TWO PATHS TO BUILDING THE MODERN BULGARIAN NATIONAL MYTHOLOGY: “HADZHI DIMITAR” BY HRISTO BOTEV AND “THE NEW GRAVEYARD ABOVE SLIVNITSA” BY IVAN VAZOV

Abstract

The paper contains a contrastive analysis of two poems: Hristo Botev’s “Hadzhi Dimitar” (1873) and Ivan Vazov’s “The New Graveyard Above Slivnitsa” (1886). Throughout the 20th century both texts were regarded as highly representative of Bulgarian literature with strong influence on the modern national mythology. Their common theme (the death and glorification of national heroes), however, has not provoked intertextual analyses to date. The research leads to the conclusion that while Botev builds his symbolic system on the basis of Bulgarian folklore, Vazov relies on military metaphors and Christian notions, such as the righteous death, the Second Coming and eternity. This pattern, consistent with other works by the two authors, allows to comment on a literary confrontation that shares some similarities with Western European disputes between defenders of classicism and romanticism. In the case of Bulgarian literary history, Botev can be interpreted as the initiator of a long-lasting tradition of romantic glorification through transformation and integration of the folkloristic heritage (mainly the folk song), while Vazov’s classicist concepts had far fewer adherents. In the light of the conducted contrastive analysis the popular thesis, defended by Milena Tsaneva, about Botev and Vazov’s collaboration and continuity in creating the national poetic pantheon demands verification through the questions of confronting ideological and symbolic strategies towards revealing the uniqueness of modern Bulgarian identity.