Macedonian literature ( mk, македонска книжевност) begins with the

Ohrid Literary School The Ohrid Literary School or Ohrid- ''Devol'' Literary school was one of the two major cultural centres of the First Bulgarian Empire, along with the Preslav Literary School ( Pliska Literary School). The school was established in Ohrid (in what is ...

in the

First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire ( cu, блъгарьско цѣсарьствиѥ, blagarysko tsesarystviye; bg, Първо българско царство) was a medieval Bulgar- Slavic and later Bulgarian state that existed in Southeastern Eur ...

(nowadays

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

) in 886. These first written works in the dialects of the

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with standardizing the language and using it in translating the Bible and othe ...

were religious. The school was established by St.

Clement of Ohrid Saint Clement of Ohrid ( Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian: Свети Климент Охридски, ; el, Ἅγιος Κλήμης τῆς Ἀχρίδας; sk, svätý Kliment Ochridský; – 916) was one of the first medieval Bulgarian ...

. The Macedonian

recension Recension is the practice of editing or revising a text based on critical analysis. When referring to manuscripts, this may be a revision by another author. The term is derived from Latin ''recensio'' ("review, analysis"). In textual criticism (as ...

at that time was part of the

and it did not represent one regional dialect but a generalized form of early

Eastern South Slavic The Eastern South Slavic dialects form the eastern subgroup of the South Slavic languages. They are spoken mostly in Bulgaria and North Macedonia, and adjacent areas in the neighbouring countries. They form the so-called Balkan Slavic lin ...

. The standardization of Macedonian in the 20th century provided good ground for further development of the modern Macedonian literature and this period is the richest one in the history of the literature itself.

History

Macedonian was not officially recognized until the establishment of Macedonia as a constituent republic of communist Yugoslavia in 1945. Krste Petkov Misirkov in his ''Za Makedonskite raboti'' (1903; ''On the Macedonian Matters'') and in the literary periodical ''Vardar'' (established 1905) helped to create the foundations of Macedonian language and literature. These efforts were continued after World War I by Kosta Racin, who wrote mainly poetry in Macedonian and propagated its use through the literary journals of the 1930s. Racin's poems in ''Beli mugri'' (1939; White Dawns), which include many elements of oral folk poetry, were prohibited by the government of pre-World War II Yugoslavia. Some writers, such as

Kole Nedelkovski Kole Nedelkovski ( Bulgarian and mk, Коле Неделковски) was a Macedonian revolutionary and poet,Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts divides Macedonian literature into three large periods, which are subdivided into additional ones. The periods of the Macedonian literature are: * Old Macedonian literature''literary works of the Macedonian recension'' – 9th to 18th centuries ** From introduction of the Christianity till the Turkish invasion – 9th to 14th centuries ** From Turkish invasion till the beginning of the 18th century * New Macedonian literature – 1802 to 1944 ** period of national awakening ** revolutionary period ** inter-war literary period * Modern Macedonian literature – 1944 – today

Modern literature

After World War II, under the new Yugoslav

SR Macedonia The Socialist Republic of Macedonia ( mk, Социјалистичка Република Македонија, Socijalistička Republika Makedonija), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia or Yugoslav Macedonia, was ...

, the scholar Blaze Koneski and others were charged with the task of standardizing Macedonian as the official literary language. With this new freedom to write and publish in its own language, SR Macedonia produced many literary figures in the postwar period. The Association of Writers of Macedonia was established in 1947. Poetry was represented in the work of Aco Šopov,

Slavko Janevski Slavko Janevski (January 11, 1920, Skopje - January 20, 2000) was a Macedonians (ethnic group), Macedonian poet, prose and script writer. He was also active as a comics artist.Tomislav Osmanli„Razvojot na stripot vo Makedonija – sedum deceni ...

