Одеса и темата за отчуждението в българската литература от 40-те до 80-те години на ХІХ век

Abstract

The article presents the 'Odessa' episode of the history of the Bulgarian literature. The author focuses on the poems of Nayden Gerov, Dobri Chintulov, Hristo Botev, Ivan Vazov and on the novels of Vassil Drumev and Ivan Vazov. The topic uniting all these literary works written within four decades is that of the loneliness and allienation in the big foreign city. The major part of the article is focused on the novel 'Student and benefectors', written in Odessa by Vassil Drumev. This novel is the first Bulgarian literary work whose focal point is the allienation. The main character goes through different phases of alienation: his orphanage, the hostility of the surrounding world, the lack of home, the illness. He tries to escape by focusing on the friendship and love; however these feelings cannot reinstate the lost harmony. The reason behind life in Odessa becoming a symbol of the alienation in the Bulgarian literature between the 1840s and 1880s is the fact that the Bulgarian writers joins the lower and socially unsecured strata of the local population. This is why unlike their Russian contemporaries who perceive Odessa as a window to the liberty, the young Bulgarian artists represent the image of the city as a dark, hostile and hopeless place.