At the Book Fairs in Bulgaria one can find whole stands of KGB agents in charge of Eastern Europe. Such is General Reshetnikov and his Institute, placed under the umbrella of Russian President Putin. A general, according to many facts, is behind the electoral success of Bulgarian President Rumen Radev.
At the same Book Fairs, entire booths of Anti-Semitic and Nazi literature can be found. Bulgarian-Ethno Export: New Terrorism (theangel.today)
A few meters down, you can meet the first Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov, who received one of the most prestigious Booker Prizes, standing next to a publishing house that has made its capital in business with Russia, publishing numerous Russian literature.
This is only a small part of Bulgarian cultural and literary reality...
In the context of Russia's hybrid influence, Bulgarian literature is Russia's spiritual gateway to the West. Literature, which was perceived as the main means of propaganda during the USSR, continues to be of major importance today. It would be irresponsible to be indifferent to it today. Especially when we know that Bulgaria is an important transit and processing point for Russian Gas and Oil, a proxy for huge Russian finances, a place controlled by Russian Organized Crime, a country where over 600,000 Russian citizens own property... Even if Bulgaria is not on the front line of the Hot Conflict with Russia, it is on the front line of the Information and Psychological Warfare, which will be quite different due to the changed circumstances of the Cold War.
Speaking of Proxies and Hybrid Warfare, Cultural Diversion is one of the key points. It can be directly destructive, it can be in the form of Totalitarian Cults, it can simply be a culture of rejection, but the unifier is the Anti-System that seeks to overthrow Western Culture and achievement. even by controlling certain cultural trends and socio-political currents.
Bulgarian Masterpiece
2013, Bulgaria, the celebrations of the 24th of May for the Slavonic (or Bulgarian) script. Amidst numerous Orthodox Priests(others not present), Orthodox Icons, children in religious uniforms, he speaks of the decline in society, of the financiers, of the warriors, of peace, of culture preserved and transmitted(the basis of Pan Slavism). Georgi Gospodinov gave a speech about letters, telling a true story from the 17th century, according to his words, about the Vatican and an amulet composed of Bulgarian letters, which helped in battles and kept away evil. This writer, in 2023, won the Booker Prize in the UK. Georgi Gospodinov is a Professor of Literature at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the institution most associated with the former secret services. He did his PhD until the fall of Communism, on the topic - Revolutionary and Subversive Propaganda in Bulgarian Literature in the 1930s. A name that was promoted by a publishing house that did not hide its bias and financial dependence on Moscow. A man whose family is in the business of transporting Russian Gas. Gospodinov is not just a name, he is a massive project funded with multi-million dollar state funds.
In the 21st century, war is not only physical, but also psychological and informational, and much of it is fought online. Political actors in at least 70 countries have engaged in coordinated online disinformation campaigns in recent years, with Russia alone carrying out more than 30 attacks on elections around the world since 2016. The war in Ukraine has changed our concepts of the level of information warfare and the means of psychological influence. In the past people were able to influence each other only through direct contact, today, the means of influencing the human mind have become much more sophisticated, thanks to the accumulated knowledge of thousands of years, information technologies, communication, management, literature and mass media.
“We’ve seen the very real effects of information operations on everything from the rise of extremist groups like ISIS to far-right groups in America that culminated in January 6,” said Peter W. Singer, PhD, a professor of practice at the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University. “It’s behind the so-called ‘infodemic’ that has made the COVID-19 pandemic far more deadly than it should have been,” he said.
A story about Russian Gas, many dependencies
The most established and successful contemporary writer Georgi Gospodinov is an illustration for Bulgarian Literature after 1989. He demonstrates what role Bulgarian Culture plays in the context of the post-Soviet space, what role Bulgarian business and Bulgarian patrons play in the context of Russian business and dependencies in Bulgaria, and what in reality is the depth of the problem called Russian hybrid influence.
The famous writer, who is an Academic at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, was born in Yambol, while his brother Boycho Georgiev remained in his hometown and developed a successful multi-million business, one of the companies being Gazification Ltd., which according to the commercial register deals with gasification, supply and delivery of natural gas, design, consulting, supervision, construction, installation, repair and commissioning of gas pipelines. One of the biggest Bulgarian gas entrepreneurs - Petar Shopov - started from Yambol Gasification, who is a partner with the gas oligarchs of Bulgaria, the Donchev brothers, in his company providing maintenance of the gas network Overgaz Technika. As in Overgaz itself, the main investor until a few years ago was Gazprom itself.
Overgas
Yambol is the hometown and backyard of the owner of Overgaz, Bulgarian oligarch Sasho Donchev, the Bulgarian private gas company that until recently was part of Gazprom, Russia. In his hometown, he not only sponsors sports and many of his subsidiaries have been launched, but he is also developing an educational cluster together with the University of Thrace, where bachelor's and master's degrees in gas pipeline engineering are taught.
Overgas, the largest private energy company in Bulgaria, was established in 1991 and until recently was owned 50% by Gazprom and 50% by Bulgarian oligarch Sasho Donchev. Gazprom's 50% then fell into the hands of a US-registered company with no history in the gas sector. Overgas is the biggest Bulgarian private company in the natural gas sector and a leader in developing and providing infrastructure services in the field of gasification in particular. Overgas Group's main activities cover the whole chain of research and development, supply, distribution and sale of natural gas both on wholesale and retail level. Overgas Inc. AD is the biggest independent natural gas supplier and trader on the market. It is the first one to gain access to the infrastructure network paving the way to market liberalization. Part of Overgas Group is Overgas Mrezhi AD, Bulgaria's largest gas distribution company, which currently provides service to over 81,000 end customers. The distributor currently owns over 2,600 km of pipeline inside Bulgaria with plans of rapid expansion in the near future.
Gas and Energy interests in Bulgaria are a driving force, playing a major role in the development of sport, culture and youth. Pazardzhik - Serbia - Gazprom (theangel.today)
Russia has in fact made not only Bulgarian oligarchs rich. "Russia made me wealthy!", "I was nurtured through Russian literature", "Bulgarian literature in Europe as a "Spiritual Gateway" between different civilizations."- Bojana Apostolova, owner of Publishing House Janet 45, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The publisher who created the most successful Bulgarian Writer- Georgi Gospodinov(named the modern George Orwell by the Times). And ironically called the builder of capitalism by the Bulgarian newspaper Capital- "Builder of Capitalism" Georgi Gospodinov.