, Blaze Koneski, and Gane Todorovski. Janevski was also a distinguished prose writer and the author of the first Macedonian novel, ''Selo zad sedumte jaseni'' (1952; “The Village Beyond the Seven Ash Trees”). His most ambitious work was a cycle of six novels that deals with Macedonian history and includes ''Tvrdoglavi'' (1965; “The Stubborn Ones”), a novel articulating the Macedonian people's myths and legends of remembering and interpreting their history. Prewar playwrights, such as Vasil Iljoski, continued to write, and the theatre was invigorated by new dramatists, such as Kole Cašule, Tome Arsovski, and Goran Stefanovski. Cašule also wrote several novels. A main theme of his work is the defeat of idealists and idealism. His play ''Crnila'' (1960; “Black Things”) deals with the early 20th-century murder of an IMRO leader by other Organization's activists and with the characters of both executioners and victim. Among the best-known novelists and writers of prose were Stale Popov (''Krpen zivot'' (1953; “Darned life”)), Gjorgji Abadžiev (''Pustina'' (1961; “Desert”)) and Zivko Cingo, whose collections of stories Paskvelija (1962) and ''Nova Paskvelija'' (1965; “New Paskvelija”) are about an imaginary land where clashes and interactions between old traditions and revolutionary consciousness are enacted. His novel ''Golemata voda'' (1971; “The Great Water”), set in an orphanage, shows the grandness and sadness of childhood. Other notable writers include Petre M. Andreevski (''Pirej'' (1980; “Pirej”)), Vlada Uroševic (''Sonuvacot i prazninata'' (1979; “The Dreamer and the Emptiness”)), Jovan Pavlovski (''Sok od prostata'' (1991; “Prostate Gland Juice”)), Venko Andonovski (''Papokot na svetot'' (2000; “Navel of the World”)), Aleksandar Prokopiev (''Covekot so cetiri casovnici'' (2003; “The Man With Four Watches”)), and some of the leading playwrights were Jordan Plevnes (''Mazedonische zustände'' (1979; “Mazedonische zustände”)), Sashko Nasev (''Chija si'' (1991; “Who do you Belong to”)), and Dejan Dukovski (''Bure barut'' (1996; “The powder keg”)). The diversity of themes and narrative styles among 21st-century writers has grown even more, and the list includes writers born in the period 1970s–1990s. Some of the most distinguished in this generation are: Goce Smilevski (''Sestrata na Sigmund Frojd'' (2007; “Freud's Sister”)), Lidija Dimkovska (''Rezerven zivot'' (2012; “A Spare Life”)), Slavcho Koviloski (''Sinot na kralot'' (2011; “The Son of the King”)), Nikola Madzirov (''Ostatoci od nekoe drugo vreme'' (2007; “Remnants of Another Age”)), Stefan Markovski (''Anatomija na bumbarot'' (2020; “The Bumblebee Anatomy”)), Rumena Bužarovska (''Mojot maz'' (2014; “My Husband”)), Petar Andonovski (''Teloto vo koe mora da se zivee'' (2015; “The Body One Must Live In”)), Nenad Joldeski (''Sekoj so svoeto ezero'' (2012; “Each with Their Own Lake”)), and others.

Authors

Some of the well-known authors that contributed in the development of the Macedonian literature are: *

Krste Misirkov Krste Petkov Misirkov ( bg, Кръсте (Кръстьо) Петков Мисирков; mk, Крсте Петков Мисирков, ; 18 November 1874 – 26 July 1926) was a philologist, journalist, historian and ethnographer from the re ...

''Considered/self-identified his language and himself as Bulgarian.'' – ''writer'' – ''writer, Slavist and philologist'' * Aco Šopov – ''poet and writer'' * Gjorgjija Pulevski – ''writer and political activist'' * Gane Todorovski – ''writer and poet'' * Ante Popovski – ''writer and poet'' * Kočo Racin – ''writer and poet'' *

Kole Nedelkovski Kole Nedelkovski ( Bulgarian and mk, Коле Неделковски) was a Macedonian revolutionary and poet,Risto Krle – ''writer'' *

Venko Markovski Venko Markovski ( Bulgarian and mk, Венко Марковски), born Veniamin Milanov Toshev (March 5, 1915 in Skopje – January 7, 1988 in Sofia) was a Bulgarian and Macedonian writer, poet, partisan and Communist politician. Biography B ...

– ''poet'' * Vlado Maleski – ''writer'' * Vojdan Chernodrinski – ''writer'' * Vasil Iljoski – ''writer'' * Anton Panov – ''writer'' * Mateja Matevski – ''poet'' *

Blaže Koneski Blaže Koneski ( mk, Блаже Конески; 19 December 1921 – 7 December 1993) was a Macedonian poet, writer, literary translator, and linguistic scholar. His major contribution was to the codification of standard Macedonian. He is the k ...

– ''writer'' * Simon Drakul – ''writer'' * Gogo Ivanovski – ''writer'' * Ivan Tochko – ''writer'' * Petar Shirilov – ''writer'' * Tashko Georgievski – ''writer'' *

– ''writer'' * Živko Čingo – ''writer'' * Grigor Prličev : More...

Notes

References

* ''Makedonska književnost'' (“Macedonian Literature”). Tome Sazdov, Vera Stojčevska-Antić, Dragi Stefanija, Georgij Stalev, Borislav Pavlovski. Školska knjiga. Zagreb, 1988. (in )

External links

Macedonian literature from 14 c.
{{Literature of Europe