Паралитературата: текстология и социология
Paraliterature: Sociology and Textology

Summary/Abstract: The present study deals with the meaning of the term “paraliterature”. It is acknowledged as a common designation of various literary genres that paradoxically could be observed from “within and without” the mainstream literary standards. Moreover, paraliterature ranges over “the category of written works, as a whole, relegated to the margins of recognized literature and often dismissed as subliterary despite evident resemblances to the respectable literature of the official canon”. The authors undertake the interpretation of two unidentified hand-written collections from the Bulgarian “Belle Époque”: “Album of various songs to remember” (1896-1901) (created, written and copied by the classmates and friends of Lubomir Targovski - Boyan Penev is also among them) and “Album” by Nikola Sapundjiev (1909-1911) (in the city of Razgrad and in the village of Slavyanovo). Generally, these albums are essential for the self-identification of certain social groups – the military, prisoners, girls, bohemians. Both collections are included the concept “album poetry” . The values in these works are concerned with “the multiculturalism” of Razgrad`s high school. The biographies of their respective owners are also of interest. As a literature of personal documents the works in these collections belong to different genres: songbook, scrapbook, hand-written book in the complicated relations between “high” and “low” cultural strata. The goal, which this study pursues, is to ask some questions, such as where, when, how and into what axiologic perspective these albums and other para-literary forms may find their place in academic periodisations and the history of Bulgarian literature.

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