Every encounter with my native land means spring in my soul

There is no Bulgarian who has never opened and admired the books “Bulgarian folk tales”, “Grandmother, Grandfather and Grandchild”, “From Christmas to Christmas”, “Dexterous hands, clear face”, “Traditions and holidays in Bulgaria”… They are compiled by the prominent Bulgarian from the Gabrovo region Elena Ognyanova. In addition to the collections of Bulgarian folk art, she is also the author of five fiction books connected with the life and mentality of the Bulgarians: “We were not born today. The philosophy of life of a shop”, “My father’s wife”, “The Deyanovs from Graovo”, etc. One of her greatest achievements is the 12-volume edition “Bulgarian Folk Art”, in cooperation with other Bulgarian specialists. It is well known to all philologists and specialists in folklore. Elena Ognyanova was for 32 years editor of the “Bulgarian writer” Publishing house. She is member of the Union of the Bulgarian Writers, a research associate at the Institute of Ethnography of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, worked in the “Folk music” section of Radio Sofia, and has written for literary newspapers and journals. Now she is writing her memoirs about her numerous encounters with the big Bulgarian writers.

Mrs. Ognyanova, as a folklorist you worked with Academician Michail Arnaudov, a legend in Bulgarian literary studies. Tell us about your work with him.
Acad. Michail Arnaudov is a prominent student of the Bulgarian Revival, of Bulgarian folklore and European literature. He has written about almost all figures of the Revival: Paisiy, Sophroniy of Vratza, Rakovsky, the Miladinov brothers, Neophit Bozveli, Karavelov, Botev, Petko Slaveikov. He wrote remarkable monographs on Peyo Yavorov and Cyril Hristov. His studies of folklore begin with “Bulgarian folk tales. Characteristics”. This is his doctoral dissertation, which he defended in Prague in 1905. His research is the first attempt in European folklore studies for a classification of the folk tale motifs. It is published ten years before the famous book of the Fin Aarne-Thompson.

In his voluminous study “Folklore from the Elena region”, published in 1913, Acad. Michail Arnaudov puts on scientific grounds the song motifs, the poetics and the meaning of the folk song for the poetry of individual poets. Another remarkable work is the two-volume edition of his “Studies on Bulgarian rituals and legends” in which he analyzes the kukeri, the fire-dancers (nestinari), the motif of the built-in bride, spring festivals and rituals. He also published “Notes on Bulgarian folklore” (in two volumes), “Heritage of many centuries” (in 3 volumes), the exceptional study “Stephan Verkovich and Veda Slovena”. This closes the cycle of his studies. This is my university in folklore. We started working together on the 12-volume edition “Bulgarian folk art”, 1959–1963. A result of this joint effort is my monograph “Michail Arnaudov, the folklorist. Observations and discussions”.

You say this is your university in folklore. And what was your independent development as a folklorist?
Actually it began very early. I was born in the village of Radui, Pernik region in 1928, in a family with six children and a mother who was a remarkable performer of folklore, especially folk tales and epic folk songs. This started my interest in folklore, in folk rituals, folk costumes and festive traditions – calendar and family ones. Of particular importance for me as a folklorist are the folk songs from Graovo, so rich in content. Pernik is the heart of the Graovo heroic epics and is famous for the great number of remarkable singers. From my mother Ivanka Dobranova I have written down 260 songs, 3000 tales and legends, 5000 proverbs and sayings, and 250 riddles. In addition also folk legends, superstitions, readings of dreams… I must mention also Hristo Georgiev from the village of Kralev dol, Pernik region. The Institute of Music at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences keeps 680 of his songs, primarily about Krali Marko, but also many others.

As early as the 19th c., about 1858–1859, the journal “Bulgarian books” published songs from Graovo. The Russian scholar Vladimir Kachanovsky also published remarkable songs with historical plot from these parts. All this had a great effect on me. As a student, for my exam, I brought Prof. Dinekov 260 songs. He immediately offered them to the Institute of Ethnography. This is how my cooperation with this institute began, more particularly with Prof. Hristo Vakarelsky, the unique Bulgarian ethnographer. Also with the music specialists Raina Katzarova and Elena Stoin.

How did you become an editor in the “Bulgarian Writer” Publishing House? This is something very prestigious, very difficult and of high responsibility.
I was recommended by Prof. Vakarelsky and Prof. Dinekov for secretary and editor to the edition “Bulgarian Folk Art”, organized by the Union of Bulgarian Writers. When the 12 volumes were ready, I was invited by the director of the publishing house Kamen Kalchev to remain with them as editor. I liked the job very well. The contact with the most famous Bulgarian writers and artists. I have worked with Angel Karaliychev, Nikola Furnadziev, Svetoslav Minkov, Simeon Sultanov, Blaga Dimitrova, Ivailo Petrov, Constantine Pavlov, Bancho Banov. In the beginning I dealt with the so-called “incidental manuscripts”. In the department “Fiction” they received about 600 manuscripts per year of which we published 65. This was my practice in acquiring a taste for literature and criticism. Three years later I was responsible for the publication of selected writings and second editions of well-known books of Bulgarian writers. Thanks to that I had the opportunity to edit and be in contact with Georgi Karaslavov, Emil Manov, Vesselin Andreev, Bogomil Rainov, Nikolay Haitov, Gencho Stoev, Ivailo Petrov. Many writers preferred me as editor, especially for language editing, where many of them were amateurs.