alienation

The analysis attempts to recreate the ideological parallel – on the basis of the genetic cohesiveness between two texts (novel “Nad tvoya dom spokojstvie” [Calmness over your home)] – 1962; 1967) and the essayist tract "Nishkite, koito se prekzsvat” [The Strands That Interrupt] – 1967. The ideology here is thought not as narrowly political as a limited doctrinaire, but by the model of Karl Mannheim – as a way of giving the world a total view, to build apart, contrasting, vivid images of reality. In this sense, ideology is valued for its creative potential: through its overwhelming prospect, the great narrative of alienation has been built, a socio-cultural phenomenon is seen in its historical continuity, the fraudulent similarity of its manifestations, its misleading unity. By means of ideological prejudices, the image of the West – the true event, the scene of evil, the place that has refused the same dialogue – was outlined and subsequently refilled. The West of Tsvetan Stoyanov is long-lived to be ideologically rejected. It is a place of premonition differences, but also of spontaneous, suddenly noticed similarities. Within its limits and vision of comfort, settling and affection to home is also seen, where the figure of the philistine, is the basis of the ideological writing of Svoyanov. The Philistine is a figure that collects epochs, infinite in its incarnations; it is the bearer of the author's incoherent idea of organic, warmth and fullness of being. This anathematic vision consistently undermines the grounds for an ideological description of the world. In the thinking of the remarkable Bulgarian erudite, the two obligatory poles are emerging – the food-saturated West and the ascetically-scattered, “shaggy communism” of the Red Guards in China. The unexpected, but clearly visible, image of the slightly outspoken socialist society, whose utopian horizon has not yet been revoked, emerges unexpectedly among them.

The focus in this study is laid upon the problems of the individual in the catastrophic 20th century which are actually the recurrent issues in Swift’s novels. As the author says, his major theme is to depict “a small man at big history”. Next to the experiences mainly during WW ІІ the author is further interested in family relations and conflicts, usually characterized by acts of subordination or passive submission. Usually Swift’s typical protagonists are vulnerable human beings in a state of crisis who are pressed by the urgent need to relate their own stories. Therefore, the author usually employs a first-person narration. Next to the social and ethical dimensions in Swift’s fiction his impressive artistic achievements are further studied. The author usually employs first-person narrations as the protagonists are pressed by the urge to tell their personal drama.

In the chapter “Contemporary Myth-Making and Myth-Unmaking” from the book “Between Deadlock and Humanism. On Some Phenomena of Modern Western Literature”, published postmortem in 1967, Minko Nikolov delineates two divergent trends in Bulgarian critical thought during the 1960s in the Eastern Bloc. These tendencies constitute a good prism through which to interpret the critical debate on Zhechev’s “The Myth of Odysseus”. The trend of myth-making relates completely to Toncho Zhechev who constructs a modern myth of “return to homeland”, encompassing ancestors, family, village, tradition, or more broadly, a mythological, cyclical conception of time. The reverse trend of myth-unmaking in this context is attributed to Iskra Panova, Minko Nikolov, and the intellectualist vein in general. This article focuses on the debate between “intellectualism” (modern critical thinking) and “impressionism” (essayistic creative thinking) as preceding the structuralists/impressionists polemic in the 1970s. The basis of the intellectualists-impressionists conflict is an authentically Bulgarian-European axis that continues haunting our public discourse.