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ANTON STRASHIMIROV: BOOK OF THE BULGARIANS Title: Книга за българите (Book of the Bulgarians) Originally published: Sofia, Печатница на Военния журнал, 1918 Language: Bulgarian The excerpts used are from the edition Книга за българите (Sofia: Сибия, 1995), pp. 161–167. About the author Anton Strashimirov [1872, Varna – 1937, Sofia]: writer, essayist and political activist. After the premature death of his father during Strashimirov’s youth, he led the life of a vagabond. Later, however, he began working as a teacher in eastern Bulgaria . In 1895 he left for Switzerland, where he was influenced by the work of writers such as Ibsen, Strindberg and Maeterlinck. In the late 1890s he became a follower of Jane Sandanski, one of the most important paramilitary leaders of the Macedonian movement. Later he joined the liberal Young Democratic Party of Naycho Tzanov. He was three times elected deputy (1902, 1911 and 1929). In 1901, he became the editor of Наш Живот (Our life); then, in 1902, he became the co-editor of Демократически преглед (Democratic review). During the First World War, he adopted a pro-German and nationalistic position only to become a radical critic of his previous allies immediately after the end of the war. After the outbreak of political terrorism following the 1923 peasant revolt instigated by the communist party, he was one of the leading and most fervent critics of Alexander Tzankov’s right-wing authoritarian regime. In this period he actively contributed to the radical left-wing magazine Пламък (The flame), edited by the leading avant-garde poet Geo Milev, who was assassinated by the secret police in 1925. Strashimirov’s most famous literary work, the novel Хоро (The dance), one of the chef-d’oeuvres of Bulgarian expressionism and avant-garde literature, deals primarily with the violent period in question. A figure with multiple identities and often controversial ideas, he was the author of some ultra-nationalistic and pro-German papers and essays, while producing some of the most radically leftist texts (in both political and artistic terms) in Bulgarian literature during the first half of the twentieth century. Main works: Вампир [Vampire] (1902); Книга за българите [Book of the Bulgarians ] (1918); Змей [The dragon] (1919); Нашият народ [Our people] (1923); Хоро [The dance] (1926). 268 “NATIONAL PROJECTS” AND THEIR REGIONAL FRAMEWORK Context The ‘Macedonian question’ became the quintessential element of Bulgarian nationalism after 1878. The political emancipation of Macedonia, which remained in the Ottoman Empire according to the decisions of the Berlin Congress, and its incorporation into the autonomous Bulgarian principality were the ultimate aims of Bulgarian foreign policy. In the next century, Macedonia became the main point of contention among Bulgarian, Serbian and Greek nationalisms. In 1912 Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece signed an alliance and declared war on the Ottoman Empire (the First Balkan War). As a result of the defeat of the Ottoman troops, Bulgaria gained a large part of Macedonia and most of Thrace. This ephemeral victory was perceived as an accomplishment of the Bulgarian national project and provoked enormous patriotic enthusiasm. However, the First Balkan War was immediately followed by the Second Balkan War, in which an alliance against Bulgaria was formed between Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Romania and the Ottoman Empire. This time Bulgaria was defeated. Southern Macedonia was captured by Greece, north-western Macedonia by Serbia, and southern Dobrudja by Romania. The Bulgarian position in the First World War was to a large extent determined by this painful defeat. Both the Entente and the Central powers promised territorial gains to Bulgaria. The Central Powers offered the Serbian part of Macedonia, and, eventually, in 1915, Bulgaria entered the war on their side. The same year, Bulgarian troops occupied Macedonia. The occupation did not last long, though. In September 1918 the Entente troops started an offensive. On 29 September, Bulgaria signed an armistice. On 3 October, King Ferdinand abdicated. On 27 November 1919, the Treaty of Neuilly was signed, according to which Bulgaria had to cede all occupied territories in Macedonia and Western Thrace to Greece, and several border regions to Serbia. Many refugees from Macedonia and Western Thrace flooded into Bulgaria. The ‘Book of the Bulgarians,’ published in the period of Strashimirov’s nationalistic sentiments, constitutes an elaborate essay in national characterology , which, in a period of the war, has obvious political implications. The genre of national characterology (народопсихология) had an important impact on the debate on the national identity in Bulgaria since the late nineteenth century. Many influential intellectuals from the first half of the twentieth century, including Boyan Penev, Konstantin Petkanov, Konstantin Galabov and Ivan Hadzhijski, participated in the debate. In the typical case, the national characterology creates...

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