Slaveykov, Pencho Petkov

Pencho Petkov Slaveykov, (born April 27, 1866, Tryavna, Bulg.—died May 28, 1912, Brunate, Italy), Bulgarian writer who, with his father, Petko Rachev, introduced contemporary ideas from other European countries and established a modern literary language in Bulgarian literature.

Slaveykov was educated at home before entering the local school in 1875. His education was disrupted in 1876 by the April Uprising and in 1877–78 by the Russo-Turkish war. He studied in Leipzig, Ger., during the years 1892 to 1898.

It was while Slaveykov was studying in Germany that he began the work for which he is best known, his unfinished epic poem Kurvava Pesen (written 1911–12, published 1913; “Song of Blood”), which describes the sacrifices of the Bulgarian people in their struggle for independence. He continued to work on this poem for the rest of his career. Slaveykov was inspired especially by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Heinrich Heine, and Friedrich Nietzsche, as well as by the simple eloquence and realism of Bulgarian folk songs. He was also an outstanding essayist and translator of German literature.