I have so many literary loves that it´s hard sometimes to keep up with all of them. Enamorated by the post-communist Central and Eastern European literature, mesmerized about Russian literature, in love with Middle Eastern authors, unable to resist the temptation of a story written in French, hard to stop discovering Japanese authors. And the list can continue for blog posts. In the last years, I largely neglected authors from Balkans, and Bulgaria is one of the few countries always proud of belonging to this region, also when such a belonging was easily associated with everything rotten in this part of the world.
I may confess that my knowledge about the current literary scenery in Bulgaria is largely limited, but it is never too late to start the journey. As my knowledge of Bulgarian is basic - but tempting to expand as compared to Russian, it has a much easier grammar - but thanks to the inclusion of the country among the francophone countries - for political or geopolitical reasons or both, but also maybe in the memory of the times when French used to be the language of the elites, there are available translations from Bulgarian authors into French.
Hence, my luck to read Les Mères - The Mothers - by Theodora Dimova, translated into French by Marie Vrinat-Nikolov.
Theodora Dimova is the daughter of Dimiter Dimov, a well known local writer, whose novel Tobacco, the story of a boy who became a successful tobacco businessman, was not accepted by the communist authorities of the time. She is also a prolific playwriter. Marie Vrinat-Nikolov is the only native French speaker translator of Bulgarian.
A collection of short disparate stories, talking place at the same time, with the World Coup matches running in the background, dominated by the more or less etheral presence of Yavora, is set in post-communist Bulgaria. The place is not mentioned explicitly. Mothers - post-communist mothers - are the main characters, declinated in different scenarios.
The post-communist women are an underrated presence in the literature of this part of the world. In real life, they were often the ones who took control of households otherwise about to crumble as the post-communist men were ebriated, lost in their midlife crisis and often fired from their much praised jobs in the state economy.
The women from Dimova´s book are different, sometimes they are depressed to the bones too. Food or rather the lack of it, plays an important role, as without enough money in the home, the children of the post-communist mothers and fathers cannot eat, they are not growing, they are hungry most of the time.
Hence, a possible reason of the violent episode in the end, inspired by a wave of violence in schools across Bulgaria shortly after the fall of communism.
The writing follows the flow of thoughts, sometimes rapid sometimes just stopping short of breath.
The Mothers is a reminder of how many important resources are available to the literary world outside the non-translated realm. Although part of a clearly belonging to a specific time and space, nevertheless universal in its human introspection. As I have another two books by Bulgarian authors ready for review, I hope to do a small part in showcasing the literary diversity of our world.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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