DREAMING CONSTANTINOPLE: AN ALTERNATIVE VERSION OF PETKO TODOROV AND NIKOLAY RAYNOV
DREAMING CONSTANTINOPLE: AN ALTERNATIVE VERSION OF PETKO TODOROV AND NIKOLAY RAYNOV
Author(s): Nikolay AretovSubject(s): History, Language and Literature Studies, Cultural history, Studies of Literature, Bulgarian Literature
Published by: Институт за балканистика с Център по тракология - Българска академия на науките
Keywords: Constantinople; Petko Todorov; Nikolay Raynov; Alternative Version.
Summary/Abstract: Constantinople has a key place in Bulgarian national mythology. In many texts (folklore, chronicles, literature), it is presented as a great city that had to be seized or that was conquered by alien infidels. Petko Todorov and Nikolay Raynov, two important writers from the early 20th century, introduced an alternative version of the attitude towards the capital of the Byzantine Empire. In it, the Bulgarian ruler King Simeon refuses to subdue the city because they do not want history to recollect them as barbarians and destroyers. Such an attitude could not be interpreted as dominant or representative for its time. Nevertheless, it suggests the existence of some overtones in the overall image of the city and directs towards an ambivalent interpretation of Constantinople in the imagination of the Bulgarians.
Journal: Études balkaniques
- Issue Year: 2020
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 227-239
- Page Count: 13
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF