Зони на неопределеност: повествователни начала и имплицитни читатели
Zones of Indeterminacy: Narrative Beginnings and Implied Readers

Summary/Abstract: This article explores narrative beginnings as zones of indeterminacy, instability, and ontological openness, contrasting them with narrative endings that traditionally define meaning retrospectively. It argues for the significance of studying narrative starts, emphasizing their dynamic, potentiality, and the active role of the reader in stabilizing narrative. Modifying Wolfgang Iser’s concept of the implied reader, the article highlights how narrative beginnings “program” readers to engage interpretively. It examines several contemporary Bulgarian novels by Milen Ruskov, Elena Aleksieva, and Georgi Gospodinov, showcasing differing strategies of narrative stabilization, ranging from rapid establishment of narrative frames to prolonged or recursive beginnings that resist closure. The article also discusses the relation between text and the contextualized implied reader, stressing how diverse narrative approaches reflect certain cultural expectations in Bulgarian literature today.

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