Slavic and East European Library |
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Reference Sources on Bulgarian Literature
Bibliographies |
Guides | Literary Encyclopedias
| Bio- and Biobibliographies | Periodical
Indexes | Subject Bibliographies | Chronology
| Online Resources
Introduction "Of all the literatures written in Slavic languages,
Bulgarian is the oldest. Its inception dates back to the ninth century
and its uninterrupted traditions begin at the dawn of Slavic literacy,"
as Mateja Matejic points out. With Christianization of Bulgaria the important
question has risen concerning development of the script for translation
of the Biblical texts. Missionary work of Cyril and Methodius resulted
in creation of Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabet. It became a great impulse
for dissemination of literacy among Slavs and moreover for creation of
Bulgarian literature. The Cyrilo-Methodian section of this course specifically
deals with the questions of contribution by Moravian brothers. (Please,
see Bibliographies
of Cyril-Methodian Studies in the section Resources
for Church Slavic and Old Church Slavic.) Conducting research in the area of literature does not imply limiting oneself just with literature resources. Broader sources could be a great help, although finding information there may be trickier. That is why it can be recommended to address first specifically literature sources: bibliographies, guides, encyclopedias, and then continue with general works. Finding aid in the form of indexes and tables of content can serve a great help here. Please for general resources consult our sections on Bulgarian Monographic Bibliography and Bulgarian Periodical Resources. One may also want to address Bulgarian National Bibliography section of this course which includes for example such important publications as Bulgarski knigopis continuing from 1806 to present days and covering monographs, periodicals and graphic materials. Another part of the course describes Bulgarian general Bibliographies of Bibliographies. Unfortunately there is no in existence bibliographies of bibliographies aimed specifically to the area of belles-lettres studies; information of Bulgarian literature bibliographies is scattered being included as a part in various sources, such as for example Istoriia Bolgarii do deviatogo sentiabria tysiacha deviat'sot sorok chetvertogo goda. Ukazatel' literatury 1945-1958 (see below). While working with particular authors scholar may want to consult Bulgarian biographical sources. The description of general biographic source South-East-European Biographical Archive = Sudosteuropaisches Biographisches Archiv.( 1997-) may be found on the page called Biographical Sources for Bulgaria. Sources devoted specifically to prominent literary figures are covered in this section. Most of the resources reviewed below are in Bulgarian language unless otherwise specified. Bibliographies | Guides
| Literary Encyclopedias | Bio-
and Biobibliographies | Periodical Indexes |
Subject Bibliographies | Chronology
| Online Resources
Suvremenni bulgarski pisateli. This bibliography provides an extensive coverage of
monographs and articles from journals and major newspapers published by
and devoted to modern Bulgarian writers; it features approximately 250
names. Only authors born after 1900 are selected for inclusion. Work contains
references to various editions of the literary works in the period between
1961 and 1971 as well as critical articles and reviews. Authors' names
arranged alphabetically, followed by date a birth, list of editions of
published works including collections and selected works and concluded
by reviews and literary criticism on the writer and his/her included oeuvres.
Information was collected from such respectable bibliographic sources
as Bulgarski knigopis (1961-1971),
Letopis na periodichniia pechat' (1952-1971),
Novi knigi (1957-1971)
etc.
Istoriia Bolgarii do deviatogo sentiabria tysiacha
deviat'sot sorok chetvertogo goda. Ukazatel' literatury 1945-1958.
Moscow: Fundamental'naia biblioteka obshchestvennykh nauk (Akademiia nauk
SSSR), 1962. 2 vol. Second volume of collective publication (in Russian)
by Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Soviet Academy of Sciences is devoted
to retrospective history of Bulgarian literature, fine art and science
till 1944. Works collected here were published during the period from
1945 to 1958. Vast resources of this bibliography are designed to fully
recreate the picture of historical development of Bulgarian literature.
Almost 168 pages of entries offer the following main topics: literary
bibliographies (this section gives references to about 25 major bibliographies,
encyclopedias, guides, primarily in Bulgarian and Russian), history of
Bulgarian literary criticism, folklore, general works on history of Bulgarian
literature, literatures by historical periods. Bibliography features citations
for monographs, articles from journals and newspapers (!) in Bulgarian,
Russian and more foreign languages. Creators of the bibliography pay close
attention to the subject of Bulgarian literature studies abroad and particularly
to Bulgarian-Russian literary connections.
