Рада

The present paper examines the dialogue between three Bulgarian literary texts from the National Revival period and the Russian 19th century literature. On this basis the paper tries to find new possibilities for bringing up-to-date the traditional understanding of the aims of literary reception as a research of a dialogue only with an identified "foreign" text. The part dedicated to the first Bulgarian poem "Stoyan i Rada" by N. Gerov shows through the functionality of the sentimental cliche how Gerov elaborates the conception of hero in the paradigm of European "sensitive hero". The semantic analysis of the "temptation" motif in P. Slaveykov's poem "Izvorat na belonogata" traces a comparative parallel with the emblematic Russian literary project of female "choice" and "responsibility". In the last part the comparative analysis proves that even though it is not a translation, Lyuben Karavelov's short novel "Maminoto detence" has its prime source in the Russian novel "Mammen'kin synok" by I. Panaev.

The analysis of the first Bulgarian narrative poem "Stoyan and Rada" (1845) proceeds from the assumption that the poem represents two types of subjectivity, two types of love behaviour: courteously ritual and traditionally patriarchal. The former model followed by the subject speaking in the first part (the so-called "dedication") includes an active I-position, flexibility of communication, and eroticized gestures. The poem's second part which contains a text within the text (a gift from the character to his beloved) represents another type of behaviour through the characters of Stoyan and Rada. That type is sensitive to the social sanctions and the transcendental authority, and is orientated towards the past and the folklore patriarchal culture. Examining the complicated dialogue between those two antithetical models, the paper is trying to find out why the seducer lover from the first part of the poem is telling his beloved exactly the story of Stoyan and Rada and what relation does it bear to the courtship situation. The speaking subject is seemingly clear about the uniting closeness provoking power of a sad sentimental story that activates identificational and compassionate impulses. His gallant talking embodies the utopian notion of word's inviolability and omnipotence, and its ability to shape all kinds of views, situations, and feelings, including love.