(1882 - 1945)

Teodor Trayanov was born in Pazardzhik. He went to a high school in Sofia, studied at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Sofia University, and went on to pursue his education at the Higher Technical Institute in Vienna (1901-1908; Architecture). He took part in the two Balkan Wars as a volunteer (1912, 1913). He held a number of posts at the Bulgarian diplomatic mission in Vienna (1914-1920) and the Bulgarian General Consulate in Breslau (Wroclaw, 1922). In 1923, he returned to Bulgaria and took up literary activities. In 1926-1933 he was a teacher at the First High School for Boys in Sofia.

Trayanov published his first poems in 1899; he contributed to a number of periodicals, submitted poems to collections and anthologies (Bulgarska antologiya [Bulgarian Anthology], 1910; Poetichna godina [A Year of Poetry], 1915; Nay-otbrani pesni [Best Selected Songs], 1917; Mlada Bulgaria [Young Bulgaria], 1922; Odrin [Edirne], 1923; Lord Byron, 1924). With Ivan Radoslavov and Lyudmil Stoyanov, he co-edited the most important Bulgarian journal championing Symbolism, Hyperion (1922-1931).

Teodor Trayanov is the author of Regina mortua (1909), Himni i baladi [Hymns and Ballads] (1912), Balgarski baladi [Bulgarian Ballads] (1921), Pesen na pesnite [Song of Songs] (1923), Romantichni pesni [Romantic Songs] (1926), Osvobodeniyat chovek [Man Unbound] (1929), Panteon [Pantheon] (1934).

Many consider his poem “A New Day” to be the first example of literary Symbolism in Bulgarian literature. Within the framework of the national tradition, Trayanov was the most consistent representative of Symbolism.

Few of Teodor Trayanov’s poems have been translated into English and anthologised.

Context search: