Laura Karavelova

The review presents the latest documentary study of the case of Laura - Yavorov by Dr Yordan Nanchev, a literary historian and a lawyer. The work is highly appreciated as a good tracking of the facts and an adequate reading of their documentary impact in the archives, especially those of the publisher Alexander Paskalev and Prof. Asen Zlatarov, with whom the author has been working for years.

The paper discusses the first marriage and divorce of Laura Karavelova and her complicated relationship with Peter Neykov, Ivan Drenkov, and her mother Ekaterina. Laura was one of the most cultured, enigmatic, and emancipated Bulgarian women at the beginning of the 20th century but she was also a tragic figure. Her tragic destiny was influenced by literature and the whole artistic world of the time – theatre, music, and visual arts. The study presents Laura Karavelova as a personalistic feminist, whose struggle for personal freedom confronted her with traditionalist Ekaterina Karavelova.