Interviews

“We are Enslaved by the Myths of the Past” – Interview with Alek Popov by Vujica Ognienovic

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The ghosts of history are still too viable and are exploited unscrupulously by populist charlatans for manipulating people and their emotions.

Writer Alek Popov in conversation with Montenegrin journalist Vujica Ognienovic about his latest novel The Palaveevi Sisters: in the Storm of History. Critic defined it as the first partisan novel written after the fall of communism in Bulgaria. The novel brings back to live an almost forgotten world – especially for the new generations whose knowledge about communism and the civil conflicts during 2^nd WW is pretty vague. The interview was first published in the Montenegrin newspaper Vijesti.

What was the challenge for you to write the novel The Palaveevi Sisters – in the Storm of History?
It turned out that this is still a very touchy matter, an aspect of history that is still very much alive – something I didn’t fully realize in the beginning. Writing about this recent past inevitably evokes the ghosts of painful memories and unresolved conflicts, thus provoking strong passions from different and often opposite directions. The theme is so heavily loaded with propaganda and all sorts of taboos that opening this door is like entering a minefield. Especially if you approach the past with a sense of humor! The label of “parody” is constantly pending over such books, but literature has a long tradition of exposing the absurd and grotesque side of war. Great satirical novels such as Jaroslav Hashek’s The Good Soldier Schweik and Joseph Heller’s Catch 22 have inspired several generations and still remain relevant.

What is the historical background of your novel?
When I was a child, my grandmother used to recount the Sofia bombings during WWII, mixing her stories with fantastic elements, making them sound almost fairytale-like. These stories left an indelible mark in my memory. Here probably lies the subconscious source of my interest in this period and in the subsequent decades. Later on, as a teenager, I grew up with partisan novels and films, which were the adventure stories of the times. They were key elements of the propaganda machine, too, but at that age I didn’t care much about ideology. When I started working on the novel several years ago, I had to go through many files from that period, but this time as an adult determined to confront the myths of his childhood. I paid close attention to the “documented” side of the period’s history, examined memoirs, police archives, military records and historical places in order to recreate authentic surroundings in which my story and my characters can grow and develop. I believe that research and development go together, they interact and mingle, thus making the process of writing an exploration in itself.

The genre of this novel is a partisan novel. It is unusual to write a partisan novel, seventy years after World War II. How do you explain this endeavor?
The genre actually is an adventure novel, or an adventure saga if you prefer, given my intent to build a bigger narrative out of this story. Of course, the novel itself plays a lot with the genre of the partisan novel/movie and it often takes on some of the genre’s stylistic qualities, but it doesn’t fulfill any ideological functions and is therefore unsuitable for propaganda of any kind. The sense of humor plays a central role in the story. Throughout the novel, there are many references to pop-culture, pulp fiction and comic books. The late 30’s and the 40’s were the Golden Age of the American comic book, in that period some of the most of inspiring superheroes were created – Superman, Batman, Captain America, Wonder Woman and so on. I created a kind of post-modern environment where American pop-culture, socialist realism and history mingle and interact. However, the structure of the narrative itself remains classical and that makes the novel highly readable.

You started the story of The Palaveevi Sisters from today’s point of view, from the name of a street in Sofia. How then did the story about the sisters develop?
The story begins in Bulgaria in the 1940’s. The Second World War is raging. Bulgaria is an ally of the Axis. Two girls from an affluent family, the twins Kara and Ira, go on a quest for freedom and adventure, determined to avoid the fate of traditional bourgeois wives. Raised by a British governess, they study in the most elite girls’ school in Sofia and are avid readers of American comic books regularly sent to them by their uncle in the USA. Inspired by a combustible mix of superheroes and leftist ideas, the teens decide to run away from their safe haven to join the partisan rebels. They stage their own kidnapping to provide resources for the revolution, but the plan fails and the twin beauties find themselves lost in the mountains amid a bunch of crude and uptight male fighters led by “comrade” Medved, a tough commander who went through the grueling school of Soviet military counterintelligence. Medved keeps a grim secret about his past and a bitter knowledge of the Stalinist paradise. What follows is a wild journey through tragicomical absurdity, delusions, betrayal, battles, death and survival.

