"New Social Poetry" is a Bulgarian literary movement, created in 2016 in Sofia. The first publication of this group, the "Manifesto of the New Social Poetry" has caused a lot of controversial discussions due to the outspoken rhetoric of the text against the so-called "peaceful transition" in Bulgaria, a period after the official end of … Continue reading New Social Poetry: an interview with Vladimir Sabourin
The territory of what is today the Republic of Bulgaria was for more than five centuries part of the Ottoman Empire and I think it is fair to say that the fight for liberation from what Bulgarians call either the “Ottoman Yoke“ or “Ottoman Slavery” is until today a defining moment for the identity of … Continue reading Two Books on the Ottoman/Turkish Heritage in Bulgaria
For almost 300 years Norway and Denmark were united kingdoms, and Danish was the sole official language. When the two countries separated in 1814 a linguistic struggle ensued in Norway with different versions of written and spoken Norwegian competing for official recognition. The heavily Danish-influenced Norwegian of the 19th century urban and educated classes evolved … Continue reading Translators Association – 60 Years of Classic Translations: The Ice Palace (1966)
In John Updike’s short story “The Bulgarian Poetess” the narrator reports the following short dialogue with the eponymous Bulgarian Poetess: "Your poems. Are they difficult?" She smiled and, unaccustomed to speaking English, answered carefully, drawing a line in the air with two delicately pinched fingers holding an imaginary pen: "They are difficult—to write." He laughed, … Continue reading Bulgarian Poetry in English Translation (III/2): the period 1944-1989 – Blaga Dimitrova
Konstantin Pavlov was one of the most important and gifted Bulgarian poets of the period after 1944. His immense talent and poetic imagination, and his independent personality brought him in frequent conflict with the Communist regime. Fortunately, two of his poetry collections are available in English: Cry of a Former Dog (translated by Ludmilla G. … Continue reading Bulgarian Poetry in English Translation (III/1): the period 1944-1989 – Konstantin Pavlov
Balchik is a small coastal town at the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, approximately 30 kilometers north of Varna. A century ago, it was not much more than a fishing village, but its natural location at a small bay, its Mediterranean climate and its picturesque houses and small streets made it a magnet for the Romanian … Continue reading Marina Konstantinova: The White Coast – A Review by Thomas Hübner
In this second part of my short series about Bulgarian Poetry collections available in English translation, I will cover the period until 1944, the year of the Communist takeover in Bulgaria. While in the last blog post I was presenting anthologies, I will focus in this post on books that present the (selected) poems of … Continue reading Bulgarian Poetry in English Translation (II): available titles from the pre-1944 period – An overview by Thomas Hübner
Happy Pride, GLLI readers! June 1st saw the kickoff of Pride festivities around the world. In celebration, June’s “Publisher Spotlight” posts will feature publishers of LGBTQIA+ literature in translation. First up: the prize-winning activists at Feminist Press. Feminist Press, or FP, is an educational nonprofit at City University of New York (CUNY) that built … Continue reading Publisher Spotlight: Feminist Press
Poetry is very popular in Bulgaria; I am still very much surprised about the sheer amount of new poetry collections that are published on the small Bulgarian market every year by „regular” publishers, but also by authors themselves (self-published, or “Samizdat” as they say in Bulgaria – an expression that hints at the subversive tradition … Continue reading Bulgarian Poetry in English Translation: Some Anthologies – an overview by Thomas Hübner
Kapka Kassabova Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe 2017 (UK: Granta Books; US: Graywolf Press) Halfway through her exhilarating narrative of travels through the borderlands of Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, Kapka Kassabova tells the story of the Spring of the White-Legged Maiden, popularized in a nineteenth century poem but dating back much earlier. … Continue reading “Our Bitter Beloved Borderless Balkans”: Kapka Kassabova’s Border – by Dorian Stuber
