Die Darstellung Bulgariens in dem Roman Apostoloff Sibylle Lewitscharoffs
The Portrayal of Bulgaria in the Novel Apostoloff by Sibylle Lewitscharoff

Summary/Abstract: The study concentrates on the description of Bulgaria and on the depiction of the Bulgarian national character in Sibylle LEWITSCHAROFF`s last novel Apostoloff (2009). Bulgaria is presented there as a land of many negative sides, e.g. corruption, deficiencies in the legal system, dirtiness, poverty, horrible housing conditions, lack of cultural milieu and almost no evidence of civic society. The same applies to the way in which the novel presents the character of the Bulgarians. It shows them as the people who are strongly influenced by the subconscious processes and who tend to very emotional conduct, which reveals their lack of reason and potential of future development. The most telling example is the figure of the narrator and main character’s father, who comes from Bulgaria. There are obvious analogies between the father, the country and its inhabitants. But on the other hand the novel has its own poetic dimension which does not allow to take it all for something fully corresponding to the reality. LEWITSCHAROFF is one of the contemporary German writing novelists gifted to create her novels in a very artistic way and, moreover, she uses the word wit and a lot of wordplays. It makes the novel very multidimensional. The reader has to concentrate not only on what the novel says about Bulgaria and its people but also how it is said and how the perceived segments of the Bulgarian reality are combined with the memories and the mental processes of the narrator.

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