Two ideologies clash in the novel. You make fun of both of them. For what purpose?
As I already mentioned, the novel deals a lot with ideologies (inevitably!) without being ideological in itself, which for some people is a source of deep confusion. The story cuts boldly through historical myths and ideological clichés. It takes an unusual – but much needed, in my opinion – approach to the past, which has something in common with Monty Python’s playful satirical stylistic. This approach is very liberating. Here in the Balkans, we are continuously enslaved by the myths of the past. The ghosts of history are still too viable and are exploited unscrupulously by populist charlatans for manipulating people and their emotions.

What does it mean for today’s young readers in Bulgaria to read stories from World War II?
It actually fills a substantial gap in their education. This part of history is studied very superficially in schools because our society still lacks a common understanding of this aspect of our past and it seems unlikely that we will resolve this issue in the near future. We live more or less in a multi-historical society, where different groups of people have their own interpretation of the past, defined mostly by their family history and ideological background. I believe literature can bridge to a certain degree the different versions of history by exposing their internal contradictions and the incoherence of human perceptions in general. It could teach us how to survive in a world full of paradoxes and contradicting stories without necessarily killing each other. The inability to accept paradoxes is often linked to a certain limitation in one’s cognitive abilities and could be the result of a psychological disorder. We live in an imperfect world. Improving society to a certain degree has proven to be quite possible; however, history has shown that trying to make society perfect has brought more harm than good. The awareness of totalitarian regimes remains crucial for the civic education in the 21^st century and WWII is part of this knowledge. One of the most sinister paradoxes of the war was that half of Europe ended up yet again in a cruel dictatorship. How did the West let this division happen? Did they have a choice?

The story of the sisters is not finished yet. What are your plans?
Actually, what you have read is only the first book of a bigger narrative, a trilogy set in a larger time span: the 40’s, the 50’s and the 60’s. The second part is due to come out by the end of 2016 and the third will come hopefully in the next few years. The plot unfolds in the Balkans, the UK and the USA. I am currently working on the second part of the trilogy with the working title: The Palaveevi Sisters: In the Ice of the Cold War. At the end of the first part the sisters’ paths diverge. One of them, Ira, is found by Tito’s partisans and joins the unit of Commanding Officer Panther. I am not going to reveal exactly what happens, but a substantial part of the plot is set in the region of the Prokletie and Kopaonik Mountains. The Cold War finds the twins on the opposing sides of the Iron Curtain … They both live in London, knowing nothing about each other. Each believes the other to be dead. Until March 5^th, 1953 – the day of Stalin’s death, when they accidentally run into each other … A joyous reunion or the beginning of a tricky spy affair?

Does this book contain a recognizable mentality of the people from the Balkans?
It does, and very much so, in fact. There is a rich gallery of secondary characters who are typically Balkan and ponder over the global course of history from their narrow-minded point of view. Superstitions and pagan rituals often go alongside or mix with present-day ideological clichés, which can be very amusing. The bizarre and the absurd are part of the carnivalesque spirit of the book and are deeply rooted in our Balkan culture, where high and low often change places. Travesty, heroism and petty details of everyday life are cooking together in this witch’s cauldron.

There are Russian characters in the novel, or characters of Russian influence. This is a thing of the past. May it also be a thing of the future?
In fact, they are not Russian, but Soviet characters … They belongs to a tribe unified and defined by ideology and lifestyle, not by ethnicity. I guess the Yugoslav identity Tito was trying to build was something similar, but on a smaller scale. The USSR doesn’t exist today, but it still radiates some sort of socialist nostalgia the way dead superstars do. This nostalgia concocts a strange mix with Orthodox Christianity and a broad scope of paternalistic ideas that appeal to the conservative members of society. The visual equivalent of this mental mishmash are the “modern” Russian icons depicting Stalin as a saint.

