The Making of a Nation in the Balkans: Historiography of the Bulgarian Revival (Ceu Medievalia)

The 19th century was the epoch of nation building for the Bulgarians under Ottoman rule. Comparisons and analogies are made between the Bulgarian Revival and other regions, epochs, ideological trends and events. The National Interpretation -- Concepts Of The (bulgarian) Nation -- Nationalism And Romanticism -- The National And The Spiritual (cultural) Meanings -- The Analogy With The Renaissance -- The Bulgarian Revival And The Enlightenment -- Analogies With The Reformation -- The Bulgarian Revival And European Development -- Modernity And Modernization -- The Transition From Feudalism To Capitalism -- Capitalism During The Revival -- Ottoman Feudalism -- The Social (bourgeois) Revolution And The Agrarian Thesis -- The Economic And The National-spiritual Interpretation -- Excursus On Periodization -- The Urban Estate And Social Struggles In Older Historiography -- Bourgeoisie And Notables In Earlier Marxist Controversies -- Toward Rehabilitation -- The Peasants -- The Intelligentsia -- The Class Struggles Between The Social And National -- Vulgar Marxist Sociologism And Its Abandoning -- Paisii As A Problem -- Evolutionists And Revolutionaries -- The Hierarchy Of National Heroes : Rakovski, Karavelov, Levski, Botev : Reappraisals And Reshuffling -- The April Uprising And The Russo-turkish War -- The Revolution -- Revisions And Reappraisal -- Rightist Visions Of The Bulgarian Revival -- The Democratic Image -- The Battle Of The Communists For The Legacy Of The Revival. By Roumen Daskalov. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [259]-281) And Index. The nineteenth century was the epoch of nation building for the Bulgarians under Ottoman rule. In this book, comparisons and analogies are made between the Bulgarian Revival and other regions, epochs, ideological trends, and events. These latter are taken from two major areas--Western Europe ("Renaissance," "Enlightenment," "Romanticism," the French Revolution, and national liberation movements), and Russia (the "agrarian question," "populism" and "utopian socialism," "revolutionary democrats," and the Russian Revolution of 1905). Historical facts about the Revival were instrumentalized for political purposes, such as the fostering of national and state loyalties through the reproduction of identities, or, directly, as the legitimating/contesting of a current political regime under the guise of disputes over historical legacy. Ideological mobilization took place in the form of nationalism, right-wing authoritarianism (shading into fascism), and communism. The author sets in relief some of the mechanisms and logic of the two grand narratives under the sign of nationalism, and of Marxism "The book contains a presentation and critical consideration of the ideas of historians on the major problems, processes, events, and personalities of the era of the Bulgarian (national) Revival. It is dominated by the effort to understand how the Bulgarian Revival has been conceived of and imagined while keeping a certain distance from the various views presented, whether critical, ironic, or simply that inherent in the presentation of another person's view."--BOOK JACKET