As part of a new feature, Accents is proud to spotlight the Bulgarian-language poets of The Season of Delicate Hunger. Our first is Kristin Dimitrova.
Kristin Dimitrova was born on May 19th, 1963 in Sofia. She is the author of 10 books of poetry, most recently The Garden of Expectations and the Opposite Door (2012), as well as a novel, two short story collections and a set of four travelogues. Kristin is also a co-scriptwriter of the feature film The Goat (2009). She has received five national awards for poetry, three for fiction and one for the translation of a selection of poems by English poet John Donne. Her poems, short stories and essays have been translated into 24 languages and published in 26 countries. She lives and works in Sofia.
What would you like for the American readers to know about Bulgarian poetry?
The concept of “Bulgarian literature”, I am afraid, is almost as general – and therefore vague – as the concept of the “American reading public”. This makes the question a bit difficult.
I’d like American readers to know that Bulgarian poetry exists. This might sound like a somewhat minimalist wish, but it is actually a big one, touching an optic blind spot that is rarely talked about. Writers, when they feel in the limelight of media attention, or are just drunk, tend to feel overgenerous and speak about the all-transcending power of literature – crossing boundaries, permeating forbidden territories, reaching people no matter where they are. If one writes in a language spoken by 7 million people, one cannot hold for long the illusion that this works both ways.
As for present-day Bulgarian poetry in particular, I am not sure it can be described adequately in national terms; at least, this is how it looks from the inside. Poetry, being an individual and therefore a very dynamic art – unlike folk music – depends more on personal voice than on tradition. Bulgarian tradition, with all its exceptions, used to be mostly patriotic verse in the 19th c., modernism in the first half of the 20th c., socialist realism in the second half, a host of choices and styles since the 90s: actually not too far from the tradition of any other nation with a similar historical fate.
An anthology, however, is not a study in ethnography, although it could be that as well. It is the possibility of communication and this is how I see it.
by Kristin Dimitrova.
Translated from Bulgarian by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer.
What would you like for the American readers to know about you personally?
I am the author of eleven books of poetry, one of them published in Ireland (A Visit to the Clockmaker, 2005), one in the UK (My Life in Squares, 2010) and one – The Cardplayer’s Morning – in the Czech Republic (Ráno hráče karet, 2013), two collections of short stories, Love and Death under the Crooked Pear Trees (2004), and The Secret Way of the Ink (2010) and a novel, Sabazius, translated into Russian (2012) and into Romanian (2013). There is more to this but it already sounds too detailed.
I was born and live in Sofia, I teach at the University of Sofia, I worked for a newspaper several years ago, I live with my husband who is a professor in English literature, and we have two children who are no children anymore, both of them copywriters. And we all take care of an odd-eyed cat which is deaf and dumb, dumb in the literal sense of the word, but with a very strong feeling of self-worth.
I have been to the US three times and I have some very good friends there. My impression is that America itself is much better than the “American dream”: it is full of real people.
Is there an American poet who has influenced you or has made a an impression on you? How do you interact with American poetry?
Edgar Allan Poe, Sylvia Plath, Mark Strand, Forrest Gander, Stanley Kunitz, Anne Sexton, e.e. cummings, Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, Emily Dickinson, Ezra Pound, T. S, Eliot, W. H. Auden – this is a disheveled list, it is so easy to forget about someone and then regret it. But some omissions are intentional. I have never really come to like the beat poets. I can appreciate the scope and power of Ginsberg’s verse, but no matter what he writes about I cannot shake off the feeling that he is too politically minded. I prefer poets who search for meaning rather than those who think they have found it and go around preaching it.
What forms of cultural exchange between Bulgaria and the U.S. would you find interesting, practical and helpful?
They are so few and far between that anything will do.
What do you wish for the anthology and its readers?
Dear reader, I wish you happy hours with this book and if the hours are not so happy, please, find another book and keep on reading. Literature is bigger than each one of us. However, knowing Katerina Klemer who made it all happen, I have my hopes.