How has your style changed from the novel Mission London to The Palaveevi Sisters? It is obvious that the style is somehow similar, but it seems to have evolved?
I am trying to follow the internal logic of actions and to develop my plots accordingly. Motivation, psychology and action – this is what interests me most. I believe that if these elements are handled properly, the rest will inevitably converge and find its place. For me words are a vehicle, not a goal in themselves. The clearer the thoughts, the clearer the language. I prefer to play with plot, situations and characters rather than with words.

The Palaveevi Sisters and Mission London have been made into plays and feature films. What can you tell us about that?
My interest in cinema and theater actually started long before, but I grew professionally with the film adaptation of Mission London. I worked on the screenplay with Delyana Maneva – a theatre director and researcher in the field of action analysis. We also worked together on the theatrical and film adaptation of The Palaveevi Sisters. It’s pretty boring to write a play or a screenplay all alone. I believe interaction and partnership are a very important part of dramaturgy: sometimes the only way to see if the situations and the dialogues really work is to literally act them out. The play based on The Palaveevi Sisters was put on stage by the Plovdiv Drama Theatre. It was indeed a daring endeavor, given the context. A very expressive, very moving performance with an almost cinematic structure and visuals. A real show! What made me especially happy was that even young people with zero experience in communism were enthralled by the subject and enjoyed the show.

A Collector of Amorous Sentences, Interview with Alexander Sekulov by Silviya Choleva

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Writer Alexander Sekulov watches English football, dreams of the lights of the Aegean and writes without editing
He lives in Plovdiv, his mother is Greek and his father is an actor. Born in 1964, the writer was captivated by the theatre before graduating in Bulgarian philology and developing a serious interest in literature. He studied in the Secondary School for Stagecraft together with artist Kolyo Karamfilov and producer Dimitar Mitovski. Literature and journalism prevailed and he has published three verse collections, a book of essays, a play and a novel entitled A Collector of Amorous Sentences. Dubbed “an exquisite novel”, it is a joint project with artist Atanas Hranov, whose pictures are part of the book. The first edition is already out of stock. “This is an ‘oval book’ whose vagrant hero is Nasko H.,” the writer says. “You can start from page 77 or page three, you can read it backwards or from the middle, there is no required linearity, you can proceed as you like. I don’t think that a work of art has to be a maze with a beginning and an end.”

A writer and journalist, Alexander Sekulov is also the proprietor of the Konyushnite na tsarya, or the King’s Stables, and Petnoto na Rorschach, or Rorschach’s Spot, clubs in Plovdiv.

How do you combine writing books with managing two bars in Plovdiv?

You have also worked as a journalist.Writing books and running pubs are two forms of existence in space. If they are genuine, they are both safe harbours you go back to. And you leave them intoxicated. Man has an in-built syntax and whatever he does, it shows. In my case this probably means that you can analyse my books by immersing yourself in the world of pubs and liquor.

What would you do if you weren’t a writer?

I am doing everything I would do if I weren’t a writer. This is the reason I am becoming even more of a writer. Writing is increasingly absorbing my personality, it “displaces” a growing part of my inner space. I like it more and more and I am definitely surprised by this fact. I think that a man who writes rediscovers writing several times in his life. He falls in love with it and experiences amorous levitation again and again. For this reason he has to forget about writing at times; to separate from it. Talent is a remote island which you can set foot on from time to time, but you can’t live on it forever.

What is it like to live in a city like Plovdiv?

What is your favourite place there?The countryside and the sea bring harmony to life. A harmonious life gives you eternity. Thus, the countryside is eternity bestowed on man and the capital is eternity denied. Besides, time is a notion synonymous with aristocratism. Hence Plovdiv is an aristocratic city and Sofia is a proletarian one.

You are both friends and a creative duo with artist Atanas Hranov. What does this mean to you?

In a friendship, man has to grow up every day. As for “Nasko” Hranov, we gave each other an almost unnatural levity and cheerfulness during our joint travels. Everything he does – from canvas, paint, wood, bronze, silver or plaster – is a proof that the world I see actually exists. I hope my writing works in an equally powerful way for him.