Bulgarska khudozhestvena literatura i kritika; bibliografiia. This is a very useful bibliography for a scholar of Bulgarian literature and criticism published within 10 years from the events of creation of Narodna Respublica Bulgaria, between 1944 and 1954. T. Popilev scrupulously collected references to works of literary figures of major importance along with not very known authors. Bibliography includes monographs, collections of works, articles from journals and newspapers. First part has an alphabetical list of writers and their published works along with meticulously recorded critical responses; it is followed by the collections of works. Second part is devoted to literary criticism and is divided into major subjects, such as literary theory, foreign literary influences, literary forms, children's' literature, and section on reflection of major historical events in Bulgarian literature. The volume is supplied by name index.
Bibliografiia na slavianskoto literaturoznanie i
folklor v Bulgariia. This multivolume serial publication, issued by Bulgarian
Academy of Science and later by "Nauka i izkustvo", is dedicated
to International Slavic Congresses conducted in Bulgaria in 1958, 1963
and 1968. Bibliography is devoted to works on literary theory, history
and criticism, as well as folklore of Slavic countries issued in Bulgaria
in the period between 1955 and 1970. It contains primarily works of Bulgarian
slavists, and few works of guest scholars published in Bulgaria. Istoriiata na Bulgariia v khudozhestvenata literatura:
bibliografski ukazatel. Ed. ev. Vasileva, D. Pravdomirova. Sofiia:
Nar. biblioteka "Kiril i Metodii", Otdel "Spetsialna i
preporuchitelna bibliografiia," 1981- . The first part of Bulgarian history in fiction contains citations of about 2000 titles of poems, short stories and novels, essays and memoirs which "illustrate the history of Bulgaria", by Bulgarian as well as by foreign authors (in translated in Bulgarian) published independently or included in collections. All cited works appeared in print between 1944 and 1981. (Multiple editions of the same works are also included.) Cited works are selected from such reliable sources as catalog of the library of Cyril and Methodius, bulletin " Novi knigi" etc. Bibliography is designed for popular readers, librarians, and teachers, interested in selecting literature on Bulgarian history. Materials are organized chronologically by historical events - from creation of Bulgarian state to 1930s. Within each topic, titles are arranged alphabetically by author's name. Some leading historical figures have separate chapters in bibliography. Few entries have brief annotations with historical content description. Bibliography is supplied with detailed table of content and with personal names index, geographical names index, index of types of fiction (short and long poems, stories, novels, plays, chronicles etc.) arranged alphabetically by author.
Bibliographische Einfuhrung in das Studium der neueren
bulgarischen Literatur (1850-1950). This bibliography is meant for beginning students and it does not strive to be complete. It includes information on the most important topics and meaningful personalities in Bulgarian literature in the second half of the XIX century. It is divided into two parts. In the first section are listed bibliographies, periodicals, collections, general works on Bulgarian literature, the fundamental works on literary theory and on the main periods of Bulgarian literature. The second section is devoted to the most famous Bulgarian writers: it includes bibliographies of their published works and bibliographies about them. This bibliography is searchable only through an author index.
Bulgarska khudozhestvena literatura na chuzhdi ezitsi
: Bibliografski ukazatel, 1823-1962. Prominent Bulgarian Scholar Veselin Traikov compiled this bibliographic index which covers 140 years' history of Bulgarian literature translations in 65 foreign languages. Writers of Macedonian origins who wrote in Bulgarian (in the period before World War Two) are also included in the source. Bibliography contains large number of folklore works translations, as well as translations of individual works (poetry and prose), anthologies and collections; translations which appeared in periodical publications, journals and newspapers. Entries are grouped by language and chronologically within each group. Great feature of this source is list of reviews on translations published between 1944 and 1957 (!). In addition, citations for reviews of famous translations can be found in the main sections under title of work. Bibliography is supplied by 3 indexes: author index, folk works' index, and index of translators, compilers, editors, and illustrators (in Bulgarian). At the end, there are statistical tables for publications between 1944 and 1957, and arranged by language and by specific countries.
