Dimitar Talev () (1 September 1898 – 20 October 1966) was a Bulgarian writer, journalist, political prisoner, and member of the Bulgarian National Assembly.

Biography

Born in

Prilep Prilep ( ) is the List of cities in North Macedonia, fourth-largest city in North Macedonia. According to 2021 census, it had a population of 63,308. Name The name of Prilep appeared first as ''Πρίλαπος'' in Greek (''Prilapos'') in 1 ...

, in the

Manastir Vilayet The Vilayet of Manastir () was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire, created in 1874, dissolved in 1877 and re-established in 1879. The vilayet was occupied during the First Balkan War in 1912 and divided between t ...

of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

(present-day

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

), Talev studied at the Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki, the Bulgarian pedagogical school of Skopje and later in

Stara Zagora Stara Zagora (, ) is a city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of Stara Zagora Province. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain, near the cities of Kazanlak, Plovdiv, and Sliven. Its population is 121,582 making it the sixth largest c ...

and

Bitola Bitola (; ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki border crossing ...

. He studied medicine and philosophy in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, and Slavic philology in

Sofia University Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" () is a public university, public research university in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is the oldest institution of higher education in Bulgaria. Founded on 1 October 1888, the edifice of the university was constr ...

(1925). Talev was the managing editor of the ''Macedonia'' newspaper, and a contributor and editor in the ''Zora'' newspaper. The former gradually became an organ of the right wing of Ivan Mihailov's

Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; ; ), was a secret revolutionary society founded in the Ottoman territories in Europe, that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1893 in Salonica, it initia ...

. At that time Talev began to propagate for a Macedonia within the borders of the

Kingdom of Bulgaria The Tsardom of Bulgaria (), also known as the Third Bulgarian Tsardom (), usually known in English as the Kingdom of Bulgaria, or simply Bulgaria, was a constitutional monarchy in Southeastern Europe, which was established on , when the Bulgaria ...

. He viewed the occupation of Vardar Macedonia by Bulgaria in 1941 as a successful end to the Macedonian Struggle. The new political situation after the 1944 communist coup changed Bulgaria's policy on the Macedonian issue. Talev was declared a "fascist" and a " Greater Bulgarian chauvinist. He was arrested by the communist authorities and was sent to the Sofia Central Prison and later to a forced labour camps. Talev was expelled from the Bulgarian Writers' Union and from 1948 to 1952 he was exiled to Lukovit. After

Valko Chervenkov Valko Velyov Chervenkov ...

was replaced by

Todor Zhivkov Todor Hristov Zhivkov ( ; 7 September 1911 – 5 August 1998) was a Bulgarians, Bulgarian communist statesman who served as the ''de facto'' leader of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB) from 1954 until 1989 as General Secretary of the Cen ...

, Talev was declared by the new government as unlawfully repressed and was subsequently pardoned and rehabilitated. His membership in the author's union was restored and he would be elected to its governing board. Zhivkov's government awarded Talev three awards in the field of literation - in 1959, 1963 and 1966, respectively. In 1966 Talev was elected as MP in the 31st Narodno Sabranie (Bulgarian Parliament). Talev Glacier on

Graham Land Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

is named after Dimitar Talev.

Literary work

Talev published his first story in 1917 in the newspaper "Rodina" (Motherland),

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

. Later he continued to publish his literary texts in periodicals in Bulgaria and abroad. His first book, "The Tears of my Mother" was published in 1925. It was a collection of stories and tales for children. He published several more books, notably his

tetralogy A tetralogy (from Greek τετρα- ''tetra-'', "four" and -λογία ''-logia'', "discourse") is a compound work that is made up of four distinct works. The name comes from the Attic theater, in which a tetralogy was a group of three tragedies ...

"The Iron Candlestick", "The Bells of Prespa", "Ilinden" and "I Hear Your Voices". In 2016, the Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria sent an inquiry to the authorities in the Republic of Macedonia due to copyright violations regarding the translation and publication of parts of Talev's tetralogy by a private publishing house. The novels of Dimitar Talev were translated with dozens of pages cut out and replacement of the word "Bulgarian" with "Macedonian" in the text. The case reached the European Parliament. In 2021, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev sent original copies of the tetralogy to North Macedonia, stating that the persecution of Bulgarian books and their falsification must remain irretrievably in the past.Президентът Румен Радев подкрепи инициативата „Изпрати българска книга в Македония“
Vesti.bg, 29 март 2021.
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Novels

*''Arduous Years'' () **Part 1. ''In The Dusk of Morning'' () 1928 **Part 2. ''Revival'' () 1929 **Part 3. ''Ilinden'' () 1930 *''The Iron Candlestick'' () 1952 *''Ilinden'' () 1953 *''Kiprovets Arose'' () 1954 *''The Bells of Prespa'' () 1954 *'' Samuil'' () **Book 1. ''Shields of Stone'' () 1958 **Book 2. ''Cinderella and the Prince'' () 1959 **Book 3. ''Downfall'' () 1960 *''I Hear Your Voices'' () 1966

Short stories and collections

*''The Golden Key'' () 1935 *''The Great King'' () 1937 *''The Old House'' () 1938 *''Novels and short stories'' () 1962

References

External links

The Iron Oil Lamp (in Bulgarian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Talev, Dimitar 1898 births 1966 deaths People from Prilep People from Manastir vilayet Bulgarian historical fiction writers Bulgarian children's writers Bulgarian male writers Sofia University alumni Members of the National Assembly (Bulgaria) Burials at Central Sofia Cemetery Macedonian Bulgarians 20th-century Bulgarian journalists