14907 | 20 Feb. 2026 | 10:25

His entire body of work tells the story of an interesting man and writer who was present in the cultural and social life of Bulgaria until the end of World War II.

  Dimitar Babev is one of the forgotten Bulgarian writers. His books have long been a rarity in libraries and are difficult to find even in antique bookstores. A large part of his works are translated into Russian, French, Swedish, German and Esperanto, but in Bulgaria they have been erased from our memory. His entire body of work tells the story of an interesting man and writer who was present in the cultural and social life of Bulgaria until the end of World War II.

 Little is known about his life. He was born in Veliko Tarnovo on October 25, 1880. He completed his primary education in the old capital and went to high school in Plovdiv. He studied law in Brussels, but graduated from Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski".

 It is likely that his interest in law and literature would have connected him to Georges Nouryagan.  He is a correspondent for Italian newspapers, press secretary at the Italian Embassy in our country, and advisor to the papal nuncio in Bulgaria. In 1933, he published his book "The Macedonian Tragedy Seen from Rome", which included the opinions of over 40 Italian public figures and cultural activists on the events in Macedonia. He is the author of grammars, dictionaries, and serious studies on Bulgarian language in relation to Italian culture and literature, as well as books on Bulgarian writers and critics. In the archive of the National Library, there is a portrait photo of Dimitar Babev, on which he personally wrote: "To my friend Georges Nurygnan, as a sign of spiritual friendship, September 23, 1939".

 In 1902, Babev published his first poem in the magazine "Bulgarian Assembly". From 1913 to 1917, he is the editor of the magazine "Listopad". In it, he managed to attract, especially in the first few years, a few of our famous writers – Pencho Slaveykov, Kiril Hristov, Nikolay Raynov, Dimcho Debelyanov, Emanuil Popdimitrov, and Nikolay Rakitin. In fact, Dimitar Babev is not only an editor but also an administrator and proofreader of the magazine. He publishes "Listopad" under difficult conditions, without financial assistance, which is why it appears irregularly.

 The only things he could rely on are the few regular subscribers and the support of his colleagues. "That's why my struggle is great, but I publish it to fight against decadence," he used to say.

 Later, he worked as an editor at the publishing house of the Ministry of National Education. He writes plays and poems. His poetry is mainly elegiac, influenced by the work of Heine, Yavorov, Debelyanov, and Pencho Slaveikov. Together with Dimitar Podvyarzachov, they edit the collection "Theater and Parties". In addition to being a poet, he is also a playwright at the National Theater and a literary critic. He participated in the Balkan War. One of his impressive poems from this time is "Prayer Before the Battle", in which he portrays the drama of men at war.

 He becomes one of the creators of the Union of Bulgarian Writers. He collaborated with the newspapers "Morning" and "Peace", where he made notes on literary topics. His name can also be found on the pages of the magazine "Children's Vacation".

 His first book, published in 1916, is "Our Writers". It contains articles about the works of our well-known writers. Three years later, the world welcomes his book of poetry "Tales of Life and Death". It is followed by the poem "Eternal Tale" (1923), "Once and Never" (1923), and "King Marko" (1926). In "Critique of a Poet", he includes articles about life and art, Russian poets, and theatrical notes (1928).

 In 1926, he publishes a compact volume of poems called "Book of Revelations". Within the lines of the author, we discover timeless themes of life and death, love and alienation, truth and faith, sorrow and loneliness. His verses are often infused with sadness and darkness. In them, his beloved girl is revived, whom death takes to a better world at a very young age. He waits for her, sleepless, standing by the window, and her silhouette appears in the glass…

 In the poem "Sin" appears an image of a man who walks through winter, through fog and cold, towards his beloved woman, driven by his strong desires for her. After a long journey, he stops in front of the door. Snow has stuck to his clothes, but he is in front of the "magical doors" of her home. He knocks on the door, she opens it for him. Behind him enter the Devil and Satan, and he sees "the cursed image of sin". His wife brings him white linen and tamanu oil, myrrh and frankincense, myrtle and sun rays, sea corals, love and beauty. She worships him and he turns into an otherworldly deity.

 Dimitar Babev leaves a mark in our children's literature as well. In 1932, he publishes the poetry collection "Sheepskin Bag". The book is published by T. F. Chipov, and the artist is Nikola Tuzsuzov. The circulation is 3000 copies. The children's poems "Brave Zayu", "Sunny Wedding", "Winter is Coming", "Joy", "Spring" and others are playful and humorous. They become essential reading for younger children.

