Studia Filologiczne UJK

Summary

The text concerns an image of a Bulgarian in a German guide to the Balkans from the early twentieth century, published in the Meyers Reisebücher series. The concise characterization of the Bulgarian included in the guide is basically limited to remarks on origin (issues of ethnogenesis and language), appearance and temperament, religion and way of life. While the conventionality of this type of literature is not surprising, it is relatively difficult (especially against the background of the epoch) to find an explanation for the radical contrast of the Serb and the Bulgarian – in particular when it comes to assessing their military talents, as well as by (suggesting associations with the biblical context) characterizing them as “shepherd” and “farmer” respectively. Since in other sources from the era, including Polish and Bulgarian, we find analogous descriptions, it is probably an authorized, “export” version of the (auto)stereotype of Bulgarians of that period, although it cannot be ruled out that these are echoes of one of the narratives of the end of the Empire – namely martyrological (from the position of a victim of the system, in the context of suppressed uprisings).