/ world today news/ In our Danube capital, the writer got married for the first and only time and created intensively 170 years after his birth
In 1878, immediately after the Liberation, Ivan Vazov was transferred from Svishtov, where he worked as a translator under the governor Nayden Gerov, to Ruse – to the same position under the Russian general Akimov.
“I have described my life in Ruse – Vazov told Professor Ivan Shishmanov – in detail in the novel “New Land”/ more precisely in its second part/. All my work in Governor Akimov’s office consisted of giving a general report at the end of the month on the accidents in the Ruse province. But this activity did not satisfy me, because I wanted to advance in service in some more serious work. When I pointed this out to the general, who was very kind to me, he smiled and said to me: “Batyushka, why do you need more work? You are a poet and I leave you time to write!”
As a staff translator, Vazov accompanied General Akimov on his regular tours around Ruse and the Ruse province. According to the poet’s own admissions, he led a “quite noisy and cheerful life” in this most civilized and European Bulgarian city. And at that time there were many restaurants, clubs and rich homes in Ruse, where receptions, salon concerts and balls were regularly given. His salary was enough not only to support his mother, Saba Vazova, but also to dress very elegantly, according to the latest European fashion. According to the information of the old Ruse residents R. Varbanov and Ts. Doganov, he lived for rent in the city center, in the house of the rich merchant Andon Zlatev on “Ikonomova” Street/ today’s “Spiritual Revival” behind the Courthouse/ No. 23, which is now there is a memorial plaque.
But despite the “luxurious life”, Vazov was too diligently engaged in literature. In our Danube capital, he finished the collection of poems “Izvalenie” started in Svishtov, composed a cycle of epigrams/ first printed in “Mayska kitka”, published by Hristo G. Danov/, and wrote the comedy “Mihalaki chorbadji”. And the most important thing: he conceived the novel “New Land”/1896/.
The poet is very actively involved in the public and cultural life of the city – he recites fairy tales in the Russian-Bulgarian cultural club, attends the rehearsals and premieres of the theater, becomes one of the founders of the Macedonian Charity Committee in Ruse, created after the Kresna Uprising.
In Ruse, Vazov is already twenty-nine years old and seriously thinking about marriage. He was born under the sign of Cancer and believes that he was created for a family, to have a wife, a home, to be a father… Ruse people from his circle decided to help him in this endeavor. They introduced him to Miss Athena Bolyarska. She is beautiful, smart, educated, from a very good and rich family, with a taste for poetry and music, with a lively temperament. At the same time, she studied in Kyiv. This educated and sophisticated socialite from the elite of Ruse / was born in 1860 and is ten years younger than Vazov and is the niece of Vasil Drumev / seemed a very suitable party for the poet with his high cultural demands and his social position in society… But, unfortunately, high expectations are not justified. An irreconcilable opposition gradually emerges between the character and concepts of life of Athena Bolyarska and those of Vazov. The poet prefers family comfort to noisy social entertainment and decides to devote himself entirely to his work. At the same time, the marriage was concluded more on conscience than on feeling. It lasted only a year and three months and was also disturbed by the intervention of the writer’s mother, Saba Vazova, who never accepted her daughter-in-law.
“This marriage – testified Boris Vazov / as well dedicated in his brother’s family affairs / – was not for love. My brother was, so to speak, married rather hastily by his good friends Mihalaki Georgiev and Atanas Iliev, who obviously wished him well. He didn’t have the opportunity to get to know his future wife at all.” In short: a bunch of misunderstandings, conflicts, scandals are coming, which quickly put an end to marital relations. Sam Vazov admits to Ivan Shishmanov: “In the era of “Dennitsa” my marriage also fell/November 4, 1890/…Unfortunately, my marriage turned out to be unhappy. My dissatisfaction with married life can already be seen in the poem “Trunkoslivka” from “Dennitsa”. After thirteen months I separated from my wife…” But here it should be mentioned that Atina Bolyarska inspired Vazov to write one of his best stories “A Christmas Gift” and was the first reader and critic of his writings at that time.
Ivan Vazov stayed in Ruse for about a year. From the beginning of May 1879, he was appointed at the suggestion of the Minister of Education, Marin Drinov, as the chairman of the district court in the small Balkan town of Berkovitsa.
In 1920, on the occasion of his 70th anniversary/celebrated extremely solemnly and on a large scale throughout the country/, the Ruse delegation brought him a nice gift – a robe made of expensive material with original beautiful embroidery, a cap and homemade embroidered slippers made by schoolgirls from Ruse girls vocational school. Not only in front of the delegation in the capital, but also a little later in a special letter, the folk poet expressed his deep gratitude for: “…a lovely gift made by the people of Rus” for whose hometown he had reserved “the most beautiful, most bright memories”…
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B.a. On this occasion, I would like to express my regret that there are still no monuments to Vazov, Botev, Levski and a number of other great Bulgarians in Ruse and in most of our big cities. That’s why there are those of Alyosha.
Nominated for a Nobel Prize, but…
You may not know that on September 20, 1916, Prof. Ivan Shishmanov nominated Ivan Vazov for the 1917 Nobel Prize in Literature.
However, the award was not given to Ivan Vazov, but to the completely forgotten Swedish writer Werner von Heidenstam.
The Vazovi family in Sofia
The wedding photo of the young family,
November 4, 1890
“Aleksandrovska” Street in old Ruse
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