Do you have any writer’s secrets?

I have always written quickly. With almost no corrections. Recently, with no fear either. In an increasingly happy way. And, probably, in an increasing irresponsible way too. I never knew that writing can bring you such lightness and joy.

What occupies you when you are at home: books, music, films?

English football. Lots of it. For the game and the art. For the culture. For the feeling of civilisation.

How would you describe yourself as a person?

I am an emotional oyster with brief surges of gaiety. Only the feeling of family and friends can pull me out of this state for a long time. I also tend to be quick on forming an idea and when others around me are ready to follow me I’ve already grown tired of it and have long since abandoned it.

The craziest thing that you have done and don’t want your son to know about?

I’d share the craziest thing with my son.

Is there a substitute for love?

Love and time are synonyms. When you are out of love you are out of life. Consequently, we live a very short life. This is why our universe is so empty, with such large voids between the stars. They are moments of love that we have experienced.

The last sentence you wrote?

Since the beginning of April I’ve been running a blog, www.podigotoblog.bg, containing my daily column “Under the Yoke”, which dates from 1993. There I wrote: “Isn’t the seed of death planted in us that small, green shoot that we have to nurse, care for and carry in our shaking hands until it finally blossoms into an amazing singing crown swaying in the eternal wind above our heads?”

You said once that Plovdiv is a city that travels and this is enough for you. Where are you heading for this summer, when the heat in the city becomes unbearable?

My plans involve the Peloponnesian islands – Ithaca, Zakynthos… Wherever Captain Klisurov’s yacht will take us. And, as usual, the white light of the Aegean, where the sky does not dream of horizons.

Georgi Tenev, Interview by Silviya Choleva

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Winner of the 2007 Vick Prize for the Bulgarian novel of the year talks on digital cameras, the Communist Party and his new glasses

What do Chernobyl and S & M have in common? Not much, you may think, until you read Georgi Tenev’s Vick Prize-winning novel Partien dom, or Party Headquarters. But combining Communism, sex and nuclear disaster is all in a day’s work for the Sfumato dramatist.

In 2004, Englishman Edward Vick, head of the German-based translation company EVS that also has offices in Bulgaria, created the Vick Foundation to support Bulgarian literature.

The novel of the year award is just one part of the initiative designed to give writers a chance to see their work published in English. In the beginning, Bulgarians were sceptical. Three years later, however, the Vick Prize has become a prestigious award for prose.

Before Party Headquarters, Tenev had already published four books, founded the Triumviratus Art Group with director Javor Gardev and stage designer Nikola Toromanov, hosted the “Library” television programme about books, written plays that have been performed in Germany, France, and Russia, and fathered a little girl who has recently taken her first steps.

How did you feel when you received the prize?

I was nervous and blinking constantly because I’m not used to my new glasses yet. After they handed me the award, everybody stepped back and for three whole minutes – it seemed like much longer to me! – I was alone amidst the photographers. I just stood there counting the flashes and regretting that since the advent of digital cameras nobody bothers limiting their shots. I also realised what celebrity defendants must feel like when surrounded by journalists, while they just sit there helplessly in handcuffs! I was happy, but couldn’t bring myself to grin and wave.

Is the media buzz around the Vick Prize just glitz and glamour, or has it actually helped generate interest in contemporary Bulgarian literature?

In Bulgaria’s limited market, it really is a big deal when a single literary award can generate that much hype. Three days after the awards ceremony, my publisher called to tell me that they had only 70 copies of Party Headquarters left, and that they’d had to turn down orders for hundreds of copies. So we needed to urgently discuss a second run.

How does your work as a dramatist influence your novels?

Theatre has taught me self-discipline: no mercy for the text, no respect for verbal beauty merely for the bons mots. That’s why I wrote Party Headquarters in collaboration with an editor. I began working with Kalina Garelova (VAGABOND’s film critic) on my previous novel Kristo i svobodnata lyubov, or Christo and Free Love, which came out in 2005. Without her, the two books would have been very different. Party Headquarters is about the 1980s and early 1990s, but it seems that younger Bulgarians are not particularly interested in that period. Some are very interested. I don’t see it as anything unusual, since people who care about morality, conscience and truth are always few and far-between.

