 11th century literature in Bulgaria prospered, with many books being translated from Byzantine Greek, but also new works being created. Many scholars worked in the Preslav
Preslav Literary School
The Preslav Literary School was the first literary school in the medieval Bulgarian Empire. It was established by Boris I in 885 or 886 in Bulgaria's capital, Pliska...
and Ohrid Literary School
Ohrid Literary School
The Ohrid Literary School was one of the two major medieval Bulgarian cultural centres, along with the Preslav Literary School . The school was established in Ohrid in 886 by Saint Clement of Ohrid on orders of Boris I of Bulgaria simultaneously or shortly after the establishment of the Preslav...
s, creating the Cyrillic alphabet
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
for their needs. Chernorizets Hrabar
Chernorizets Hrabar
Chernorizets Hrabar was a Bulgarian monk, scholar and writer who worked at the Preslav Literary School at the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th century, developing Medieval Bulgarian literature and spreading Old Church Slavonic.- Name :...
wrote his popular work An Account of Letters, Clement of Ohrid
Clement of Ohrid
Saint Clement of Ohrid was a medieval Bulgarian saint, scholar, writer and enlightener of the Slavs. He was the most prominent disciple of Saints Cyril and Methodius and is often associated with the creation of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets, especially their popularisation among...
worked on translations from Greek and is credited with several important religious books, John Exarch
John Exarch
John Exarch was a medieval Bulgarian scholar, writer and translator, one of the most important men of letters working at the Preslav Literary School at the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th century. Evidence about his life is scarce but his literary legacy suggests an excellent...
wrote his Shestodnev and translated On Orthodox Christianity by John of Damascus
John of Damascus
Saint John of Damascus was a Syrian monk and priest...
, Naum of Preslav also had a significant contribution. Bulgarian scholars and works influenced most of the Slavic world, spreading Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Church Slavic was the first literary Slavic language, first developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek...
, the Cyrillic and the Glagolithic alphabet to Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
, medieval Serbia and medieval Croatia
Medieval Croatian state
Medieval Croatia can refer to:* Principality of Pannonian Croatia - medieval duchy in existence between the 7th and 10th centuries A.D.* Principality of Littoral Croatia - medieval principality in existence between the 8th century and 925 A.D....
.
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
in 1018, Bulgarian literary activity declined. However, after the establishment of the Second Bulgarian Empire
Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...
followed another period of upsurge during the time of Patriarch Evtimiy in the 14th century. Evtimiy founded the Tarnovo Literary School
Tarnovo Literary School
The Tarnovo Literary School of the late 14th and 15th century was a major medieval Bulgarian cultural academy with important contribution to the Medieval Bulgarian literature established in the capital of Bulgaria Tarnovo...
that had a significant impact on the literature of Serbia
Serbian literature
Serbian literature refers to literature written in Serbian and/or in Serbia.The history of Serbian literature begins with theological works from the 10th- and 11th centuries, developing in the 13th century by Saint Sava and his disciples...
and Muscovite Russia
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union...
, as many writers fled abroad after the Ottoman conquest. Apart from Evtimiy, other established writers from the period were Constantine of Kostenets
Constantine of Kostenets
Constantine of Kostenets , also known as Konstantin Kostenechki and Constantine the Philosopher , was a medieval Bulgarian writer and chronicler...
(1380-first half of the 15th century) and Gregory Tsamblak
Gregory Tsamblak
Gregory Tsamblak ; was a Bulgarian writer and cleric, metropolitan of Kiev between 1413 and 1420. His name is also spelled Gregorije Camblak....
(1365–1420).
Medieval Bulgarian literature was dominated by religious themes, most works being hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
s, treatise
Treatise
A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject.-Noteworthy treatises:...
s, religious miscellanies, apocrypha
Apocrypha
The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....
and hagiographies
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
, most often heroic and instructive.
Early Ottoman rule
The fall of the Second Bulgarian Empire to the Ottomans in 1396 was a serious blow for Bulgarian literature and culture in general. Literary activity largely ceased, being concentrated in the monasteries that established themselves as centres of Bulgarian culture in the foreign empire. The religious theme continued to be dominant in the few works that were produced.The main literary form of the 17th and 18th century were instructive sermons, at first translated from Greek and then compiled by Bulgarians.
