Wolf Hunt by Ivailo Petrov

 

This year I continued my journey discovering Bulgarian literature. This time, I had the chance to get my eyes on a translation into German - by Egon Hartmann - of Ivailo Petrov - the German version is Iwailo Petrow, because in German the simple ´v´ is pronounced like a ´f´ thus would have completely change the name sound of Wolf Hunt - Wolfsjagd, according to the German version.

Ivailo died in 2005 and he wrote around 200 novels and short stories. After his death, a literary price was created in his name. Wolfsjagd was published in 1986 and is a collection of stanzas covering two decades of the life of various individuals in families living in a small locality, between the 1940s and 1960s. The presence of wolves, as upfront symbolic as it can be, is haunting the everyday life of the characters, in addition to the changes brought by the intense collectivization and the smashing of old traditions.

Growing up, I was completely unaware of the Bulgarian literature and their struggles. I was always curious about what Hungarian authors are writing, and the ´Yugoslavs´ were a category of interest of their own. No one talked though about Bulgarians and right now I can see that was no reason to not do it. When other neighouring countries, like Romania, where ideologically limited in terms of choice of topics and interpretations, Bulgaria was able to accept, few days before the official end of communism, that the onset of the regime was uprooting old social structures and occurred in a turmoil. 

In Ivailo´s case was not an act of bravery, but an acknowledgment of a reality experienced hence the realistic style of the writing - which I find suited for describing such realities. On the other hand, reading was a bit slower than usual for me, as it took me several months to finish the book.

This chronicle is an important contribution to the communist literature and the East European literature in general. Many Eastern - now former communist - European countries missed the chance to know their literature. It may be a chance right now to open up through translations and literary dialogue. It may build those bridges that were burned by ideology.