Konstantinov, Aleko Ivanitsov

Konstantinov, Aleko Ivanitsov 

Born Jan. 1, 1863, in Svishtov; died May 11, 1897. Bulgarian writer.

After graduating from the Gabrovo Gymnasium, Konstantinov moved to Russia; he attended a Gymnasium in Nikolaev and studied at the law department of the University of Odessa (1881–85). He served in the judiciary in Sofia and practiced law after 1892. He traveled by foot throughout Bulgaria and visited France and the USA. His travel sketches To Chicago and Back (1893) exposed the social inequality in the USA. His series of satirical short stories, Bai Ganiu (published separately 1895; Russian translation, 1912), brought him his greatest success. The name of Bai Ganiu, an enterprising sharp dealer and unscrupulous politician, became synonymous with militant ignorance and unbridled reaction. Konstantinov was killed by hired assassins on the Peshtera-Pazardzhik highway.

WORKS

Suchineniia, vols. 1–2. Sofia, 1970.
In Russian translation:
Fel’etony i ocherki. Introduction by A. Sobkovich. Moscow, 1954.
Bai Ganiu. Moscow, 1968.

REFERENCES

Il’ina, G. la. “A. Konstantinov.” Ocherki istorii bolgarskoi titeratury XIX-XX vekov. Moscow, 1959.
Zarev, P. “A. Konstantinov.” Panorama na bulgarskata lit-ra, vol. 1, 2nd ed. Sofia, 1969.
Dimitrova, E. A. Konstantinov. Sofia [1969].

A. S. SOBKOVICH