Ivan Vazov, Under the Yoke (1894)
The first great Bulgarian novel. It was written in Odessa in 1887–1888, and the plot is about the April Uprising in the small town of Byala Cherkva. The main hero, Boycho Ognyanov, is an idealist, the women are in love, the Turks are Turks, and the Bulgarians are sometimes funny, sometimes magnificent. It has been translated into more than 30 languages.
Aleko Konstantinov, Bai Ganyo (1895)
A satire about the Bulgarian who travels around Europe with a bag of rose oil and the conviction that everyone is cheating him. Bai Ganyo is rough, cunning, calculating and incredibly alive. A hundred and thirty years later, we still run into him at airports.
Aleko also wrote To Chicago and Back („До Чикаго и назад“), a travelogue about the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. America impressed him with its size and noise. We would add that, to this day, a decent banitsa is hard to find there.
Elin Pelin and Yordan Yovkov
The two masters of the short story.
- Elin Pelin – the village, poverty, humour and sins. The Gerak Family („Гераците“), Under the Monastery Vine („Под манастирската лоза“), Jan Bibijan („Ян Бибиян“).
- Yordan Yovkov – Dobrudzha, the steppe, proud people. Legends of the Balkan Range („Старопланински легенди“), The Farm by the Border („Чифликът край границата“), The Reaper („Жетварят“). Quiet, wise, with landscapes you remember for a lifetime.
Dimitar Dimov, Tobacco (1951)
A great family and social novel about tobacco merchants and strikes before the Second World War. In 1952 it was subjected to party criticism as “not socialist enough” and was reworked. Even so – or perhaps precisely because of it – it remains one of the most-read novels.
Also Worth Your Time
- Dimitar Talev, The Iron Candlestick („Железният светилник“, 1952) – Macedonia during the National Revival.
- Emilian Stanev, The Peach Thief („Крадецът на праскови“, 1948) – a love between a prisoner and a commandant's wife during the First World War. Short, painful and brilliant.
Read the full texts (in Bulgarian): Anthology: short prose · Where to Read Online