Bulgarska khudozhestvena literatura na chuzhdi ezitsi,
1944-1957 : bibliografski ukazatel. Another thorough bibliographic index compiled by Troikov
and published by Bulgarian Bibliographic Institute. It covers translations
in foreign languages published in the period from 1944 till September
of 1957. (Before 1940s only a limited amount of Bulgarian literary works
were translated in foreign languages.) Bibliography contains translations
of individual works of about 80 Bulgarian prosaist and poets (655 volumes),
as well as works of more than 250 authors included in anthologies and
collections. This source is excellent for verification of anthologies
and collections content, provided in great details. All the titles included
are cited in content of poetic and short stories' anthologies. It also
covers publications in newspapers and journals. Compilers collect translations
in 40 foreign languages. Folklore publications can be also found here.
Litterature bulgare en langues etrangeres; traductions,
1958-1964. This concise bibliographic index chronologically continues
previous one, covering publications in foreign languages in the period
between 1958-1964. It is compiled by Copyright Protection Agency and contains
358 works of individual authors, 47 anthologies and some translations
of folklore works. It is in no way as complete as previous bibliography,
however it contains book cover look. In addition, 250 other translations,
individual works and folklore, which have appeared in the period of 1944-57
are listed with language and year of publication.
Chuzhdestranni pisateli na bulgarski ezik 1945-1971
: Bio-bibliogr. ukazatel. This source is in fact bio-bibliography which contains bibliography of translated in Bulgarian literary works of foreign authors in the period between 1945 and 1971 and biographical articles about them. Bibliography of translations which is often so difficult to locate presents primary interest. Collection begins with statistical tables and in-depth analysis of publications for specific foreign languages. Main corpus is divided into main sections: European literature, American, Latin American, Asian, and African literature and further arranged alphabetically by country names. Each country section contains general material, such as Bulgarian literary criticism on the topic, as well as collections of works, and followed by alphabetized entries on authors. The entry contains short biography and bibliography of translations. Multiple indexes are available here: indexes of authors' names, titles of individual works and collections, index of translators, index of editors and compilers, and index of authors of reviews and literary criticism.
Bibliographies | Guides
| Literary Encyclopedias | Bio-
and Biobibliographies | Periodical Indexes |
Subject Bibliographies | Chronology
| Online Resources
Starobulgarska literatura : entsiklopedichen rechnik.
This popular dictionary of Old Bulgarian literature
contains articles on writers, translators, copyists in Bulgarian medieval
culture from the period of VII century, the time of creation of Bulgarian
state, to the beginning of XVIII century. In addition it gives much broader
cultural material on paleography, historical events and personae, religious
life. The covered topics include personal names of Bulgarian books' authors
as well as translators and book publishers, along with popular translated
Byzantine authors and rulers who promoted literary works; titles of the
works, original along with compilations and translations; literary monuments,
overviews of major genres of old Bulgarian literature, literary and paleographic
terminology descriptions, number of entries on symbols in literature (for
example, "symbolism of numbers"), articles on major book keeping
centers, and middle ages' heresies. Bibliographies | Guides
| Literary Encyclopedias | Bio-
and Biobibliographies | Periodical Indexes |
Subject Bibliographies | Chronology
| Online Resources
Please also see a section of the course called Biographical Sources for Bulgaria for the essential sources which include not only literary figures but other Bulgarian distinguished personae. Rechnik na Bulgarskata literatura.
3-volume edition of Bulgarian Academy of Science is
a major undertaking which covers in detail 11 centuries of Bulgarian literature.
Although not free from ideological bias, this source is one of the best
and most informative till present. Collection contains 1,500 articles
about Bulgarian writers, literary historians and literary critics, and
translators. Separate entries feature important monuments of Old Bulgarian
literature, such as "Asemanievo evangelie", "Bolonski psaltir."
Most important anthologies and collections of modern literature are also
included; others - can be found in a separate article on "Anthologies."
Literary periodicals are also described in separate entries, as well as
literary groups and organizations, important publishers and publishing
houses. There is a special article devoted to book illustrators. Dictionary
also features overviews of literary genres and their history and separate
entries for "Literary bibliography", "Children's literature,"
"Bulgarian literature abroad." Coverage of Enlightenment period
has a broader representation of figures important for Bulgarian cultural
development. Biografii na bulgarskite pisateli. Two volume collection of writers' biographies compiled
by Ivan Radev includes articles on major contributors to a literary development
of Bulgaria starting from the times of Cyril and Methodius and old Bulgarian
writers and completing with contemporary authors. Entries on about 80
personae are included in chronological order and may be found with the
help of the table of content. First volume includes tome period from IX
through the end of XIX century. Second volume is primarily covers XX century.
