The reassessment of everything that happened during the turbulent and controversial past of the twentieth century has not yet provoked the creation of major historical epics, which - naturally - requires a distance in time. However, the "up close and personal views" of many writers who lived in those tumultuous decades are already an accumulation of factual material, reflections and assessments, which becomes a prerequisite for understanding the past of hardships, and for future generations - the actual "Key" to that very understanding.
Among the authors of memoirs from that time - let me mention here at least Dragan Tenev and Vladimir Svintila, who were witnesses and interpreters of the events they experienced. Their peer and fellow writer, a successor, like them, to the tradition illuminated by such memoirists as Simeon Radev and others, is Dimo Kissyov - an officer in the Bulgarian army (from the so-called "royal" officers in the terminology of communism) and professional writer, a writer - author of more than ten books published in the period from the fifties to the end of the eighties of the twentieth century. Many of them are memoirs or based on his vivid recollections, which sealed his strong and sensitive, objectively directed observations.
The writer's imagination, allowing him to build novel constructions and true images of people who live and change with the environment, in the memoirs of Dimo Kissyov is transformed into insight into the overall experience and understanding of what happened. It separates itself from the very personality of the author, very interesting, of course, and worthy of attention, and leads us to the deep meaning of events. In this way, the narrator becomes a historian, and his personal experiences fit into the historical panorama of that difficult, anxious, cruel and restless time.
Dimo Kissyov has had an enviably rich life! Even if he writes only about his experience, he will still not be able to write all the books he has in his head...
– Ivan Bogdanov, writer and critic
The writer D. Kissyov - the narrator, is as impressionable as he is impressive - with his closeness to the everyday speech. Readers of his memoirs may think that they are listening to them "at the table" - with a cup of coffee, brandy or wine. They are so unbiased and sincere, immediate, and at the same time, that is why they are exciting.
Dimo Kissyov is a man whom fate has sent many times to key places in sublime moments and that is why his memories are interesting as part of national and European history; they receive such high ranking also because of their objectivity. And the fact that the narrator takes us to the peaks, valleys and fords of the past life path, emotionally paints his memories, as they become true reads, true literature.
And inevitably for the reader, in the process of reading and especially upon the reflection after reading, the question arises: what kind of person is D. Kissyov, what kind of people did we have, what characters they have built and manifested to be able to cross the treshold still honest and unsullied in these times of total delusion? Thus, the personality of the author, which we will not find in the text in the form of self-analysis, is completed in our own minds as a historical hero. However, this hero is not subject to mythologizing. At the same time, he is an example for all people at all times - not the only one, of course - to uphold human dignity as the supreme value. But it is concentrated in the image of a highly cultured Bulgarian from Sofia with a family tradition, with education in the spirit of integrity, military honor and patriotism.
There are, of course, no such "big words" in the text, presented with pathos - they come only as a conclusion to the reader himself, while the narrator relies much more on a sense of humor, as a constant counterpoint to military reality and tragic events.
Dimo Kissyov arrives at historiographical summaries, as if he had not set such a goal. But he is driven to do so by his alert mind, which cannot fail to comprehend what has been experienced and what is happening, and more importantly, the clear historical consciousness he possesses. It is also supported by erudition, of course, but it remains purely authorial and human - authentic, and not obscured by unnecessary disputes with other opinions and interpretations.
The author's literary and human experience has indeed allowed him to connect historical summaries with artistic expression in an exciting way. Thus, people and events become plastic, a kind of "recovery" of the past - credible and exciting.
* D. G. Dimitrov - "A Brief History of Art", pub. Prosveta, Sofia, 2000, D. G. Dimitrov - Polish Art in the Last 100 Years, University Press. St. Cyril and St. Methodius, Sofia, 2000