(Plovdiv University Press “Paisii Hilendarski”, 2024-04-21) Mikulecký, Jakub
The following article focuses on various aspects of the myth of San Stefano and the image of “Great Bulgaria”, realized in the period 1941 – 1944. The article focuses on various literary texts (mainly poetry and prose) and memoirs as a very important field for the manifestation of cultural memory. The nationalistic exile after 1944 as a collective bearer of pre-communist national ideas can be considered as an alternative model of thinking, opposed to the socialist discourse established in The People's Republic of Bulgaria. Not even the establishment of the communist regime could get rid of the national desire for “Great Bulgaria”. The myth of San Stefano continued to be an important aspect of the nationalist discourse in the exile; the myth was present not only in journalistic texts and political literature, it can be found also in poetry (D. Gabenska, A. Enev, Zh. Zaimova, H. Ognyanov, I. Bankovski), prose (D. Zagorski, I. Bankovski), and also in exile memoirs (S. Popov, V. Spasov). The San Stefano desire for “Great Bulgaria” is nostalgic, not only as a longing forа lost homeland, but also a longing for lost national ideas, which became an important part of collective identity within nationalist exile.