Bulgarski pisateli: biografii, bibliografiia. Konstantinov's dictionary is the best single source of Bulgarian authors, medieval and modern, till beginning of 1960s. Differently from the previous source, it has much more comprehensive coverage of Bulgarian writers and poets including literary critics and historians as well. It provides in the vicinity of 1,000 entries and in addition supplies plenty of bibliographic materials. The authors maintain an objective and neutral tone and strictly factual approach in their concise articles. Each biographical entry is followed by chronologically organized list of author's works and then alphabetized list of critical literature - monographs, articles and reviews - about him, published till August of 1961. While creators of the dictionary do not include every critical publication, they do select the most important critical contributions. Dictionary is organized by literary periods but it is not reflected in table of content. Table of content almost duplicates name index, which is also available. With the exception of this minor defect, this dictionary presents a great source of biographic information about rare authors and a very good bibliography.
A biobibliographical handbook of Bulgarian authors. This English source is a fruit of the cooperative efforts of American and Bulgarian scholars. It includes biographical articles on about 90 prominent Bulgarian authors chronologically arranged within major periods. Every article is supplied by the further reading including list of published works of the author, biographical and bibliographical, critical reviews in Bulgarian, and literature in English. Bibliography and list of translation is up to the date approximately to early 1977 with few additions for later years. Some terms and historical events are annotated.
Biografsko-Bibliografski
Sbornik. This dictionary informs about Slavic studies of scholars
from Sofia Universitety "Kliment Okhridski". Published by Division
of Slavic Philology at the University "Kliment Okhridski", it
is devoted to VI International Slavic Congress which took place in Praha
in 1968. The collection presents short autobiographies and bibliography
of research works of the faculty members from literature, linguistic and
journalism departments. Thus this resource provides broader materials
concerning the scholars of not only Bulgarian, Russian literature, and
literary theory but also general linguistics, Bulgarian and Slavic linguistics,
ethnography and journalism. Dictionary does not include former University
members. Personae are listed by department name. List of publications
chronologically extends from 1940 to 1967 and can serve as a good citation
source.
Rechnik po bulgarska literatura. This literary dictionary contains materials on more
than 40 major Bulgarian prose writers and poets of second half of XIX-XX
century. It is designed for a popular reader, teachers and students, and
accordingly presents information in easily accessible form. Entries are
alphabetically organized. Each entry contains short biographical article
about the author, then general critical discussion of his writings, followed
by articles devoted to the content of specific works - including prominent
short stories and poetic pieces (!); entry is concluded by cited responses
from critics and, finally, by the list of writer's published works and
critical literature for further reading.
Rechnik po nova bulgarska literatura, 1878-1992.
Compiled by collective efforts of the members of Bulgarian Academy of Science, "St. Kliment Okhridski" University and National literary museum, this authoritative source has much bigger scope of coverage for Bulgarian literary figures - prosaists, poets, dramatists, literary historians and critics, and journalists - between 1878 and 1992. Creators of the dictionary rediscover the authors whose work was previously silenced due to ideological reasons and suggest a different approach to the classics of modern Bulgarian literature. This volume includes in the vicinity of 500 concise articles with bibliographic and analytical information. Work is limited by information about authors and their books without special entries on literary magazines, trends and terms. Each entry is supplied by the list of writer's published oeuvres and sometimes bibliographies and criticism.. (Articles are signed by creators.) Name index is available at the end.
Rechnik na bulgarskite psevdonimi : pisateli, nauchni
rabotnitsi, prevodachi, karikaturisti, publitsisti, zhurnalisti. This is a third expanded edition of dictionary of
pseudonyms by Ivan Bogdanov which features not only writers but also journalists,
translators, caricaturists, political activists and scholars of various
disciplines. Dictionary is divided into two major sections, analytical
and synthetical. First one provides an alphabetical list of authors' pseudonyms:
pseudonym is followed by author's real name, then by bibliographic note
with indication when and where pseudonym was used. It is concluded by
indication of the source for this data. Bogdanov used variety of sources,
described at the beginning of the dictionary, such as bibliographic, archival
materials, and research data. Compound names are not inversed but are
used as they were published. Pseudonyms in the form of initials are incorporated
in the list as well. Bibliographies | Guides
| Literary Encyclopedias | Bio-
and Biobibliographies | Periodical Indexes |
Subject Bibliographies | Chronology
| Online Resources
The scholar of Bulgarian literature should not overlook multiple general periodical indexes, such as for example Letopis na periodichniia pechat', Letopis na statiite ot bulgarskite spisaniia i sbornitsi, Natsionalna bibliografiia na NR Bulgariia. Seriia 5: Letopis na statiite ot bulgarskite spisaniia i sbornitsi, reviewed in detail in the section of the the course - Bulgarian Periodical Resources. Bulgarska literaturna periodika; This is a wonderful source for those interested in
Bulgarian periodical history. This periodical index is devoted to the
period between 1872 and 1944, the time of intense national literature
development. It gives a consecutive history of Bulgarian periodical publications
divided into two major periods - from 1878 to 1918, and 1919 to 1944.