Chiprovtsi Uprising
The Chiprovtsi Uprising was an uprising against Ottoman rule organized in northwestern Bulgaria by Roman Catholic Bulgarians, but also involving many Eastern Orthodox Christians...
in end of the 17th century among the Bulgarian Catholics
Roman Catholicism in Bulgaria
Roman Catholicism is the third largest religious congregation in Bulgaria, after Eastern Orthodoxy and Islam. It has roots in the country since the Middle Ages and is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome.As an entity, the Catholic...
who were supported by the Catholic states of Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
. Many of these works were written in a mixture of vernacular Bulgarian, Church Slavonic and Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
and was called "Illyric". Among these was the first book printed in modern Bulgarian, the breviary Abagar
Abagar
Abagar is a breviary by the Bulgarian Roman Catholic Bishop of Nikopol Filip Stanislavov printed in Rome in 1651. It is regarded as the first printed Bulgarian book...
published in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in 1651 by Filip Stanislavov, bishop of Nikopol
Nikopol, Bulgaria
Nikopol is a town in northern Bulgaria, the administrative center of Nikopol municipality, part of Pleven Province, on the right bank of the Danube river, 4 km downstream from the mouth of the Osam river. It spreads at the foot of steep chalk cliffs along the Danube and up a narrow valley...
.
The Illyrian movement
Illyrian movement
The Illyrian movement , also Croatian national revival , was a cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian intellectuals during the first half of 19th century, around the years of 1835–1849...
for South Slavic
South Slavs
The South Slavs are the southern branch of the Slavic peoples and speak South Slavic languages. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the Balkan peninsula, the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps...
unity had an impact on the Bulgarian literature of the 18th and 19th century. Hristofor Zhefarovich
Hristofor Zhefarovich
Hristofor Zhefarovich was an 18th-century painter, engraver, writer and poet and a notable proponent of Pan-Slavism.- Biography :Born at the end of the 17th century,...
's Stemmatographia of 1741 is thought of as the earliest example of modern Bulgarian secular poetry for its quatrain
Quatrain
A quatrain is a stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines of verse. Existing in various forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and China; and, continues into the 21st century, where it is...
s, although it was essentially a collection of engraving
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
s.
Bulgarian National Revival
A new revivalRomantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...
of Bulgarian literature began in the 18th century with the historiographical writings of Paisius of Hilendar
Paisius of Hilendar
Saint Paisius of Hilendar or Paisiy Hilendarski was a Bulgarian clergyman and a key Bulgarian National Revival figure. He is most famous for being the author of Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya, the second modern Bulgarian history after the work of Petar Bogdan Bakshev from 1667, “History of Bulgaria”...
, Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya
Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya
Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya is a book by Bulgarian scholar and clergyman Saint Paisius of Hilendar...
. In the period 1840-1875 the literature came alive with writings on mainly revolutionary, anti-Turkish themes. The noted poet and revolutionary Hristo Botev
Hristo Botev
Hristo Botev , born Hristo Botyov Petkov , was a Bulgarian poet and national revolutionary. Botev is widely considered by Bulgarians to be a symbolic historical figure and national hero.-Early years:...
worked in the late 19th century and is nowadays regarded as arguably the foremost Bulgarian poet of the period. Among the writers who engaged in revolutionary activity was also Lyuben Karavelov
Lyuben Karavelov
Lyuben Stoychev Karavelov was a Bulgarian writer and an important figure of the Bulgarian National Revival....
.
Georgi Sava Rakovski
Georgi Sava Rakovski
Georgi Stoykov Rakovski , known also Georgi Sava Rakovski , born Sabi Stoykov Popovich , was a 19th-century Bulgarian revolutionary and writer and an important figure of the Bulgarian National Revival and resistance against Ottoman rule.- Early life:Born in Kotel to a wealthy and patriotic...
's best-known work, Gorski Patnik (translated as A Traveller in the Woods or Forest Wanderer) was penned during the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
(1853–56) while hiding from Turkish authorities near Kotel. Considered one of the first Bulgarian literary poems, it was not actually published until 1857.
A typical feature of the period was the formation of an interest in Bulgarian folklore, as figures like the Miladinov Brothers
Miladinov Brothers
The Miladinov Brothers , Dimitar Miladinov and Konstantin Miladinov , were Bulgarian poets and folklorists from Macedonia, authors of an important collection of folk songs, Bulgarian Folk Songs...
and Kuzman Shapkarev
Kuzman Shapkarev
Kuzman Anastasov Shapkarev, , was a Bulgarian folklorist, ethnographer and scientist from Macedonia, author of textbooks and ethnographic studies and a significant figure of the Bulgarian National Revival. He is considered an ethnic Macedonian in the Republic of Macedonia.- Biography :Kuzman...
made collections of folk songs and made ethnographic
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
studies.