Georgi Gospodinov, the contemporary Vaptsarov
The so called builder of capitalism in Bulgaria Georgi Gospodinov was born on January 7, 1968 in Yambol. He graduated in Bulgarian philology at Sofia University, and began his PhD studies under Communism at the most elite educational institution in Bulgaria for scientific research and setting trends in science and education in the Bulgaria- The Academy of Sciences(where he has been a professor since 1992), with a dissertation entitled "Poetry and Media: cinema, radio and advertising in Vaptsarov and the poets of the 1940s". Vaptsarov is the most famous communist author in Bulgarian history (Throughout his life he was engaged solely in subversive and terrorist activities in favor of the USSR in Bulgaria. As a student he came under the strong influence of the Russian Dr. Boris Mailer, who lived from 1919 in the house of Yonko Vaptsarov as a White Guard emigrant, who turned out (according to later evidence) to be a Bolshevik agent of the NKVD. After the failure of the September Uprising in 1923, he fled back to the USSR. Supposedly he was infiltrated to implement the project of creating a left wing of VMRO, etc. VMRO (United). Supposedly Vaptsarov as a student was recruited by the USSR, specifically by Mailer. His image and influence on the upbringing of the adolescent Nikola in the spirit of the communist faith is highlighted in all memoirs of the Vaptsarov family published after 9 September 1944). Vaptsarov himself engaged in subversive and terrorist activities in Bulgaria. Charges were brought against them under the CPA - for collaboration with and aiding a terrorist group financed by a foreign state (the USSR) in time of war, and for organizing activity aimed at forcibly changing the established state order in the Kingdom of Bulgaria, as well as for subversive activity against Allied German troops. Vaptsarov was arrested on 4 March and after torture in custody confessed to his clandestine activities, after which he was shot.
Vladimir Trendafilov, who is a Bulgarian literary critic, poet, translator and author of materials in academic collections and periodicals, writes an open letter in the newspaper Kultura about Georgi Gospodinov's rise through full state funding and political patronage. "Georgi Gospodinov's participation in the National Culture Fund, the Open Society Foundation, etc., has for years led to his systematic self-presentation and self-distribution around the world. I ask the unprejudiced reader in your and any other person: where here do I say that the Ministry of Culture paid for the publication abroad of each of his books? I repeat again the construction: ‛The participation of ... and others led ... to". I also hint that I am not using the word ‛participation' in its first meaning from the Concise Dictionaries of the Bulgarian Language. Without excluding the possibility that there may have been here and there in some of the relevant foreign publications direct financial injections from a foundation on our territory or our ministerial department, I do not explicitly state this here because I cannot know. What I am referring to is - note - a more comprehensive presence and/or influence. Participation in their common field. Not a permanent membership specifically here or specifically there..." the full text is placed at the end of the article.
2023 Booker Prize Winner
The Russian Booker Prize, also known as the Русский Букер (Russian Booker) in Russian, was established as a literary accolade in Russia, taking inspiration from the renowned Booker Prize. The prize was bestowed upon recipients from the years 1992 to 2017. The inauguration of the event was presided over by Sir Michael Harris Caine, the Chief Executive of England.In this study, we aim to investigate the effects of a specific intervention on the cognitive development The annual award was bestowed for the most outstanding piece of fiction published in the Russian language, as determined by a panel of judges, without consideration of the writer's nationality. In 2012, the esteemed position of chair of the Russian Booker Prize Committee was held by George Walden, a British journalist.The inclusion of a citation is necessary to support the information provided. The literary award in question marked a significant milestone as the inaugural non-governmental recognition of its kind in Russia since the nation's transformative Revolution of 1917.According to the second source,The user's text is already academic and does not need to be rewritten.
Annually, a panel of jurors is tasked with the responsibility of selecting a concise compilation of six exceptional novels from a preliminary roster of nominations, commonly referred to as the "long list." In the beginning, the recipient was awarded a sum of £10,000, which is approximately equivalent to 48,000 RUB or $16,000.The monetary reward for the winners of the competition experienced an upward adjustment in 2011, reaching a total of 600,000 rubles. However, it is important to note that this information lacks a reliable source citation. In terms of conversion, this amount is approximately equivalent to $20,000 in United States currency or nearly £13,000 in British pounds. On the other hand, the runners-up who made it to the shortlist were each awarded a sum of $2,000, which is approximately £1,300.The criteria for inclusion in the study encompassed factors such as the level of creative endeavour, the extent to which the works represented contemporary literary genres, and the author's standing and recognition within the writing community. The criterion of length was not considered, as novels with a page count ranging from 40 to 60 had been nominated.During the period spanning from 1997 to 2001, the prestigious literary award underwent a name change and was officially referred to as the Smirnoff–Booker Literary Prize. This alteration was made as a tribute to Pyotr Smirnov, the esteemed entrepreneur and inventor of the renowned Smirnoff brand. During the period spanning from 2002 to 2005, the Booker Literary Prize in Russia had a modification in nomenclature, being known as the Booker–Open Russia Literary Prize. This alteration was a consequence of Open Russia NGO assuming the role of the principal sponsor for the aforementioned literary award.Prior to the declaration of the 2005 recipient, the Booker Foundation made the decision to terminate its collaboration with Open Russia subsequent to the conviction of the foundation's chairman, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who received a nine-year jail sentence on charges of tax evasion.In 2005, a five-year deal was entered into by the committee with BP, a company based in London. In the year 2010, the award encountered financial difficulties, leading to the suspension of preparations for the 2010 prize due to the inability to secure a new sponsor.Since 2011, the Russian Telecom Equipment Company (RTEC) has become the new sponsor. [7]The user's text is already academic and does not need to be rewritten.
