Катя Зографова

The paper provides an interesting recourse to different places and times during Assen Christophorov's life. There is a bitter irony in the voluntarily chosen solitary life in the village of Govedartsy full of the suspicions of the local peasants and the philosophic perception of the life in Belene concentration camp. The complexity of the description of the village is a real reflection of the contradictory and difficult years of 1950s, far away from the religious and political alienation, even full of dislike for the pseudo religious monk's behavior. The author enters the layers of Christophorov's family and personal memories from the heights of his age linking the roots of family history and his own destiny with his childhood perceptions of Old Plovdiv. These are not simply childhood memories but a return of an adult to the social reality of totalitarian times. The paper discovers unexpected relations with the cultural perceptions of Rila mountain and Plovdiv with Vazov, Alvadjiev and Daltchev. In the deep structure of the text we can discover the rich culture and analytical capabilities of Assen Christophorov.

The present text tells a very interesting story - one of the writers, who draw, and the artists who write. Thanks to the the spiritual generosity of the wife of the "writer- artist" - Mrs. Ophelia Denkova-Petrova, who kindly invited me to his home, I had the unique opportunity to touch the authentic and multidirectional world of Ivaylo Petrov - a kind of "a prisoner of two muses." Painting for him was like breathing - so organic and consumeing in his spiritual life, that sometimes he had used the reverse side of his paintings or fiction manuscripts. Among the most famous portraits are those of Emilian Stanev, Boris Dimovski, Valery Petrov, Radoy Ralin, Ivan Radoev and many others; also his numerous self-portraits and favorite places drawings. For me as a literary historian he is yet to be rediscovered not only in the classic Bulgarian prose but also in his talent as an original artist - especially in his charming bigamy with the Muses.