After Bulgaria achieved independence (1878) the national literature lost much of its revolutionary spirit, and writings of a pastoral and regional type became more common. Ivan Vazov
Ivan Vazov
Ivan Minchov Vazov was a Bulgarian poet, novelist and playwright, often referred to as "the Patriarch of Bulgarian literature". He was born in Sopot, a town in the Rose Valley of Bulgaria ....
was the first professional Bulgarian man of letters, whose 1893 novel Under the Yoke
Under the Yoke
Under the Yoke is a novel by Ivan Vazov, written in 1888. It depicts the Ottoman oppression of Bulgaria and is the most famous piece of classic Bulgarian literature. Under the Yoke has been translated into more than 30 languages.-Plot:...
, which depicts the Ottoman oppression of Bulgaria, is the most famous piece of classic Bulgarian literature and has been translated into over 30 languages. The poet Pencho Slaveykov
Pencho Slaveykov
Pencho Petkov Slaveykov was a noted Bulgarian poet and one of the participants in the Misal circle. He was the youngest son of the writer Petko Slaveykov....
brought other European literatures to the notice of Bulgarian readers. His epic Song of Blood (1911–13) dealt with the struggle against the Turks.
Aleko Konstantinov
Aleko Konstantinov
Aleko Konstantinov was a Bulgarian writer, best known for his character Bay Ganyo, one of the most popular characters in Bulgarian fiction....
(1863–1897) was best known for his character Bay Ganyo, one of the most popular characters in Bulgarian fiction, and was the first Bulgarian to write about his visits to Western Europe and America.
Modern literature
Peyo Yavorov (1878–1914) was a Symbolist poetSymbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
, considered to be one of the finest poetic talents in the fin de siècle
Fin de siècle
Fin de siècle is French for "end of the century". The term sometimes encompasses both the closing and onset of an era, as it was felt to be a period of degeneration, but at the same time a period of hope for a new beginning...
Kingdom of Bulgaria
History of Independent Bulgaria
The Treaty of San Stefano of March 3, 1878 provided for a self-governing Bulgarian state, which comprised the geographical regions of Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia. Based on that date Bulgarians celebrate Bulgaria's national day each year...
. Yavorov was a prominent member of the Misal group. Geo Milev
Geo Milev
Geo Milev , born Georgi Milev Kasabov , was a Bulgarian poet.-Life:Geo Milev studied in Sofia and later in Leipzig where he was introduced to German Expressionism. His university thesis was on Richard Dehmel. Beginning in 1916 he fought in the World War I, where he was severely injured...
published the modernist
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
magazine Везни (Scale), in Sofia, contributing as a translator, theatre reviewer, director and editor of anthologies. Dimcho Debelyanov
Dimcho Debelyanov
Dimcho Debelyanov was a Bulgarian poet and author whose death in the First World War cut off his promising literary career. Born to a prosperous family in Koprivshtitsa, Bulgaria, he experienced hardship upon the death of his father in 1896, which necessitated the family moving to Plovdiv, and...
(1887–1916) was a poet and author 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.
After the second World War Bulgarian literature fell under the control of the Communist Party and, particularly in the early years, was required to conform to the Stalinist style called "Socialist realism
Socialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
". Dimitar Dimov
Dimitar Dimov
Dimitar Todorov Dimov was a Bulgarian dramatist, novelist, and veterinary surgeon.Born in Lovech, he is best known for his best-selling novel Tobacco , which was made into the 1962 film Tobacco, directed by Nikola Korabov...
was forced to revise his best-selling novel Tobacco (adapted for cinema as the 1962 film Tobacco
Tobacco (film)
Tobacco is a 1962 Bulgarian drama film directed by Nikola Korabov. It was entered into the 1963 Cannes Film Festival.The film was based on Dimitar Dimov's best-selling novel Tobacco.-Cast:* Nevena Kokanova - Irina* Yordan Matev - Boris Morev...
) to make it acceptable from the viewpoint of socialist realism by adding Communists and working-class characters. In 1981, Elias Canetti
Elias Canetti
Elias Canetti was a Bulgarian-born modernist novelist, playwright, memoirist, and non-fiction writer. He wrote in German and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981, "for writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power".-Life:...
won the Nobel prize for literature. Canetti, a German-language writer, born in the city of Ruse, Bulgaria, became the first Bulgarian to win the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
.