In 2011, the selection of a "novel of the decade" occurred in the absence of sponsorship to facilitate the regular award ceremony. A total of sixty nominees were carefully picked from the pool of prior winners and finalists of the prize since 2001. From this group, five finalists were ultimately chosen.The inclusion of a citation is necessary to support the information provided. Posthumously, Chudakov emerged as the victor with his literary work entitled "A Gloom Is Cast Upon the Ancient Steps." This narrative is set in a fictitious town located in Kazakhstan and provides a depiction of life during the era of Stalinist Russia.The user's text does not provide any information or context to be rewritten in an academic mannerThe user's text is not sufficient to rewrite in an academic manner. Please provide more context Lyudmila Ulitskaya has achieved the most number of nominations, amounting to five, with a single victory. Andrei Dmitriev follows closely with four nominations, also securing one win, while Alexey Slapovsky has garnered four nominations without any victories. No individual has achieved the accolade on several occasions.
The official announcement of the end of the Russian Booker Prize was made by the Foundation Board and the Award committee on 19 September 2019. Nevertheless, the closure of the Russian Booker Fund did not preclude the possibility of the award being reinstated.The user's text does not contain any information to rewrite.
State-funded Literature and Culture
The Bulgarian intelligentsia, thanks to the huge funds that have been poured from the Bulgarian state budget over the last 15 years, has been turned into a completely state-dependent conjuctural institution, following the Russian model (the Culture Fund). For an artist to be successful in Bulgaria, even more so in Literature (which was an important pillar of propaganda during Communism), he has to go through several basic levels of filtration- Publishing houses (they are several and deeply connected to the state, funding, support, only the community centers and libraries are over 6000, making the state a major customer of books- a circulation of several thousand in Bulgaria is a huge success), Distribution(linked to the several publishers) and Media(Bulgaria is one of the last in the world in freedom of speech according to Reporters Without Borders- the media environment is totally dependent on the state or businesses linked to the state. Even more journalists laughed during Communism about the main pillar of Propaganda and all were collaborators of the Communist State Security). Separately the writer has to go through the approval of the public and social networks dominated by the Kremlin's Political Influencers. This is a comprehensive answer about Literature in Bulgaria, what are its trends, how trends are formed and in what direction are the currents.
Fund Culture Bulgaria
One of the most important people in the distribution of state money (hundreds of millions) for culture in Bulgaria is Boyan Angelov, a PhD student at the Institute for Philosophical Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He is part of the leadership of the Higher Council (the highest body) of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (former Communist Party) member of the Board of the National Fund "Culture", Chairman of the Union of Bulgarian Writers, Boyan has been Editor-in-Chief of the magazine "People's Chitalishte Libraries", and from 1994 to 2002 he was Deputy Chairman of the Union of People's Chitalishte Libraries. He is the chairman of the People's Community Libraries-1870 Foundation. There are 3,614 registered People's Chitalishte Libraries in Bulgaria, which are distinct from the library network and have nothing in common with the same number of state libraries, but are financed by budgetary funds, and rely on projects from the Culture Fund. Since the beginning of 2013 he has been the director of the Bulgarian Writer Publishing House.. Angelov is from Panagyurishte, Pazardzhik Region. He was appointed to the Culture Fund by the Minister of Culture from Pazardzhik - Veleslav Minenkov. He is the author of the book "The Image of the Contemporary in Young Bulgarian and USSR Poetry". More about Boyan Angelov: The Deceptive Hatred Towards Russia (theangel.today)
Georgy Gospodinov, a professor at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in 1993, received his first national award from the Bulgarian Writers' Union, the institution in literature that was the main censor and filter during Communism. And an organization that maintained its strength and resources after the fall of the communist regime.
I will use one name as an example - Boyan Angelov, He was born in Pazardzhik Region and is the President of the Union of Bulgarian Writers, he was a member of the Supreme Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (former Communist Party) for two terms, making him one of the most influential people in Bulgaria. Boyan Angelov is a member of the Board of Directors of the all-powerful institution (the central institution that allocates hundreds of millions for cultural projects, making Bulgarian culture, art and literature 100% dependent on the state) in Bulgaria - the Culture Fund - operating with hundreds of millions of funds from the cultural budget and setting trends in contemporary Bulgarian culture, which is financially completely dependent on its funding. Since 1990, Boyan has been Editor-in-Chief of the magazine "People's Chitalishte Libraries", and from 1994 to 2002 he was Deputy Chairman of the Union of People's Chitalishte Libraries. He is the chairman of the People's Community Libraries-1870 Foundation. There are 3,614 registered People's Chitalishte Libraries in Bulgaria, which are distinct from the library network and have nothing in common with the same number of state libraries, but are financed by budgetary funds, and rely on projects from the Culture Fund. Since the beginning of 2013 he has been the director of the Bulgarian Writer Publishing House. When we talk about Bulgaria and Bulgarian culture, we talk about the Culture Fund and the Ministry of Culture, we must not forget that we are talking about hundreds of millions every year that are spent unaccountably. And all these huge amounts of EU money go to finance Bulgarian culture, which for 35 years has been based on nostalgia for socialism, rejecting all the principles of the market economy and democratic liberalism.
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences- Where was Professor of Language and Literature at the beginning of his success the most famous modern Bulgarian Writer
On February 9th, 2010, the Commission on Files made public the data of its investigation of the leadership of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and those belonging to the Communist State Security. The State Security (SS) was a former Bulgarian secret intelligence and counter-intelligence service active between 1925 and 1990. It was the main repressive structure underpinning the totalitarian regime of the Bulgarian Communist Party from the late 1940s. In its functions, organisation and modus operandi, the State Security closely followed the model of the Soviet security services.
The data are more than impressive: 44 Bulgarian scientists turned out to be former collaborators of the State Security Service - out of a total of 348 checked. This means that more than 10% of the scientific elite, currently occupying leading positions in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, were tied to the communist secret services. As the verification does not reflect the real figures at all. In fact, the actual ratio between verified and identified collaborators is much higher, since according to the law on the files, the commission is only entitled to disclose the data of those who hold or have held positions in the leadership of the Academy since the law came into force - i.e. since 2007, and not - as is the case, for example, with the verification of deputies or ministers - since 1989.
