Андрей Ташев

The aim of the article is to determine the contribution of Professor Ivan Sarailiev to Bulgarian humanities. Unknown biographical data are revealed at the beginning of the text. It can be concluded that Ivan Sarailiev is an early Bulgarian pragmatist. Thus, the beginning of Bulgarian semiotic thought can be moved far back in time, around the turn of the 20th century, before names like those of Yuri Lotman and Roland Barthes. In the second part, this hypothesis is challenged and examined in order to be proved true.

The article discusses the issue of the first publication of Matvey Valev (1902–1944) – a question, which has been the topic of long tacit controversy between the researchers. All the available data on the topic was analysed, including the pen-names used by the writer, in order to answer the question where and when exactly the first literary work of Matvey Valev was published.

This article examines an early stage of collaboration between image and text – in the creative process in literature and humanities. Based on the work of several writers and one philosopher, four types of relation are distinguished, which show the different role of the image toward the text in the writing process: from a preparation tool, through an aid, to an essential function in the creation of the text.