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Item ON THE SILVER BULLET IN THE BULGARIAN FOLK SONGS WITH A MOTIF “A VIRGIN RESCUES MALTA”(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Gencheva, SnezhankaThe report examines the silver bullet as a common ground between Bulgarian folk songs with the motif “A Virgin rescues Malta” and those from the cycle about Stoyan Indzhe voivode, and traces its appearance and usage in our folklore. Furthermore, the report investigates the silver bullet theme analysed in the studies of Bulgarian traditional culture. The research presented here is based on the analysis of two groups of folk songs with 61 published variants from one group and 368 records from the other. The conclusion of this report is that for the first time in Bulgarian folklore the silver bullet was used as a special instrument in the songs about Indzhe voivode, from where it accidentally passed into the already existing songs about Malta and about Delyo voivode spreading in the same geographical area and circulating between the same singers and audience. Later, the silver bullet was included in the circle of beliefs and practices among Bulgarians related to the killing of vampires looks more like a late phenomenon from the end of the 20th century – the result of an influence external to the folk culture.Item THE WORD IN THE NOVEL „HITAR PETAR“ BY GEORGI MARKOVSKI: CHRISTIAN SUPPORTS AND PAGAN FEARS(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Vitanova, IrinaThe present paper explores the power of words in Georgi Markovski’s novel “Hitar Petar”. The report analyzes the biblical codes in the text, the intertextual connections with other texts and it corresponds with different scientific productions. The work draws attention to the ability of the Markovski’s fictional character Petar to lead and save the people only through his holy and wise words, but also with the power of his bold humor. A subject of research is also the author himself, as well as the trends of the Bulgarian literature at that time.Item THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT (A CHARACTER STUDY ON IVANKA RUMENOVA FROM DIMITAR TALEV’S NOVEL „THE BELLS OF PRESPA“)(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Kostova, MariaThis study delves into the intricacies of one key character, Ivanka Rumenova, in the novel “The Bells of Prespa.” Emphasis is placed on her distinctive traits, revealing socio-psychological and ideological nuances. The construction of her character and its narrative functions within the novel's framework are analyzed. By juxtaposing Rumenova with other characters, it becomes evident that she occupies a pivotal role rather than a peripheral one. Furthermore, her socioeconomic status is scrutinized, along with the clash between her unconventional behaviors and societal norms, a natural progression for any visionary within any historical context.Item THE NOVEL „BLOOD“ – BETWEEN THE IDEOLOGICAL ROTTENNESS AND HUMANISM(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Biserov, BorisThe main aim of the current study is to follow the critical reviews of Konstantin Konstantinov’s novel “Blood” during the 1930s. Due to the dramatic political events taking place throughout the decade in Bulgaria the novel has become a target of unyielding critical disapproval by the “left” editions in Bulgaria (those supporting the Communist Party). On the other hand, “Blood” has been highly appreciated by the “right” press, which delves into the aesthetic and humanistic qualities of the text. Some of the most renowned Bulgarian critics remain unbiased and sustain an objective viewpoint on the novel, keeping the ideological perspective aside. Nevertheless, the “critical storm” which the novel has stirred up turned out to be one of the most significant issues in the history of Bulgarian literature.Item THE DEMONIC PRESENCE IN KONSTANTIN KONSTANTINOV'S “SEVEN O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING”(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Boneva, BozhanaThis paper focuses on Konstantin Konstantinov’s short story – “Seven o’clock in the morning”, published for the first time in the homonymous collection from 1940. The paper’s subjects are the demonic outlook of the nameless city and its interaction with the nameless female figure, who finds herself within the boundaries of the mysterious urban space in times of crisis with the goal of rediscovering and self-understand herself. The interpretation outlines the mechanisms through which the city acquires its new demonic appearance, all while suggesting and summarizing the city’s possible identification as well as presenting a reconstructed route of the main character through the urban space.Item ONE ALMOST CONTEMPORARY ALMOST “VITA”. ALEXEI KARAMAZOV AS A HAGIOGRAPHER(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Damyanova, ZlatinaThe purpose of the paper is to examine the vita of Zosima from the novel "The Brothers Karamazov” as a non-canonical or modernized version of this medieval genre, and for this purpose it was “extracted/torn off” from the novel. The characteristics and elements according to which the text can or cannot be classified in terms of genre to hagiographic literature are indicated. After laying it back its function in the context of the entire novel is examined through Lotman's theory of dual codes and the mechanisms of “mirror” and “autoreflection”.Item „JUST ONE MORE WALTZ WITH YOU“ – MUSICAL REFERENCES IN F. SCOTT FITZGERALD’S NOVEL “THE GREAT GATSBY”(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Lateva, TrayanaThe musical layer embedded in some of the works of the American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald has attracted the curiosity of scholars and has been a central object of research since the second half of the 20th century. This fact, as well as the author's interest in music, which he maintained throughout his entire life, and the influence of it on the popular culture of the 1920s, lay