(1898 - 1923)
Hristo Smirnenski (Hristo Dimitrov Izmirliev) was born in the town of Kukush. After the destructive fire at the time of the Second Balkan War, his family moved to Sofia. He went to the Technical and then to the Military Schools there. In 1915 he started contributing to the satirical publications K’vo da e, Balgaran, Rodna lira, Hudozhestvena sedmitsa, Smyah i salzi, Baraban, etc.; he and his brother Toma Izmirliev published the satirical magazine Maskarad (1922-1923). In 1917 he used his pen-name “Smirnenski” for the first time, and he published his first collection, Raznokalibreni vazdishki v stihove i proza [Sighs of Various Sizes, in Verse and in Prose], in 1918. He was made member of the editorial board of Balgaran, and started contributing to the communist satirical magazine Cherven smyah (1919); later on he published in Rabotnicheski vestnik and Narodna armiya.
In the period 1920-1923, Smirnenski produced his urban and revolutionary poetry perceived as his mature writing. Among the best known of his poems are the following titles: “Niy” [We], “Chervenite eskadroni” [The Red Army], “Bratchetata na Gavroche” [Gavroche’s Brothers], “Tsvetarka” [Flower Girl], “Stariya muzikant” [The Old Musician], “Ulichnata zhena” [The Street Walker], “Ulitsata” [Street], “Severno siyanie” [Northern Lights], “Buryata v Berlin” [The Storm in Berlin], “Johan”, “Yunosha” [Lad], “Moscow”, “Zhaltata gostenka” [Yellow Visitor], the cycle Zimni vecheri [Winter Evenings], etc.
Smirnenski is also the author of feuilletons, fragments in prose (“Ochi” [Eyes], “Zidari” [Masons]), impressions (“Bosonogite detsa” [Barefooted Children], “Smelo Tovarishchi” [Courageously, Comrades]), sketches, and of the impressive Prikazka za stalbata [The Tale of the Ladder]. In 1922, his second collection of poems, Let It Be Day! was printed, the last that Smirnenski saw to publication.
Smirnenski’s poetry registered a progress from symbolic to realistic imagery; it marked the beginning of urban and object-centred psychological poetry and is a most impressive poetic substantiation of left-wing ideology in Bulgarian culture.
Some of Smirnenski’s poems have been translated into English by Peter Tempest and Vladimir Philipov.
In the period 1920-1923, Smirnenski produced his urban and revolutionary poetry perceived as his mature writing. Among the best known of his poems are the following titles: “Niy” [We], “Chervenite eskadroni” [The Red Army], “Bratchetata na Gavroche” [Gavroche’s Brothers], “Tsvetarka” [Flower Girl], “Stariya muzikant” [The Old Musician], “Ulichnata zhena” [The Street Walker], “Ulitsata” [Street], “Severno siyanie” [Northern Lights], “Buryata v Berlin” [The Storm in Berlin], “Johan”, “Yunosha” [Lad], “Moscow”, “Zhaltata gostenka” [Yellow Visitor], the cycle Zimni vecheri [Winter Evenings], etc.
Smirnenski is also the author of feuilletons, fragments in prose (“Ochi” [Eyes], “Zidari” [Masons]), impressions (“Bosonogite detsa” [Barefooted Children], “Smelo Tovarishchi” [Courageously, Comrades]), sketches, and of the impressive Prikazka za stalbata [The Tale of the Ladder]. In 1922, his second collection of poems, Let It Be Day! was printed, the last that Smirnenski saw to publication.
Smirnenski’s poetry registered a progress from symbolic to realistic imagery; it marked the beginning of urban and object-centred psychological poetry and is a most impressive poetic substantiation of left-wing ideology in Bulgarian culture.
Some of Smirnenski’s poems have been translated into English by Peter Tempest and Vladimir Philipov.
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All spellings; Smirnenski, Christo; Smirnenski, Hristo; Смирненски, Христо; Smimenski, Christo