BULGARIAN LANGUAGE AND LIT ERATURE. Bulgaria and the adjacent dis tricts of Macedonia are considered to have been the cradle of the old Slavic languages. The ancient Bulgarian language was the richest of them all, and was the scriptural language of the Greek-Slavic Church and the great medium of ecclesiastical literature in the ancient Slavic lands. The Russian language is said to have been molded by missionaries of the Greek Church sent from Bulgaria about the llth cen tury, while the future empire was still in a state of semi-barbarism. The Russian tongue has preserved many inflections which the Bul garian has lost. After the overthrow of the Bulgarian kingdom at the close of the 14th century, the grammatical structure and purity of the language became impaired by mixture with the Wallachian, Albanian, Rumanian, Turco-Tartar and Greek vernaculars; and the modern Bulgarian language has only the nom inative and vocative of the seven Slavic cases, all the rest being supplied by prepositions. It ViTan put afterthe "word it qualifies, like that of the Albanians and Wal lachians. Among ancient Bulgarian ecclesias tical literature must be mentioned the transla tions of the Bible by Cyril and Methodius, and the writings of John of Bulgary in the 10th century. Grammars of the Bulgarian language have been published by Neofyt in 1835 and by Christiaki in the following year. Venelin, a young Russian scholar, sent to Bulgaria by the Russian archnographical commission, pubhshed in 1837 a grammar and two volumes of a his tory of the Bulgarians, but died while he was engaged in preparing a third volume. A new grammar was given to the public by Bogojev in 1845 and finally, in 1849, by the Rev. E. Riggs, an American missionary stationed at Smyrna, who also sent a Bulgarian translation of Gallaudet's 'Child's Book on the Soul) to New York. Dictionaries of the Bulgarian lan guage have been compiled by Neofyt Rilsld, who also published a work on education, and Stojanowicz. A Bulgarian version of the New Testament was printed at Smyrna in 1840 for the British and Foreign Bible Society. The Bulgarian national songs are numerous, and are similar to those of the Serbians. Czelakowsky's collection of Slavic songs contains a number of Bulgarian songs. Bobojev has published several historical poems. Among more recent writers the poet Christo Boteff (d. 1876), who exercised a powerful influence on the national spirit, is regarded as one of the greatest poets Bulgaria has produced; while the poet-novelist Ivan Vazoff is the most popular author to-day. He is also a dramatist and was at one time a soldier and a revolutionary. His best works were written during the years of his exile in Russia and Rumania. Many are translated into English and other languages. Ivan Vlaikoff depicts peasant life and writes psychological romances; Michailovski is a brilliant political journalist, a mystical poet and a satirist of French education; Aleko Constantinov was a lawyer, literary critic and translator of French and Russian masterpieces, and a humorist of a high order. Perhaps the greatest literary
artist of all was Pencho Slaveikov, philosopher, poet and revolutionist, who died in 1912 by the hand of an assassin. Competent critics have designated him °the Bulgarian Shakes peare" on account of his beautiful language and deep insight into the mysteries of the soul. His mantle fell on the shoulders of Petko Todoroff, dramatist, poet and philosopher. Velitchkov translated from Shakespeare, Mo liere and Dante; he fought against the Turks in his younger days and later held a govern ment position. Tserkovslcy is to Bulgaria what Burns was to Scotland, the bard of the peas antry. Among the younger poets there are P. Yavoroff, K. Christoff, C. Boteff and A.
ff Strashimiro, all intensely national in the spirit of their works. Bulgaria can also boast of a number of writers in other spheres. In his tory, law philosophy and economics, V. Zla tarsky, IL Daneff, the well-known statesman, S. Radeff and Stepan Bobtcheff. D. Ivanoff is the Tolstoy of the Bulgarian short story and has all the grim realism of the Russian mas ter. In the scientific field are Ivan Georgoff, D. Michaltchieff, P. Neukoff, G. Bontcheff and Stepan Petkoff. Literary criticism has its rep resentatives in B. Penneff, Balabanoff, Krstieff and Ivan Shishmanoff. There are several lit erary societies and important reviews dealing with all aspects of human culture.
Bibliography.— See also under Bulgaria. — Constantinoff, A., Ganio' (Paris 1911) ; Dozon, L., 'Chansons bulgares> (Paris 1875) ; Leskien, A., 'Handbuch der altbulgarischen Sprache' (Weimar 1886); Miklositch, F., 'Ver gleichende Grammatik der Bulgarischen Sprache' (Vienna 1879) ; Miladinoff Brothers, 'Folk-Songs and Proverbs' (Agram 1861) ; Miletitch, L., 'Staroblgarska Grammatika' (Sofia 1896) ; Monroe, W. S., 'Bulgaria and Her People' (Boston 1914— an excellent, comprehensive work) ; Morfill, W. R., 'Gram mar of the Bulgarian Language' (London 1897) ; Pypin and Spasovitch, 'History of the Slavonic Literature' (Paris 1881) ; Slaveikoff, P., 'The Shade of the Balkans' (London 1904); Strausz, A., 'Bulgarische Volksdichtungen' (Vienna 1895) ; Teodoroff, 'Blgarska Litera tura' (Philippopolis 1912) ; Vazoff and Velirch kov, 'Bulgarian Chrestomathie) (Philip popolis 1884); Vazoff, I., 'Under the Yoke' (London 1912); Vymazal, F., (Hartleben's Bibliothek der Sprachenkunde, Vienna 1888); Winlow, Clara, 'Our Little Bul garian Cousin' (Boston 1913) ; 'World's Best Literature,' Vol. 24 (New York 1897).