at the basis of the idea of providing a closer look at some of the musical references made in Fitzgerald’s most famous piece of writing, “The Great Gatsby” (1925). The present paper chooses to focus on three of the eight songs identified in the novel in order to demonstrate that their mutual interweaving enriches the narrative by either setting a different perspective to previously registered themes, motifs and symbols and their meaning, or further confirming what is already known about the characters and the motivation behind their actions.Item THE MONOMANIA OF A MOON FOR FREEDOM. ALBERT CAMUS, “CALIGULA” [4.14](Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Yaneva, YoannaThe text focuses on the last scene of the fourth act of the play “Caligula” (1944) by Albert Camus, whose aim is to function as an example through which to introduce the discourse of absurdism insisted upon by Camus, and at the same time to combine it with Jean-Paul Sartre's notion of existentialism. The central research question regards the theme of freedom thought through fear, selfreflection and the concept of the Self and the Other.Item “THE WONDERS OF EUROPEAN CULTURE” – A SALVATION FOR “THE NAIVE CHILDREN”: MOTIF IN GERMAN COLONIAL LITERATURE(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Grigoryan, GabrielaThis paper gives an overview of the most common motives in German colonial literature. Colonial literature is often understood to mean all literature from the colonial period. In this analysis, however, a distinction is made between pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial works. Two works are analyzed in detail – Von Jenseits des Meeres by Theodor Storm, a novel from the precolonial period of Germany, and Tropenkoller by Frieda von Bülow, who is a typical representative of German colonial literature. The focus of this paper is to show how the colonised population is portrayed in a racist manner and entirely from a Eurocentric point of view.Item DEATH AND EROTISM IN THE SHORT STORY “THE CRIMSON CURTAIN” BY D'AUREVILLY(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Nikolova, SilviaThe current paper aims to make an analysis of the death-erotism line in the short story “The Crimson Curtain” by Barbey d'Aurevilly, which is situated in two perspectives. Firstly, in the figure of the main character, Miss Albertine, passing successively from an intense state of “la petite mort” (or “little death”) to the fatal freezing of actual death. From that moment on, the Vicomte de Brassard is the perpetrator, not of an act of love, but of excess. The second aspect is marked with the sign of necrophilia. The “demonic tendency” (about which Baudelaire speaks) in the art of the 19th century is kept: the leitmotif of the diabolical, however, is manifested in a markedly ambiguous way – the text remains silent too much, and what it does say is filtered through the aesthetics of dandyism.Item MIMETIC DESIRE AND THE PROCESS OF CRYSTALLIZATION IN THE LETTER OF MADAME DE RENAL(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Georgieva, KristinaRené Girard offers his own interpretation of love in fiction, building on familiar mimetic theories but adding his own element. Love becomes an object of study because the romantic myth of two lovers is decrystallized. A mimetic triangle is formed, which is composed of a love object, a subject and a mediator. The subject is the actor who is subject to external or internal influences. These influences arise from the clash between the subject, the mediator and the desire to emulate the mediator in order to reach the object of love. The mediator's role is specific because it generates and reinforces the subject's desire for the object. Desire is mediated. At the heart of the novel, Stendhal posits another idea of his, namely that of the process of crystallization, which consists in attributing perfections to the object of desire. Thus, there is an interweaving of the two theories and the entry of mimetic desire into the field of crystallization. A conflict arises between the two female characters who struggle for Julien Sorel's heart, subject not so much to jealousy as to mimetic rivalry.Item THE FIGURE OF THE HOMUNCULUS IN THE ENLIGHTENMENT LABORATORY: FAILED EXPERIMENT OR EMBODIMENT OF THE ETERNAL STRIVE TO BE(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Grozdanova, AleksandraThe present paper examines the figure of the Homunculus and its literal and allegorical perceptions in the famous Goethe's tragedy “Faust”. In general, it focuses on two of the most important interpretations of the figure: Homunculus as an artificial creature – emanation of the scientific experiment, and as holder of the spark, which gives life and is aimed at the eternal beyond. The text pays particular attention to the figure of Mephisto, who is strongly associated with the creation of the Homunculus, as well as to the figure of Galatea, who helps the artificial creature to “reborn” for a new life. Some other key figures compared to that of the Homunculus are those of Wagner, Faust and Euphorion. In addition, the present research traces the integration of some conceptions and ideas from several different eras – from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages and the Enlightenment to Romanticism, and all that through the figure of the Homunculus.Item THE TRAGEDY IN THE NOVEL. A READING OF “FRANKENSTEIN” THROUGH ARISTOTLE(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Ivanova, GabrielaThe paper aims to explore how Aristotle's concepts of tragedy can be transferred to the study of epic narrative to discover new fields of interpretation of the novel "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus". The protagonist Victor Frankenstein is traced to reveal his characteristics as a tragic character. The paper examines the construction of the plot of Mary Shelley's novel through the events of suffering, anagnorisis and peripeteia, identified in "Poetics" as key to the best examples of the tragedy as a genre.Item THE THREE WITCHES AND MACBETH – THE GENESIS OF A SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Dimitrov, AleksandarThe paper explores the tragedy Macbeth through the concept of self-fulfilling prophecy introduced by sociologist Robert Merton. