"Kradetsat na Praskovi” (The Peach Thief), "The Legend of Sibin, Prince of Preslav,” "Antichrist", and others… The characters and the stories of these books by Emilyan Stanev have been enchanting readers for decades. "The truth? Keep it for yourself and I go for illusion,” he once said, raising the curtain over the creative process.

"In the worst conditions and without any literary and educational factors, people in the small town I lived were mocking my writing attempts. Though it may seem unacceptable, these conditions had a positive effect on me. They were a test for my gift, as a talent manifests itself when there is resistance. I have a different view on the favourable and educational factors and conditions in which the writers of today are placed. My first literary attempts date back to early adolescence. When in 1932 I came to Sofia, I brought two stories that were immediately printed. I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but I became a writer without foreign help, except for the books of Bulgarian, Russian, French and other writers.”

This is a part of an interview kept in the Golden fund of the BNR with Emilian Stanev, one of the most modern Bulgarian writers in the second half of the twentieth century, recognized in Europe and across the globe. Stanev wrote his historical novels not as a keeper of Bulgarian history but as a philosopher searching for answers about the reasons behind these events.

“Bulgaria is a country of the winds from the north and west. They blow away the distinctive features and no social class in Bulgaria has ever managed to complete its historical path,” he said. "How simple is the idea of ​​God! Obviously, it has emerged out of the need of man to imagine the world as simplified by the power and will of a higher power. The same need created the state," he once said about God.

Born in Veliko Tarnovo in 1907, he spent his childhood in the ancient city and later moved to the town of Elena. When he was a child his father used to take him hunting and made him acquainted with wild nature, which would later be reflected in his works. After high school he spent time studying painting with Professor Tseno Todorov. In the 30s he started studying Finance and Trade at the Sofia University and began publishing his first works. Despite the fact in 1971 he was awarded the "Ivan Vazov Prize" for his novel „Antichrist," and in 1975 he grabbed the Yordan Yovkov Award, Stanev did not fit completely the stereotype of "the official intellectual" during totalitarian times. Here is what the writer said about the artist’s mission:

"The mission of the writer to me has always been the same - to awaken the divine, not the animal part in man, to give him meaning, faith, fill his soul with love and beauty, to stimulate humanity, faith in the future and demonstrate the sweetness of life. Good books create joy and give us a sense of happiness, because art gives you a different kind of information about the world, acquired through the eye of the artist Goethe was talking about. This is how I see the mission of the writer these days, when we are building the socialist society. Without faith, humanity, beauty, and light, human development and the future are unthinkable."

Emilian Stanev’s love towards Bulgaria, hatred towards the lack of talent and his freedom to speak openly his thoughts did not earn him great sympathies of the authorities. Although repeatedly invited to hunt together with communist leader Todor Zhivkov their relations remained cold.  These relations finally ended when Stanev once told Zhivkov: “Why don’t you just return the land back to the people, like it was in the past. Then everything will be fine.”

In an interview writer Yordan Radichkov once said that Emilian Stanev used to tell people: "When one gathers memories, they gather life. It is better to accumulate memories, rather than money.”

In this edition of "80 Years in 80 Weeks" we told you more about Bulgarian writer Emilian Stanev, who passed away in 1979.

English: Alexander Markov