The other striking feature is that most of the names revealed are acting directors of institutes - or involved in the central management of the Academy. After the latter are two vice-presidents, three scientific secretaries, and one of the members of the Board of the BAS; also the director of the academic publishing house M. Drinov", the director of the scientific archive of the BAS, the director of the "International Activities" directorate, etc. Here too there is a big loophole in the Law. Twenty-two of the current directors of institutes and thirteen of the current deputy directors, as well as not a few scientific secretaries, also have double names and biographies. For some of the names, the committee has indicated that there is evidence of their collaboration in the secret services after 1989.
State Security does not list any data or reports of particularly valuable agents. This was reported by several former State Security officials to the newspaper "168 hours" in 2021. No order was issued for this practice and it was not formalized, but it was tacitly imposed in the 1980s. Usually these secret collaborators were so-called perspective cadres, who had the potential to rise one day. The colonel admits that today there are many celebrities who have collaborated with the DS in this category. But the fact that they were agents of the shadowy State Security will never come to light, as even their identity cards have been destroyed. And the most valuable collaborators were in contact with the heads of departments and even deputy ministers. And so far no evidence has come out that they worked in any form for the State Security. "168 часа": За най-ценните агенти на ДС не се водела документация (24chasa.bg)
Bulgarian Intellectual Modernity
These are excerpts from the most extensive interview done with the most renowned contemporary Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov. Whose discoverer is the most successful Bulgarian publisher, who gained his opportunities through business with Russia.
The problem with Bulgarian Socialism is that it was not like German Socialism, but turned out to be Patriarchal Traditionalist
The second half of the Bulgarian twentieth century happened in a kind of pattern that I would call "patriarchal-socialism": a mixture between continued heavy patriarchy and socialism. This is a paradoxical combination because socialism is a modernist project. A particular culture of silence within the Bulgarian family. A particular schizophrenia in which you are one in the kitchen, in the family, and another outside on the square and at the rally. A schizophrenia that has persisted until now, and which is part of the things that do not happen to us today. This was particularly evident in the collection I Lived Socialism - how, for example, you, inside your family, never seemed to know where your father was for five years - and he was in a camp. And he himself kept that secret. And the system pressured him to keep quiet. And man's own fear. And you're right that guilt is unspoken - precisely because of patriarchal socialism, as opposed to, say, the German reworking of the past - and only the Germans have a whole term for that.
Post Socialism in Bulgaria- simplistic consumers
Everything is the latest, nothing has a story - and nothing has a specific taste. One is constantly tripping over some information rivers and losing direction - losing the hunger for anything that one had in the 90s. There's an episode in The Physics of Sadness where the character says, "well, now you've got everything, you've got the bananas you wanted then, the Coke, everything, what do you miss," and the answer is, "well, I miss that hunger." Actually we got everything, and we lost the hunger.
Self, Selfhood and Self as Jihadism- refracted through Confucian wisdoms
It is, on reflection, Confucian - within its practical ethics. We concern ourselves mostly with Virtue or the lack of it, and yet leave the question of attaining Truth open. Our big question is at the cultural boundary. What does, say, the native reality format teach you? "Be what you are, bastard." That's its mantra. If you feel like shouting, shout; if you feel like fucking, fuck; if you feel like fighting, fight. What if I want to shoot people? Whereas culture teaches you the opposite: curb your instinct, don't be what your instinct makes you be.
"Be yourself" versus "Know yourself." Exactly. The deception is that there are actually convenient ideological or advertising matrices behind this "be yourself". To "be yourself", they say, you have to be so and so - offering you this matrix, this model, this ready-made template. And that in itself is a contradiction in terms, selling prefabricated authenticity. The goal is clear - reduction of reflection, of deliberation and hesitation, of just "knowing yourself".
I'll call it the "jihadism" within us. I mean the sharp radicalization of opinions, mainly on Facebook, among us. It comes through several channels. First, the sense that Facebook gives is that we are more avatars and less bodies. Fewer real people - with biographies, children, bodily ramifications like that. When you think of the other as an avatar, Facebook is some kind of perfect comic book. A picture that drops a word bubble.
Bulgarian Occupy Wallstreet
The protest of 2013, yes, I think that protest will remain one of the most unconventionally bright episodes in recent Bulgarian history.
With the Occupy Wallstreet library. The sign itself is pretty and timeless.
Intelligently Said That Modern Existence Is Meaningless
Here's something for you to think about from Gellner: socialism failed not only because it lost the technological, economic, etc. wars, but also because it left little niches for the individual to save himself. Yeah, I like that observation. The socialist cruelly underestimated everyday life. It never figured out what to do with man after 5pm.
For me, I have to add a story from "I lived socialism": in short, the man had formulated everything like this, ingeniously simple - "when there are no onions, there are nowhere, when there are onions, there are only onions". But the difficult story, the good story, which might also explain this question about nostalgia in depth, is precisely about the existential gap, the deficit of purpose and meaning in that living. A deficit, in fact, whose abundance delights us even today.
The West- material, consumer, cargo, business, no magic and intellectual meaning
Yes. But let's look at it through the small stuff first. I have one such text, "Souvenir and Symbol," about how the West's inaccessibility was actually a major part of that magic. As kids, we were very hesitant about whether foreign countries existed as a separate country - where they made tolerons and chewing gum and so on.
Yes, abroad! There they had cigarette gums as long as a cubit, two-foot chocolates, etc. Our parents explained that we had nature and yogurt, but we didn't like nature and yogurt (laughter). It was good that there were truckers connecting the two worlds, flying over like...
Disenchantment comes logically - through accessibility. Conceived space is somehow always more beautiful. My father, who had only been to Finland once - his only trip abroad - had brought some glasses, glass, Finnish, and he was there telling me how he lost his wallet one day, but found it the next day in the same place, how the saleswomen were smiling, imagine that shock too. And for this man Europe is still a myth. There is no disenchantment there - as with all those who stayed in the invented Europe of a time, of the 70s and 80s, who, because of poverty or other reasons, never saw it again.