216 periodicals, journals and magazines (newspapers are not included!),
are present here - they are not only specifically literary periodicals
but also general political and information sources which include section
devoted to Bulgarian literature. Compilers selected for inclusion most
important sources, some secondary publications are omitted. Publications
are arranged chronologically. Each of them has a description such as place,
dates and frequency of publication, editor's name. It is followed by description
of the rubrics and general characteristics of the newspaper themes and
content, as well as names of the authors who typically were published
here. At the end of each period there is a long analytical review of main
cultural events and periodical sources. Bibliographies | Guides
| Literary Encyclopedias | Bio-
and Biobibliographies | Periodical Indexes |
Subject Bibliographies | Chronology
| Online Resources
Works of Bulgarian emigrants : an annotated bibliography
: books, booklets, dissertations This valuable bibliography is the first of its kind. Its creator, G. Paprikoff assembles and records the writings by Bulgarian emigrants published after the change of political power in Bulgaria in 1944. The scope of included writings is from 1944 to 1985 and the coverage arranged chronologically by year is worldwide and in many languages. Subjects covered by the bibliography are of a wide range, not only literature, but also art, history, politics, religion, medicine etc. Books, booklets and dissertations here are included with publication details and physical description and in addition with table of contents and illustrations' information. Very short annotations are available also. Search of literary topics may be conducted the best with the help of author, subject, language, and country of publication indexes. Relevant entries in addition to writers' names can be subjects "art, music, theatre", "critique", "novels, essays, dramas", "children's books".
Detsko-iunosheska khudozhestvena literatura, 1944-1978
: bibliogr. ukazatel v pomosht na rukovodeneto na detskoto chetene. Present bibliography covers books for children and
young adults published between 1944 and 1978. About 1,340 citations are
selected for inclusion here, which is about one third of all the publications
for children for this period of time. The volume is primarily designed
for teachers and special collection librarians and principles of selection
have clearly ideological background. Along with creations of Bulgarian
authors, it is a good source for translated works. Works which received
prizes or awards are marked with the star. Materials are arranged by topic
starting with Bulgarian literature (collections of folklore, then authors'
works organized by form and genre), followed by Russian and Soviet works
and literature of Europe, America and Australia similarly organized.
Bibliiata i bulgarskata literatura Ivan Radev's guide is an invaluable source for a scholar
interested in Biblical references in Bulgarian literature of XIX-XX century.
It describes or features fragments of short stories, novels, poems which
include allusions to biblical texts and imagery, or their interpretations,
or biblical citations. Although such a guide can not exhaust all possibilities
of references, it covers a great deal. Guide is organized alphabetically
by authors' names. Each entry has a concise biographical note with brief
critical comment on the character of religious imagery emerged in writer's
works. Then one finds name of the work and its fragment followed by citation
from biblical text to which fragment has a relation. All citations from
a Bible indicate book, chapter, and line. Bibliographies | Guides
| Literary Encyclopedias | Bio-
and Biobibliographies | Periodical Indexes |
Subject Bibliographies | Chronology
| Online Resources
Bulgarskata literatura v dati i kharakteristiki,
817-1965. The task of this source is to represent chronologically
(by year and sometimes month) major events in Bulgarian literary development
from its first steps in IX century to 1965. Significant cultural events,
literary movements, birth dates of literary figures, important publications
(poetry, prose, magazine and newspaper articles), history of journalism
are present here. Every major literary period is preceded by a lengthy
critical article. Bibliographies | Guides
| Literary Encyclopedias | Bio-
and Biobibliographies | Periodical Indexes |
Subject Bibliographies | Chronology
| Online Resources
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Slavic Library | Slavic Reference Service Russian and East European Studies Center University Library Gateway | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Last updated: 01/26/06 Comments to: Helen Sullivan |