 He is also the author of the play "Sekulova Bride" (1932) and the comedy "Women Give Birth". He compiles an anthology of French poets (1920). He translates Russian poetry: poems and epics by Pushkin, Lermontov, Yakubovich, Akhmatova, works by J. Byron, German poets. Among his translated works are the play "Ghosts" by H. Ibsen, the novella "Namiko, or The Cuckoo" by Japanese writer Kendjiro Roka Tokutomi, works by Guy de Maupassant, S. Lagerlöf, F.M. Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, M. Prevo, B. Bjørnson, L. Horn, articles by J. Duhamel, O. Spengler and others.

 It is known that during that time it was difficult for our writers to earn their living from their own creativity. Many of them worked as clerks at the Ministry of National Education - Georgi Raychev, Elisaveta Bagryana, Vladimir Polyakov, Slavcho Krasinski, Asen Bosev are just a few of the names. Many of them thought they had a sinecure position, but they all followed a set working schedule. Among them was also the writer Dimitar Babev. His contemporaries often met him exhausted and with a sad look. He walked with a moderate pace, and under his left arm he carried a bag full of manuscripts and corrections. At that time he was an editor and proofreader for the ministry's magazine "School Review". Every day he strained his eyes with proofs and various manuscripts.

 He constantly moved between the printing house and the Ministry. К He has never complained about his heavy workload. In those years, very few of the magazine employees used typewriters. Babev had to struggle with editing mistakes, read various manuscripts with exposed handwriting. This terrible job tormented him, but he accepted the responsibility as a proofreader. His small room on the top floor of the ministry was always filled with smoke from his cigarettes, which he smoked one after another. On the table, the window sill, and the only free chair, old proofreading tools were in disarray.

 Even when he edited "Leaf Fall", he did not pay his employees any fees, but treated them with a cup of coffee in exchange for a published article. Among the names of the writers was also his friend Prof. K. Stefan Mladenov - linguist, dialectologist, specialist in Indo-European linguistics, Slavic studies, Balkan studies, Bulgarian studies, a world-renowned scientist. Babev used to say that everyone writes to him only in memory. In "Autumn Leaves", he publishes his poems and literary-critical articles. Under some poetic miniatures he signs with the pseudonym Nadezhda Milcheva. With this pseudonym he managed to deceive even our critic. He thought it was some new poetess whose poems resembled those of Pencho Slaveikov's "Dream for Happiness".

 Babev was modest and quiet by nature. He hated modernists and strongly opposed Bulgarian symbolists. According to him, their poetry was full of meaninglessness and poetic machinations. The editor takes pride in the fact that a large critical article by Professor Stefan Mladenov entitled "Decadents and Nihilism" has been published in his magazine "Leaf Fall". It was printed in books 9 and 10 in 1924. The editor of "Leaf Fall" used to joke, saying, "The decadents wanted to create wonders in literature; they struggled to create literary noise and brilliance with decadent means. But in reality, their formal poetry, full of nonsense, with empty and unclear verses constructed with meaningless phrases, has no value." In his book "Our Writers," Dimitar Babev emphasizes the strong foundations of our national literature, which were built by Ivan Vazov, Pencho Slaveykov, Peyo Yavorov, Todor Vlaykov, Anton Strashimirov, Tsanko Tserkovski, and others, whom he also portrays in literary portraits.

 He is a true workaholic. The fatigue on his face has never left him, his voice has grown weak. His friends often asked him when he has time to read books for which he writes reviews and literary notes on the margins, when does he have time for creativity at all. He would answer meekly: "At night, after midnight, when everyone in our family goes to bed, when it is quiet."

 Sometimes he would sit for a while at the "Ohrid" pastry shop. His friends would gather there every Tuesday, but Dimitar Babev is not a regular visitor. In the cases when work did not press him, he also participated in their trips to Dragalevski Monastery. He always looked dull and sad.

 But he was truly devastated after the bombing attacks on Sofia in 1944. That's when his apartment on Oborishte Street, near the bridge, was destroyed. He could not bear what had happened. Day after day he quietly melted within himself, suffering. While in the end he got sick. He died the following year - on December 4, 1945, at the age of 65. Death caught him as a true poor man. Most of his writer friends thought he was rich. He wrote, edited, and translated on a daily basis.

 Once, Dimitar Babev and writer Stilian Chilingirov argued who was better off financially.

 • You write for "Mir", for "Utro", you work for "Uchilishten pregled", you edit your own magazine "Listopad", you have a villa in Bankya - Chilingirov said.
• Well, you have a pension, you teach at the chira school, you edit the magazine "Detski svyat", you take rent from the bakery and so on - Babev replied.

 In fact, both writers earned enough to survive and their friendly argument was pointless.