Islamists as non-people- simply used to kill themselves
We missed the death of this newspaper. Recent events - new migration, ISIS, Brexit, Trump - show that the world is driven by other, far from rational mechanisms. And we should already be aware of that. After Nice, I thought, and wrote, and rubbished such things. The battle is now about very simple things - preserving human nature. Whether the driver is part of ISIS or not. I don't care about that, but it will turn out he isn't either. But either way - it's the work of a brutal, transgressed human nature no-longer-human. Squashing 2 km of living bodies is truly beyond human. How did this departure from the human come about? Twenty years ago these people were just jumping off the top floor of some hotel. Now they use them as free mass murderers.
Let us look at the factors who made Georgi Gospodinov the Brand he is today:
Publishing house Janet 45, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Publisher's Business Card from Moscow Book Fair: Founded in 1990 (the year Communism supposedly fell), a landmark publishing house. A definitive leader on the Bulgarian market in the prose and poetry segment, as well as one of the leaders in translated literature. There are over 1600 books in the publisher's catalogue.
Interview with the owner Bojana Apostolova- "Russia made me wealthy!", "I was nurtured through Russian literature"
A very informative interview of Bojana Apostolova and Georgi Gospodinov with Russian media at a book fair in Moscow. An interview in which Bozhana says that her business with Russia has made her wealthy, as well as shaped her as a publisher. In the interview she mentions the huge number of Russian authors she publishes in Bulgaria, mentioning that the last Russian author she published even managed to sell a huge print run for the Bulgarian market.
Most interestingly, she defines the place of Bulgarian literature in Europe as a "Spiritual Gateway" between different civilizations. But stressing that Bulgaria is spiritually, mentally and historically connected to Russia. And that ordinary Bulgarians love Russia, distancing themselves from the political theatre. Bojana also stresses that she herself was nurtured through Russian literature, and is currently publishing many contemporary Russian authors.
Bojana Apostolova: Russia Made Me Rich!
"I started my business with Russia and I love to say that Russian made me made me rich! In the beginning I had published two collections of my poetry, and I decided to help fellow poets through the difficult times, after all they are made of different dough. In 20 years(the interview is 2010) I have not taken a penny for publishing poetry by any poet. By the way, at the end of the year a book by the Russian poet Ina Lyasnikova will be published. And my colleague, Georgi Borisov and I have published over 20 books of new Russian poetry! Bikov, Popova and others..
How do you assess the situation in Bulgarian literature?
Everything is very complicated. All publishers struggle to create their top author. And I'm glad that here at the exhibition in Moscow is our top author - Georgi Gospodinov! We have our 90's generation and everyone else is after us. That's why writers have a hard time today.
Under the Wing of the Red Patron
Bojana's publishing house is located in the second largest city in Bulgaria, Plovdiv, called Gergovgrad, named after the Honorary Consul of Russia in Bulgaria, Georgi Gergov, who is also one of the richest Bulgarians (he is also a Russian citizen). Georgi Gergov is one of the doyens and patrons of Culture in Plovdiv, but also in Bulgaria. He is the founder of the Plovdiv Reads initiative, and in 2010 the event was the biggest literary show in Bulgaria. It was also under the patronage of President Parvanov. The main part then was the Publishing House Janet 45 from Plovdiv. More about Georgi Gergov, read here...Georgi Gergov- Plovdiv- The Red Fortress of the Red Baron (theangel.today)
Transition in Generations - Bojana Apostolova's Son
Bojana Apostolova's son Manol Peykov is a member of the pro-Western coalition PP-YES Bulgaria, as well as its leader in the second largest city in Bulgaria - Plovdiv.
One of the main not unfounded accusations against the Democratic Parties in Bulgaria, the Western vanguard, is that they are the children of the Communist nomenclature that failed to get into the big post-Communist business of the Party and the conglomerate Multigroup (a major post-Communist structure that for a long time was the hat of all big Bulgarian business). In the ranks of the democratic parties in Bulgaria it is in fact difficult to find collaborators of the former Secret Police or the Communist Elite, for the simple reason that most of the activists were not born before 1989 or were children. But the objective truth is that even a little digging into their family connections will reveal not only the children(or grandchildren) of Secret Service collaborators but also of many active Diplomats and Communist Spies. So in reality in Bulgaria transition and lustration never happened. And in many cases, direct links and dependencies with Russia are found.
The owner of Overgas, the gas company that was part of Gazprom in 2023 donated 500, 000 to the election campaign of the so-called "Democratic Pro West Alliance"!
But this was not the only case that somehow remained in the mists of time, with little or no attention paid to it by voters and competent authorities. Emerging as the largest financial pyramid in US history, the NECSO crypto brokers, estimated to be worth 700 billion turned out to be Bulgarian, most likely a proxy, investigated for money laundering, terrorism, Russia and fraud also turned out to be sponsors of the Democratic Alliance. Read more about Bulgaria's digital new criminals and how Russia is infiltrating people in digital circles read here... Digital Slavs - Back Doors to the EU and NATO (theangel.today)
It is interesting to trace the development of this idea among the so-called Democrats in Bulgaria, who generally hysterically position themselves pro-western. An illustrative example is Bulgarian literature, and in particular one of the biggest publishing houses, Janet 45, behind the most launched Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov. The position of Manol Peikov, a member of parliament from YES Bulgaria and son of the publisher Bojana Apostolova is more than eloquent:
The Conception of Bulgaria Being a Bridge Between Russia and the EU
In the Bulgarian intellectual circles, since before the fall of Communism, the concept of Bulgaria to be a bridge between Russia and the EU has existed. An idea that ensures the Communist Elite to preserve itself by only demonstrating changes of facade.
- Prof. Boyan Penev- "Could we imagine the image of our intelligentsia outside the Russian influence? In fact, Russian teachers created it - they directed its first steps..."
- Prof. Ivan Shishmanov - "The Russian school discovered modern life for the first time, and introduced us into the order of civilized nations... But would our development have taken place so rapidly if we had not availed ourselves of the ready help of the Russian people, who placed at our disposal a whole richly developed literature, and this rapprochement opened up a whole new world."
- Acad. "There is Russia - there is Bulgaria, there is no Russia - there is no Bulgaria."
