Nikoleta Patova
Rejected Europeism
Summary
In the process of creation and confirmation of our national self-consciousness, the cultural and historical awareness of the people is characterized by the operation of the mechanism of identification “we – the world”. With institutionalization of the national concepts and ideals, a vacuum is created in the Bulgarian spiritual space, raised mostly by the question “who are we”? The quest for a method to determine the real location of Bulgaria and Bulgarians in the European and cultural and historical context is expressed by the comparison to other peoples and cultures. One of the aspects of this quest is the interest in the Slavic world, and in particular in Russia. Rayko Zhinzifov’s ideology, most unambiguously stated in his publicist works, was influenced by his stay in Moscow and by the Slavophil doctrine. The conflict of Slavophil doctrine vs. Western European doctrine predetermined Zhinzifov’s attitude towards the ways to national self-determination, taken by his compatriots. His publicist works try to convince of the natural affiliation of the Bulgarians to the Slavic world and interestingly opposes the western influence in his motherland (the poem Europeanism in Shumen).