Does Bulgarian literature stand a chance in Europe?

One way of measuring success is through public recognition and large print runs. The other is the test of time. Many Bulgarian authors write works that do not resonate with the current atmosphere and market in Bulgaria. Some of them have emigrated, some have quit writing in Bulgarian, while those who have remained here are unknown to the wider international public. The drama of their fate, if any, is the drama of the language itself. Bulgarian is limited in terms of its use and the interest it provokes, so the chances of the world discovering Bulgarian literature are slim.

Interview with Peycho Kanev by Eric Perez

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After writing poetry for over 10 years, how do you think you and your poetry have matured?

First of all I grew stronger in the poetic kind of way and surer of my self. More and more convinced in my ability to play with the words, to put them in the right order, on the exact place on the sheet or on the computer screen. It is easy for me now, 10 years later to write a poem. It becomes some kind of practice, everyday routine. I think that every writing career starts as a personal quest for sainthood, for self-betterment. Sooner or later, and as a rule quite soon, a man discovers that his pen accomplishes a lot more than his soul.

Is your writing planned or spontaneous?

I think that is more spontaneous than planned. I never sit at the machine, scratching my head, thinking: “Man, now I will write some great poem!” It never works that way. Every time I start to write it is like a new beginning for me, a fresh start. I learn the craft all over again. And then the magic happens.

What other writers have influenced or motivated you to write?

Oh, they are more than a hundred. This is a difficult question. I cannot pick any names. I learn from all the great boys that were here before me. Every individual ought to know at least one poet from cover to cover: if not as a guide through the world, then as a yardstick for the language. But let me say that I learn to write from the life itself, than from any other particular poet or writer. Life is a game with many rules but no referee. One learns how to play it more by watching it than by consulting any book, including the holy book. Small wonder, then, that so many play dirty, that so few win, that so many lose.

You’ve been published in over 400 literary magazines, what are tips you can give upcoming writers to help in the publishing process?

Well, I cannot give them any tips, really, just this one and it is to write. No rest, no doubts. Each and every day they have to write. Writing is a craft like any other craft and it has to be practiced. We need more and more good practitioners. For the poet the credo or doctrine is not the point of arrival but is, on the contrary, the point of departure for the metaphysical journey, because poet is a combination of an instrument and a human being in one person, with the former gradually taking over the latter. The sensation of this takeover is responsible for timbre; the realization of it, for destiny. The destiny of Poetry. There is no other. For me!

Eric Perez
Poetry Editor
Instigatorzine

Interview with Peycho Kanev by Media Virus Magazine

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MediaVirus is proud to feature an interview with Peycho Kanev, co-author of the new chapbook collaboration ‘r’. He recently answered several of our inquires about ‘r’, and we excitedly share them with you here. This collection also features selections from poet Felino Soriano, with the photography contributions of Edward Wells II and Duane Locke. ‘r’ melds the poetry and photography of all four into a visual tapestry that excites the eye and mind equally.

What does the unembellished, lower case title of ‘r’ denote?

Well, about that you have to ask the editor of this book Edward Wells II. He is responsible for the title of the book as well as other things such as the coordinating, the images, the layout, etc. I think that the decision for the title “r” is entirely his. Edward is the Senior Editor for the wonderful poetry magazine The Houston Literary Review.

How was ‘r’ developed and was the concept initially embraced by all contributors alike?

In the summer of 2008 and in the beginning of 2009 Edward accepted a few of my poems for publication in his magazine. And that’s how all started. After that, he told me that he had this upcoming project in mind and to be more specific, the publishing of collaborative poetry collection. He asked me would I be interested and then the other poet Felino Soriano. And yes, I believe that the whole concept of the book was initially embraced by both of us.

The snippets of photography featured throughout are abstract and anthropomorphic in nature, adding a visual dimension that compliments the voice behind the pen. Whose decision was it to include the photography and why are there no photos of Felino Soriano, the second poet featured in ‘r’?