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate that the entire plot of the play is initiated and completed based on a self-fulfilling prophecy. It originates from Macbeth's first encounter with the Three Witches, which is also taken as the main object of examination in the paper. By analyzing the characters of Macbeth and the Three Witches, the paper argues that the witches are a condition but not a cause of the hero's criminal acts. They only place him on the edge between good and evil, where he should make his own choices.Item A FEW NOTES ON THE GENRE MODELS WITHIN THE CONFINES OF “THE GREAT TESTAMENT” BY FRANÇOIS VILLON(Plovdiv University Press, 2025-05-17) Vasilev, YoanFrançois Villon is a well-known poet from the Late Middle Ages and is often labeled as a forerunner of The Cursed Poets. His life is filled with wandering, crimes, stays in dungeons but also with residence in aristocratic courts. The current study examines The Great Testament by François Villon and its objective is to shed light on the different genre variations in the confines of Villon’s text. Firstly a short overview of the different receptions of medieval authors’ activity is made. Afterwards the study shifts its course towards unraveling the more prominent genres such as testament and ballad and the smaller ones such as legend, epitaph, advice etc. The text makes an effort to proof that the ostensible chaos which is consisted of different genres is a means for The Great Testament by Villon to acquire the characteristics of a monolithic and syncretic creation in which each miniscule form has its own particular place.Item SPECIALISED TERMS IN THE LAW ON TOURISM OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Stoynova, DesislavaOur report is devoted to tourism terms – their definitions and characteristics presented in the Law on Tourism of the Russian Federation (Federal Law “On the Basis of Tourism Activities in the Russian Federation” of 24.11.1996 N 132-FZ in its current version after the changes of 19.12.2022). The Law is the main legislative document for the development of the industry in the Russian Federation and as such defines the principles of state policy aimed at creating a legal framework for a unified tourism market in Russia, contains the basic terminology of this sphere. The law itself has undergone numerous revisions, including with regard to the number of terms defined therein. There are 38 terms in the federal law, which are examined from the thematic, structural-vocabulary and etymological points of view.Item LINGUISTIC MEANS OF EXPRESSING SECONDARY SPEECH IN MODERN BULGARIAN AND ITALIAN(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Boyadzhiev, BozhidarThe object of our research is the FSF of commentability in the Bulgarian language, as well as the functional-semantic equivalents of the category in the Italian language. Special attention is paid to grammatic over-telling. Our motivation to dwell on this topic is the fact that “the so-called restatement of the verb action is one of the most characteristic features of the Bulgarian language in relation to other Slavic languages and in relation to almost all Indo-European languages” (Gerdzhikov/Gerdzhikov 1984: 3).Item ON THE QUESTION OF THE MEANING OF RELATIVE ANTERIORITY IN THE SPANISH INDICATIVE IN COMPARISON WITH BULGARIAN(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Tabakova, PolinaThe object of the present study is the Spanish grammeme cantara1 which functions with its etymological indicative meaning of relative anteriority in the Spanish verb paradigm. Тhe perception of cantara1 as a biparticiple grammeme in Spanish (with its invariant meaning of indicative relative anteriority) is argued. However, it also functions as a form “by compatibility” in the conjunctive paradigm (cantara2) where it modalizes and expresses a subjective situation, covering the three temporal relations (anteriority, simultaneity and posteriority). In terms of comparisson, the emphasis is on the lack of a similar grammeme in Bulgarian, considering some possible functional translation equivalents.Item ANALYTIC IMPERATIVE FORMS IN MODERN BULGARIAN AND THEIR FUNCTIONAL ANALOGUES IN ENGLISH(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Petrova, DenitsaThe current study focuses on the analytic imperative forms in Modern Bulgarian and their functional analogues in Modern English. The main reason for choosing this topic is related to the variety of imperative forms and constructions and the different ways in which analytic imperative forms in Bulgarian are translated into English. Based on a comparative analysis between the two languages, it is concluded that the paradigm of the analytic imperative in Modern Bulgarian is considerably richer in formal attitude compared to the paradigm of the imperative in Modern English.Item THE SPECIFICS OF SOME PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES(Plovdiv University Press, 2024-05-17) Dimitrova, KristinThe paper explores three prepositional phrases selected according to the pattern preposition + noun + preposition. Such a structure is widely used in Bulgarian. The purpose of this paper is to trace the levels of abstraction of the noun in such prepositional constructions, using examples from two corpora – the Bulgarian National Corpus and the Bulgarian National Reference Corpus. Through the examined data, the study aims to demonstrate that the prepositions in the prepositional construction have a grammatical function while the meaning of the prepositional phrase mostly depends on the noun and its semantics. All three prepositional phrases are examined in detail, with each of them falling into a specific abstract domain depending on its usage, context and meaning.