(1895 - 1925)
Geo Milev (Georgi Kasabov Milev) was born in Radnevo, Stara Zagora region. He went to the high school in Stara Zagora and afterwards enrolled as a student of Romance Philology at Sofia University; he attended lectures in Philosophy, Literature and Theatre at the University of Leipzig where he wrote a dissertation on Richard Dehmel’s poetry. After his tour abroad, which included London too, he came back to Bulgaria in 1915. He was drafted into the army and in 1917 was badly wounded in the head and lost an eye. Thus, 1918-1919 was a period of medical treatment in Berlin. Keeping an eye on the contemporary tendencies in literature, he got in touch with the leftist representatives of German Expressionism and contributed to their magazines Die Aktion and Der Sturm. In Sofia, he published the Vezni journal (1919-1922) and the Vezni almanac of 1923, the forum of Symbolism and Expressionism in Bulgaria. In 1924 he started editing a new periodical, the Plamak magazine, and he published his long poem “Septemvri” [September] in it. By operation of the Law for the Protection of the State, he was sentenced to a year in prison. Brutally murdered, Geo Milev was considered “lost without trace” for decades. His remains were identified in 1925, when victims of right terror were exhumed from a mass grave.
Geo Milev was an artist of many talents: he was a poet, a journalist, a literary critic, a director, and a translator. In 1913, the Listopad magazine published his Literaturno-hudozhestveni pisma ot Germania [Artistic literary letters from Germany]. In 1914 he printed an article in the Zveno magazine, a manifesto really, entitled “Modernata poeziya” [Modern poetry], and he wrote a “Panihida na poeta P.K. Yavorov” [A Requiem for Yavorov]. A year later he started publishing his “unbound lyrical sheets” introducing Mallarme, Dehmel, Verhaeren, Verlaine, and Nietzsche to the Bulgarian reading public. In 1918 he published his study “Teatralno izkustvo” [The Art of Theatre]; in 1920 he staged Strindberg’s The Dance of Death at the People’s Theatre. In a number of articles Geo Milev outlined a programme for the development of the Bulgarian avant-garde. He is the author of collections of poetry such as Antologiya na zhaltata roza [Anthology of the Yellow Rose] (1919), Krashtenie s ogan i duh [Baptising by Fire and Spirit] (1923), Antologiya na chervenata roza [Anthology of the Red Rose] (1924, with a foreword “Kratka istoriya na balgarskata poeziya” [A short history of Bulgarian poetry]), Zhestokiyat prasten [Begirded with a Snare] (1920), Ikonite spyat. Pet varianta na narodni pesni [The Icons Asleep: five versions of folk songs], the cycle Ekspresionistichno kalendarche za 1921 godina [Expressionistic Calendar for the Year 1921] and the series Grozni prozi [Ugly Prose]. His long poems “Ad” [Hell], “Den na gneva” [A day of wrath], and “Septemvri” [September] are among the unsurpassed representations of Bulgarian Expressionism. Geo Milev translated classic and modern authors; he provided bio-critical outlines too, portraying Bulgarian and foreign writers.
Geo Milev was the figure that carried out the transition from Symbolism to Expressionism in Bulgarian literature. Each one of his publications aimed at a topical dialogue between Bulgarian and European culture. His activities involved books and writing, but also the arts of painting, theatre, music even, and early cinema.
Among Geo Milev’s translators into English are Peter Tempest and Ewald Osers.
Geo Milev was an artist of many talents: he was a poet, a journalist, a literary critic, a director, and a translator. In 1913, the Listopad magazine published his Literaturno-hudozhestveni pisma ot Germania [Artistic literary letters from Germany]. In 1914 he printed an article in the Zveno magazine, a manifesto really, entitled “Modernata poeziya” [Modern poetry], and he wrote a “Panihida na poeta P.K. Yavorov” [A Requiem for Yavorov]. A year later he started publishing his “unbound lyrical sheets” introducing Mallarme, Dehmel, Verhaeren, Verlaine, and Nietzsche to the Bulgarian reading public. In 1918 he published his study “Teatralno izkustvo” [The Art of Theatre]; in 1920 he staged Strindberg’s The Dance of Death at the People’s Theatre. In a number of articles Geo Milev outlined a programme for the development of the Bulgarian avant-garde. He is the author of collections of poetry such as Antologiya na zhaltata roza [Anthology of the Yellow Rose] (1919), Krashtenie s ogan i duh [Baptising by Fire and Spirit] (1923), Antologiya na chervenata roza [Anthology of the Red Rose] (1924, with a foreword “Kratka istoriya na balgarskata poeziya” [A short history of Bulgarian poetry]), Zhestokiyat prasten [Begirded with a Snare] (1920), Ikonite spyat. Pet varianta na narodni pesni [The Icons Asleep: five versions of folk songs], the cycle Ekspresionistichno kalendarche za 1921 godina [Expressionistic Calendar for the Year 1921] and the series Grozni prozi [Ugly Prose]. His long poems “Ad” [Hell], “Den na gneva” [A day of wrath], and “Septemvri” [September] are among the unsurpassed representations of Bulgarian Expressionism. Geo Milev translated classic and modern authors; he provided bio-critical outlines too, portraying Bulgarian and foreign writers.
Geo Milev was the figure that carried out the transition from Symbolism to Expressionism in Bulgarian literature. Each one of his publications aimed at a topical dialogue between Bulgarian and European culture. His activities involved books and writing, but also the arts of painting, theatre, music even, and early cinema.
Among Geo Milev’s translators into English are Peter Tempest and Ewald Osers.