You can read more of Kristin Dimitrova’s poetry in The Season of Delicate Hunger: Anthology of Contemporary Bulgarian Poetry, available now.
I love your disheveled list.
An impressive share! I have just forwarded this onto a co-worker who had been doing a little homework on this. And he actually ordered me breakfast because I found it for him… lol. So let me reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending time to talk about this issue here on your site.
mrplay
slothunter betrouwbaar
When I originally left a comment I appear to have clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and from now on whenever a comment is added I get four emails with the exact same comment. There has to be an easy method you are able to remove me from that service? Thank you!
aygestin 30 tabs vente en ligne sйcurisйe aygestin 10 а prix abordable
I think that is one of the so much important info for me.
And i’m glad reading your article. But wanna remark
on few normal things, The website taste is wonderful, the articles is really excellent : D.
Excellent job, cheers
It’s not my first time to go to see this web site, i am browsing this website dailly and take good facts from here all the time.
989346 762434Wohh exactly what I was looking for, appreciate it for posting . 439771
Thanks very nice blog!
Helpful info. Lucky me I discovered your web site unintentionally,
and I am shocked why this accident didn’t came about in advance!
I bookmarked it.
231590 746882Yay google is my king helped me to discover this outstanding website! . 680705
532187 870368Do folks still use these? Personally I really like gadgets but I do prefer something a bit far more up to date. Nonetheless, nicely written piece thanks. 44237
Nice response in return of this query with real arguments
and explaining everything on the topic of that.
If some one wants expert view on the topic of blogging and site-building after that i advise him/her to pay a quick visit this
web site, Keep up the fastidious work.
Appreciate the recommendation. Let me try it out.
355035 598917Have read a couple of of the articles on your website now, and I really like your style of blogging. I added it to my favorites weblog internet site list and will probably be checking back soon. 575732
Pretty! This was an incredibly wonderful article. Many thanks for supplying these details.
Pingback: undetectable Counterfeits bills
Simply wanted to stress I’m just pleased that i came on your web site. ginette-35 kopen in Italië zonder recept
Ahaa, its fastidious dialogue on the topic of this piece of
writing here at this weblog, I have read all
that, so now me also commenting at this place.
Pingback: unterschied zwischen mdma und crystal,
Great stuff, Regards!
Pingback: chocolate psilocybin
Greetings from Idaho! I’m bored to tears at work so I decided to browse your blog on my iphone
during lunch break. I love the knowledge you provide here and
can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m surprised at how quick your blog loaded on my cell phone ..
I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, very good blog!
If you wish for to take a great deal from this article then you have to apply such strategies to your won blog.
Hi there! Would you mind if I share your blog with my myspace group?
There’s a lot of people that I think would
really enjoy your content. Please let me know. Many thanks
Wow! Finally I got a weblog from where I be able to genuinely take valuable data
concerning my study and knowledge.
Hmm is anyone else encountering problems with the images on this blog loading?
I’m trying to determine if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog.
Any feed-back would be greatly appreciated.
Pingback: inin
Pingback: เว็บแทงมวย ไม่มีขั้นต่ำ ฝากง่ายถอนเร็วต้องเลือก Lsm99live
pharmacies in mexico that ship to usa: online mexican pharmacy – reputable mexican pharmacies online
Pingback: เว็บปั้มไลค์
Pingback: hanongnong
Pingback: Buy browning bar rifle Online
Pingback: ซื้อทราย หาดใหญ่
Pingback: Prahran Massage
Pingback: ทำความรู้จัก Pragmatic Play Slot
Can I just say what a relief to find a person that really understands what they’re
discussing on the internet. You definitely understand how
to bring an issue to light and make it important. A lot more people ought to look
at this and understand this side of your story.
It’s surprising you aren’t more popular because you definitely have the gift.
Pingback: www.abausmarketwiki.com