- Sergey Stanishev, Chairman of the PES - Stanishev: Bulgaria can be a bridge of relations between Russia and the EU
- Volen Siderov, leader of the Bulgarian Nationalist Party Ataka - Bulgaria can be a bridge between the EU and Russia!
- Iliana Iotova, Vice President of Bulgaria - Bulgaria can be a bridge between Europe and Russia.
- Georgi Gergov, Bulgarian Oligarch, Leader of the Socialist Party in Plovdiv, Honorary Consul of Russia - Bulgaria must be a bridge between Russia and the EU!
Among other things, Peikov himself is a man who appreciates the Russian Patriotic Songs, as well as their promotion in Bulgaria, despite his demonstrated orientation towards the West.
As well as apparently he likes to sing with friends about WWII and the Red Army's grand poobahs:
The publisher and reformist politician Manol Peikov from DA Bulgaria is a representative of the radicals Pro Western Bulgarian politicians and public figures.
More about Bulgarian Literature, which is perceived as a spiritual gateway to the West by publishers rich through Russia...Bulgarian literature in Europe as a "Spiritual Gateway" to Russia (theangel.today)
The State as a Mafia Structure
When we talk about Mafia and Organized Crime in Eastern Europe and Russia, we cannot draw any parallels with Western Europe. In the East, everything begins and ends with absolute power(or the state), with everything else being mere gravitating vessels around a center that can be manipulated and managed, depending on the will of the center of power, but never by the will of the individual or democratic principles. In the Eastern conception, all gravitating elements are subject to the center of power. And they may, according to circumstances, take any form they wish, even imitating a struggle among themselves.
Choral Singing is the theme for one of the most popular series of 2023 in Russia- Chorus. The very concept of children being harnessed into a collective art(as well as a collective sport) was at the heart of Totalitarian education, which nurtured a working administrative machine in which everyone knew their place and time to deliver their little or bigger part, but in the end it was all for the sake of the collective.
Asen Vassilev was a GERB minister in 2013, along with one of the most powerful people in GERB, Delyan Dobrev, they are part of the children's choir of their hometown of Haskovo. From the same choir, during the regular government of Asen Vassilev and the anti-GERB coalition PP, another minister from the same Haskovo choir appeared in power, it was the Minister of Culture Atanas Atanasov.
Krasimir Lozanov- The Marketing Director
Marketing Director at the cult and most trendy IK Janet 45
Former Head of STIV at Consulate General of Bulgaria in St. Petersburg
Studied Political economy at Moscow State University
Организаторы мероприятия - Международная ассоциация «Живая классика» и Федеральное агентство по печати и массовым коммуникациям.
During the COVID with the Russian audience. Let's be honest, the Russian audience is the only one Georgi Gospodinov meets live, even more online and even more during COVID. Yes there are organized PR presentations in various places around the world, PR media coverage, PR social media support, but this is extremely well done PR compared to Georgi Gospodinov's natural popularity if we do a little search in Yandex(the Russian Google). After all, we know who finances such multi-million projects in Bulgaria. Because the Georgi Gospodinov Project is large-scale, comprehensive, it is Bulgarian culture that has formed the basis of our future intellectual elite for the last 20 years. And this elite is full of nostalgia for the lost time, like Orhan Pamuk, like the Portuguese school mourns for the lost empires, our intellectual elite has unwittingly almost started to mourn for the USSR empire we were part of.
The ideas that come out through the Spiritual Gate Bulgaria in the Western World
Poster of a short film based on the work of Georgi Gospodinov by Bulgarian-Canadian director Georgi Ushev. The son of one of the Communist Art greats who managed to be financed by the Canadian Film Board and receive an Oscar despite calling Hollywood the Devil he would never sell his soul to had a very inspiring performance at the 2023 Moscow Film Festival. The references in the film F1.618 to Russian culture are many. And I admit to being an absolute fanatic about Russian culture! All in all, your culture was Russia's most powerful weapon! We read your literature avidly, watched your films excitedly. And suddenly... Everything fell apart. Bulgarian director Teodor Ushev's statement at the Moscow Film Festival, 2023. He goes on with the Anti War Hippie Rhetoric for Peace: "War destroys Russian culture. Every missile you fire burns a Russian book. Every bomb you explode blows up a poem, destroys a film. With every innocent child or woman you kill, you kill one of your writers, artists, filmmakers." to end Marketing Brilliant, "I don't understand! Please, we have to do something. Man and love must conquer hate and death. I believe all is not lost. At least you have one poem to save!" As he recited an example of the great and captivating Russian poetry of Anna Akhmatova.
Read more about the animator who wants to kill Micky Mouse Let's Kill Micky Mouse- Nostalgic Heirs of the Communist Party (theangel.today)
Nostalgia for the USSR
What can an Academician like the poet and scholar of Communist poetry Georgi Gospodinov, who is part of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, which until 1989 had gathered the highest scholarship in Bulgaria, dream of and be angry at? Scientists were the salt of the earth, the highest caste under rational Totalitarianism, the whole educational system resembling a Confucian meritocracy, extending its tentacles to every aspect of the lives of Communist subjects.
The ideals lost
Russian media beautifully describes Georgi Gospodinov. Placing him next to the luminaries of world literature, this superbolization is present everywhere in the Russian media. As their analysis allows us to get into the essence of the ideas of Nostalgia for Socialism;
"The apocalypse is possible in a single country," is the epigraph to one of the chapters of A Natural Novel, which best describes what contemporary Bulgarian writers see happening to their country over the past thirty years. Inflation, poverty, hungry dogs in the streets, a woman buying half a lemon in a store - the winter of 1997 in Sofia appears to the author as a thriller, a gangster movie, a soap opera and a black comedy at the same time. It is a constant disturbing background, the total melancholy of the environment, shading the personal drama of the hero - the wife's infidelity, divorce, mid-life crisis. Some details of his biography are contained in a note from the owner of an unnamed manuscript, left in the editorial office of a metropolitan literary magazine. It turns out that the story was written by a certain vagabond, who, after a meeting with the editor, disappears without a trace. All he manages to say about himself is his name: his name is Georgi Gospodinov, the same as the editor of the magazine and the author of the novel. After this, the mirror shatters with a crack into 47 pieces - chapters. Memories, fragments of thoughts, fragments of stories, quotations from literary and philosophical texts, encyclopedias and reference books, countless allusions add up to a bizarre mosaic, which is the consciousness of an intellectual in deep crisis.
