“Бай Ганьо невероятни разкази за един съвременен българин” / “Bai Gagno”
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Autor:
Aleko Konstantinov
Country:
Bulgaria (BG)
Book Theme:
Classic novels and Authors representing your country culture
Publisher:
Bulgarian writer
Publishing Year:
1895
Aleko Konstantinov was born into the family of a wealthy merchant in Svishtov. He studied at the best schools in Bulgaria, graduated in law from Odessa and come back to Sofia. Konstantinov worked as a judge and lawyer, but defending innocent poor people. As a passionate traveller, he single-handedly set off organised tourism movement in Bulgaria. As a writer, he captured the most unattractive and also the most fascinating traits of the Bulgarian national character and nature. Aleko Konstantinov is the only writer within or beyond the national literary canon who is called by his first name, Aleko, or by his most popular pen-name Shtastlivetsa, or The Happy One.
National Award for Children’s and Young People’s
Abstract
Bay Ganyo is divided into two parts. The first, Bay Ganyo Goes to Europe, is dedicated to the merchant’s travels in Central Europe and the comic as well as thought-provoking clash of civilisations that ensues. A shrewd, confident opportunist, Bay Ganyo is immune to culture shock, at least most of the time. Instead of being impressed and humbled by the higher standard of living, the magnificence of architecture and the refined etiquette of Europe, he proudly preserves his own habits, shaped by centuries in the Balkans under Ottoman rule. He screams loudly. He burps while dining with a prominent intellectual in Prague. He does not understand the point of sightseeing. He is offended when a woman meets his uncouth sexual advances with a slap. Occasionally he does feel embarrassed: as when he tries to take off his tailcoat at the Vienna Opera, because he is hot, and the audience laughs at him, and when he is afraid that a train has departed with one of his precious possessions, a rug he had brought to Europe all the way from Bulgaria, to keep himself warm.In the second part of Bay Ganyo, the protagonist becomes an undisputed anti-hero. After his successful business trip to Europe, Bay Ganyo is eager to dabble in politics in search of more money, influence and power. Combined with a lack of any scruple, his opportunism, pragmatism and shrewdness unleash. He and his cronies harass political opponents, abuse freedom of speech, rig elections and sink to unplumbed depths in their efforts to endear themselves to those in power. Bulgarians still wonder whether Bay Ganyo in Europe is a good or a bad character. Yes, he is uncultured, an ignoramus, a brute. But, unlike so many real-life Bulgarians since the 19th century, he never expresses blind admiration for the real or supposed superiority of the European lifestyle and culture. He is confident in his Bulgarian identity and is proud of it, no matter what.
