Hristo Boev: “The Different Dobrudja” shows the need for cooperation between Bulgarians and Romanians

Interview with the translator of Romanian literature and literary critic about his Bulgarian-Romanian study

Vladimir Mitev

Dobrudja divided Bulgarians and Romanians in the first part of the XX century. Can it unite them a century later? The literary critic and translator of Romanian literature Hristo Boev (Ph.D.) published in 2020 a book, called “The Different Dobrudja in the literature between the wars”. He studies how Bulgarians and Romanians saw each other, the literary descriptions of the towns in Southern Dobrudja, the military stories of Yordan Yovkov and George Topârceanu, what the Romanian press wrote about Bulgarians and other issues, which construct the literary and historical Bulgarian-Romanian consciousness. 

The books offers an unexpected and unprecedented travelling in Bulgarian-Romanian relations – in the psychology, the cultural layers, the ethnic nuances, etc. Boev explores the period and the land, which become a dividing line between the two people. But his study has the role of a closing of the wound, just as the states managed to do it through the Treaty of Craiova in 1940. Both nations can come out stronger and with better understanding of one another after that period. 

What remains to happen today, when Bulgarians and Romanians are part of the same integrationist structure, is to know each other and to look for cooperation. In the conditions of the corona crisis and the antivirus measures, travelings are to a great extent impossible. What remains is to travel in literature and online. This is what the blog “The Bridge of Friendship” proposes through the interview with Hristo Boev, which he gave on 9 March 2021 in the garden before the regional library “Lyuben Karavelov” in Rousse:

Photo: Hristo Boev’s books (source: The Bridge of Friendship)

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About Author

Vladimir Mitev

Vladimir Mitev is a Bulgarian Romanian-speaking journalist. He has interacted with many Bulgarian and Romanian media outlets, including Bulgarian National Radio, Mediapool, all major Bulgarian television stations, Darik Radio, and more (Bulgaria); Radio Romania, The Liberal Community 1848, all the major Romanian television stations; DoR; Libertatea; PressHub; and others (Romania); The Analysis, Acorn Radio (USA); Open Democracy (UK); voxEurop (France); the Observatory for the Balkans and the Caucasus; The Other News (Italy); The Institute for Central Europe (Poland); Argument (Czechia); Merce (Hungary); Bilten (Croatia); and Agora (the Republic of Moldova).
He promotes the idea of non-hegemonic, mutually empowering interactions in Central and Southeastern Europe that could contribute to the formation of a dynamic regional identity and connect citizens to the global community.

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