In the Russian Internet space, one can find thousands of resources glorifying the most significant Bulgarian and European writer.
It is no coincidence that Georgi Gospodinov was named by the English Times - the Bulgarian George Orwell. An anti-systemic title that reflects Bulgarian art:
Letters and Genetics that connect Bulgaria to white Russia
"It is time to stop looking at our differences and pay attention to what unites us, because cooperation between Slavic countries can affect beneficial economically, socially and culturally." These are the words of perhaps the most successful contemporary Bulgarian writer, from an interview she gave after winning the most prestigious Slavic prize in the USA. Her words are also featured on the pages of Bulgaria's most prestigious publishing house, CIELA.
Lyudmila Filipova received the prestigious international literary award "Ugra", and the Russian Ministry of Culture noted that this was "one of the significant events". The Bulgarian writer is the only one to have been awarded for fiction for her novels "Glass Fates" and "Red Gold", published in Russian, in the most prestigious category of the Slavic Book Competition. The prize was established in 2007 by the government of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug of Ugra in Siberia with the idea of supporting outstanding writers, poets and translators from Slavic countries, which would help restore ties between these nations.
The writer, who was greeted by many fans at the award ceremony and whose copies sold out in Russia, speaks of Siberia with admiration: "In this region, which produces over 50% of Russia's oil, literature, art and Orthodoxy are supported by all means, and the result is zero crime. And the feeling is that they are decades ahead of us spiritually and culturally." Людмила Филипова се върна от Русия с литературна награда (24chasa.bg)
In Bulgaria, all her performances verge on Hollywood glitz and glamour.
Lyudmila Filipova is one of the most impressive names in contemporary Bulgarian literature, with the premieres of her books attended by the biggest names of the Bulgarian and international elite. Her literature, mixing fiction narrative the creation of historical myths. It is interesting how a thread is drawn between the history of Thracians and Slavs to create a unified myth of origin, denying the Turks roots of the proto-Bulgarians. Her grandfather Grisha Filipov graduated in 1951 from the Economics Department in Moscow. After that she worked in the Committee for Science, Art and Culture. He taught political economy at the Higher Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Institute in Sofia. From 1958 he worked in the staff of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and from 1964 - of the Council of Ministers. At that time he headed a working group that developed the New System of Planning and Management of the National Economy. In 1968, he became first deputy chairman of the State Planning Committee with the rank of minister. Since 1971 he has been a member of the State Council. He served as Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Belarus (1981-1986), after which he was again a member of the State Council until the end of 1989.
She also skillfully promotes in Bulgaria a new "White" reading of the Legend of Orpheus as the founder of Christianity. Making a complete escape from the Christian-Jewish roots of religion. According to the mythology of the modern followers of the Bogomils(whose heirs claim the most popular not formal religion in Bulgaria- the White Brotherhood), the Bulgarians have lived here in the Balkans together with the Thracians since the beginning of the Fifth Race. De facto, they are not a Mongoloid tribe of Turkic origin. They are one of the main Seven Tribes, direct descendants of Shem, the son of Noah, who "docked" with his ark on the shores of the Black Sea. And the Thracians cover an even wider territory, which encompasses not only the Balkans, but also today's northern Africa and Asia Minor, they are a total of 64 tribes, de facto according to the new Urban Myths they are a white Slavic Race.... pre-Christian Bulgaria is the karmic punishment of Byzantium for its (and Rome's) "many sins".This Urban Myth enjoys no little popularity in Russia, where the writer enjoys exceptional prestige.
But the writer's most significant work is about Cyrillic Alphabet. The most notorious, budgeted project is National Television's prime-time series based on Lyudmila Filippov's popular book, The War of the Letters, that tells about the Bogomils, through the myth of the Slavonic script - the Cyrillic alphabet which was not created in Byzantium, and Christian fait that Bulgarian Bogomils received from Russia(Kiev Orthodox Rus). In the Filippov's story, all of Bulgaria's neighbors are vulgarized and enemies, with the only true faith and culture coming from Russia. Which is a romantic history of an anti-systemic sect of Bogomils that drenched Europe in blood during the Middle Ages. Anti System Cults- The New Old Terrorism (theangel.today)
All the theories are backed up in msny "more serious sources" such as research by branded as "Professors" claiming to have taught in the USA- Professor Pophristov. But claiming educational titles from the US is a new fashionable practice in Bulgaria that gives pseudo prestige and creates associations of credibility. As usual, almost no one flaunts their Communist roots, let alone their ties to Russia.
For the Russian Slavic Awards that give birth to famous names in Bulgaria!
Russian criticism gave birth and approval not only to writers, but also to Bulgarian poets.
In the photo above Elena Alekova receives the Slavic Literature Award in Russia. In the next photo, in 2021, she receives the biggest prize for poetry in Bulgaria, which is awarded in Pazardzhik.
24 May- The Day of Slavonic Literature in Bulgaria and Russia
These are the celebrations in Moscow for the Day of Slavonic Literature May 24, 2013. It is a grand and majestic celebration, underlining the enormous importance of this Language Day for Russia and Russian Propaganda. This is the main ideological line that makes up Pan Slavism- the Cyrillic alphabet, which has been historically mythologized, to such a level that the scholars behind it have been canonized as Saints by the Orthodox Church. As anti-system cults use them as a foundation.
And this is an interview of the Professor of Bulgarian Language at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the writer Georgi Gospodinov from the 24th of May, 2013, after the massive celebrations in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Georgi Gospodinov: If financiers read books...
In Sofia, Georgi Gospodinov declares himself as a Pacifist, bringing to the fore the peace-loving character of the Language. "Today we celebrate the everyday miracle of language. Happy language, happy alphabet, happy miracle." The event was celebrated on May 24 - the Day of Bulgarian Education and Culture and the Day of Slavonic Literature.
