ЗА ЕДНА МАКЕДОНСКА ШУРОБАДЖАНАЩИНА
ON ONE MACEDONIAN CRONYISM

Summary/Abstract: Doubtless the citizen of Ohrid Kuzman Shapkarev had a substantial merit to keeping from oblivion the memory of the Miladinov brothers from Struga and to forming an adequate appraisal of their capital work BULGARIAN FOLKLORE SONGS. Due to ill fate he was a member of the family only from September 1863 till March 1870 being the husband of Elisaveta – Dimitar’s eldest daughter. Though, as he wrote in the preface to the first edition of his “Materials about the life description of the Hr. Miladinov brothers”: “…. I am flattered by the confidence that, I will be able to provide our grateful people with evidence about their lives, deeds and martyr’s deaths, which although being not the most true and precise, will be at least incomparably much more true, precise and complete than all those which might have been produced by anybody in any amount till now.” The research presents how Kuzman Shapkarev succeeded in overcoming the cronyism in this work of his and how he through the vicissitudes 58 in the lives of his in-laws and collaborators managed to give an insight of the national liberation movement in Macedonia during the second half of the 19th century. Though closely related to the Miladinov brothers, he did not save his criticism regarding the shortcomings of the presentation of the songs they had collected. Moreover, his disapproval of the publication aimed at evoking true philological preparation of a new critical edition, which took 80 years to appear.

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