THE SCRIPT OF LIFE: VESNA PARUN IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA (1962-1967)
Études balkaniques (Sofia) 2024, N 3, DOI: https://doi.org/10.62761/645.EB.LX3.07
Ksenija BANOVIĆ
Croatian Literary Translators’ Association, Zagreb ,Croatia
Abstract: The article features the Bulgarian period in the works of the great Croatian poet Vesna Parun, during which she befriended some of the most prominent artists and intellectuals in Bulgaria of that time. Bulgaria proved to be a major inspiration for the poet, but also a source of pain because of the harsh life trials she ended up facing. The period was very prolific for her. In Bulgaria she wrote not only her poetry collection The Wind of Thrace, but also magnificent essay and travelogue texts, while at the same time actively contributing to the translation of her poetry into Bulgarian. Her essays on Bulgarian poetry are particularly valuable insights of a talented and erudite artist, who sheds light not only on the poetic but also on the political processes in those years of ideological bans and creative freedom that was so hard to uphold.
Keywords: poetry, essayism, dissidence, freedom of expression, truth