According to Gospodinov, the Slavic Language celebration is not of arms, of some glorious victory or defeat, there are no battle scenes, betrayals and rivers of blood, which human history is full of." The Language Expert and Professor was critical of financiers and capitalists and their lack of culture. "And if financiers read books, our crises would really be different"
About Georgi Gospodinov, a little more
Vladimir Trendafilov, who is a Bulgarian literary critic, poet, translator and author of materials in academic collections and periodicals, writes an open letter in the newspaper Kultura about Georgi Gospodinov's growth through full state funding and political patronage:
‛Georgi Gospodinov's participation in the National Culture Fund, the Open Society Foundation, etc., has for years led to his systematic self-presentation and self-distribution around the world."
I ask the unprejudiced reader in your and any other person: where here do I say that the Ministry of Culture paid for the publication abroad of each of his books? I repeat again the construction: ‛The participation of ... and others led ... to". I also hint that I am not using the word ‛participation' in its first meaning from the Concise Dictionaries of the Bulgarian Language. Without excluding the possibility that there may have been here and there in some of the relevant foreign publications direct financial injections from a foundation on our territory or our ministerial department, I do not explicitly state this here because I cannot know. What I am referring to is - note - a more comprehensive presence and/or influence. Participation in their common field. Not a permanent membership specifically here or specifically there.
Perhaps the key to the misunderstanding is the two words ‛self-presentation' and ‛self-distribution'? Probably. In any case, G. G. seems to have understood me very literally, because he objects to me that he did not know enough languages and did not have enough money for this purpose. I believe him. Only I meant something else.
Since I have known him, G. G. is engaged in alchemy. He transmutes one kind of capital into another. In 1993, he and a few of his friends embarked on a meteoric career that was based not on the quality of their writing, but on the party establishment pushing them onward and upward. SDS. The same year G. G. was sent by Edvin Sugarev, with Yordan Vassilev as his companion, to win in Haskovo the ‛Yuzhna prolet' prize for a debut poetry collection. Here is an elementary example of how political capital can be transformed into literary-aesthetic capital.
Later it was the same again. True, he wrote books. But always the political connection gave him a preliminary podium to deal with the competition. On top of this connection was layered a web of purely administrative moves. Automated access to prizes in competitions. Multiple jury trials. Important memberships: in the leadership of the Association of Bulgarian Writers (1996-98), in the Board of the National Fund ‛Culture' (2000-2002), in the Board of Trustees of the Institute ‛Open Society' (2007). Separately, membership in the NGO "Citizen", close ties with the Foundation "Next Page", a clone of the former Soros Center, with the New Bulgarian University. ‛Literary Journal'. A decisive role in the acceptance of manuscripts in the private but important for our young literature publishing house ‛Zanet-45'.
All this - I stress - is not bad in itself. It is even good. But how is it that the administrator at G. G. is always pouring substance on the writer, and the politician on both? Just take his function in ‛Janet-45'. Could you imagine that any writer would dare to criticize him, him or his book? (Apart from me, only Krassimir Simeonov has done so in LiterNet, no. 1 of this year, but he may have had a fit on the occasion.) Not safe. That's why we see mostly pandering and imitation. Self-clones according to a pre-set pattern. Each clone is like the model, but in a watered down version. This is not natural selection in the literary field, but regulation imposed by a selector.
And the political connection is there. On this point G. G. indignantly accuses me of lying. Strange, because he was a member of the Civic Initiative Committee for the nomination of Nedelcho Beronov (Ivan Kostov's man) for the presidency. Together, by the way, with Emilia Dvorianova and Theodora Dimova, two other similar incarnations of administrative-writing success.
In principle, G. G. does not advertise these connections and commitments. But at key moments he is brought out as heavy cultural artillery and then he gives lengthy interviews even in ‛prescient' newspapers like ‛Trud'. Reference: on the eve of the 2001 elections, Kostov (again) was referred to there as the good guy. So he was also spoken in ‛24 hours'. Not to mention ‛Dnevnik', which did not hide its party leanings. And I would like here to ask G. Is this the behaviour of a free citizen or of a man with electoral obligations? Also, were these moves important to his career as a writer? My humble opinion is that they were crucial.
And what happens as a result? For one thing, an accumulation of administrative and partisan biography. On the other, gaining advantages. Subsidies at one time to the Authors' Literary Theatre in four-figure dollar figures. Subsidizing the ‛Literary Journal' on a regular basis, to this day, by several corridors, and far more solidly than the capital apparently invested in the paper. (By the way, what's up with that paper's website - if we're to believe it, it appears that the last issue was from 2005?) International writing initiatives: the ‛Beautiful Foreign Women', France, 2001, the Fourth International Poetry Meeting in Coimbra, Portugal, also in 2001, and a number of others. In the same year, he also participated in the Poetry and Poetry Festival, in 2001, and also in the Poetry and Poetry Festival in 2001. G. parades as a representative of Bulgaria.
This is the meaning of ‛self-translation' and ‛self-distribution'. When you make the environment so that no matter how many times you spin the totosphere of literature, the ball with your name on it falls out every time, what else can I call the situation? Meanwhile, the integration of our part of the world into the rest is underway. Eyes are open to us, announcements are flowing, there is heightened interest. And as a result, whatever assembly of our institutions meets the announcement or the initiation, the broadcast composition is always ‛G. G. and a few others‖.
I see very clearly my opponent's eagerness to convince himself and others that I am some pathetic sponger of envy, that I gnash my teeth on the seashore every time G. G. passes triumphantly before my eyes, dim with malice. Sorry, this attempt at psychoanalysis is really an attempt to escape the subject. And it is megalomaniacal. For in the international interest in G. G., at least for now, there is almost nothing personal. These are all announcements to our country, not a choice from the outside that constantly and independently falls precisely on him. Each time he has been translated not as himself but as a Bulgarian. Laws of introductory reception. And that he is usually broadcast from here as a Bulgarian is not a literary fact, but rather a political one.
Finally, something really personal. You probably won't believe me - you don't know me that well - but this man I don't hate. It's just that we're talking about actual literature here, whose virtual padding I disagree with.
Vladimir Trendafilov