Yes, I believe the vibes that the images produce are in some absolute unison with the poems. And for that we have to blame another great poet, photographer and visual artist. His name is Duane Locke. You ought to read his poetry. He is great. About my pictures… Well, in the beginning Edward told me to send him some photos of me that he could use in the book, but I didn’t had any. So I asked my girlfriend to take some pictures of me while I’m working on the next poem and drinking whiskey. I think she did a hell of a job. She is very talented opera singer, a beautiful mezzo soprano, and a great photographer too, as you can see from the cover of the book. But why are there no photos of Felino Soriano? I do not know. Maybe that was his decision.

A select few pages exhibit a peculiar appearance and structure, most notably in color and language layout, creating a contrasting environment and attitude in some of the poems. Was this an intentional conveyance and if so, are the poems in which this artistic expression appears uniquely significant?

Yes, I believe so. But I didn’t take any part in this. Edward just told me to send him the poems and after that he did his editor’s magic placing the exact poems with the right images and photos. I believe he has very keen eye for detail and structure. He is superb poet as well. And the reader should know that it is not an easy job because Felino and I, well, we are very different from one another. For starters, in my poems I go directly at the subjects, at the objects. I do not waste time for metaphors. I like to go to the bones, to the marrow of the bones of poetry. I do not dwell in metaphysics or the classics. I simply write my words as they appear in the box of my head. Clear and shiny like sharp knife. On the other hand, Felino is more philosophic and jazzy. His poetry is soaked up in poetic occurrences, philosophical causation, in jazz stimulation. He is an abstract painter with the brush of the words, and extremely prolific at that. Edward managed to graze completely different poets and to produce one perfectly homogeneous poetic painting. That is a great editor.

One of MediaVirus’ central tenants is that different artistic mediums, such as poetry and visual arts, can have a profound influence on each. were the photographs and poems in ‘r’ conceived separately, or did one’s creation influence the other?

In my own beliefs poetry always comes first. Before the music, before the paintings, before any other art form. Like the great poet Joseph Brodsky said once, that the universe itself subordinate to some very strict divine law which resembles the very art of poetry writing.

Did the various creators in ‘r’ work in conjunction or separately when creating their contributions?

We were working separately, of course. There is great portion of solitude that lives within every poet. I heard that Felino was the other poet a couple of weeks after I sent my batch of poems to Edward Wells II.

Peycho your poetry is uninhibited and uncompromising in subject and delivery. Who are some of your poetic influences and do you feel your poetry is a product of their muse or rather furthers their literary philosophy?

Like every other poet I have poets that I admire. And they are more than, let say, fifty. But I follow the rules of writing poetry which one of them gave us. One of the best. They are: “ 1) Don’t tell the readers what they already know about life. 2) Don’t assume you’re the only one in the world who suffers. 3) Some of the greatest poems in the language are sonnets and poems not many lines longer than that, so don’t overwrite. 4) The use of images, similes and metaphors make poems concise. Close your eyes, and let your imagination tell you what to do. 5) Say the words you are writing aloud and let your ear decide what word comes next. 6) What you are writing down is a draft that will need additional tinkering, perhaps many months, and even years of tinkering. 7) Remember, a poem is a time machine you are constructing, a vehicle that will allow someone to travel in their own mind, so don’t be surprised if it takes a while to get all its engine parts properly working.” His name is Charles Simic.

Do you feel your poetic intentions are best captured in the still, candid environment of a photograph, or portrayed through actionable, illustrative written word?

I am not really sure. I mean, I am a poem. There is not other way about it. If I want to lay the words on the screen or on the sheet of paper in perfect harmony I have to live as a poem. You cannot be false about it or unreal. But you can’t walk upon this streets with all the poems glued to your forehead either. There is some thin line that lies in each and every poet, every creator and it cannot be crossed. The poet is like some photographer, but instead using some chemicals for developing his pictures, he uses the chemistry of the word.

Media Virus Magazine, Issue 13