Aleko Konstantinov ( bg, Алеко Константинов) (1 January 1863 – 11 May 1897) ( NS: 13 January 1863 – 23 May 1897) was a Bulgarian writer, best known for his character

Bay Ganyo Bay Ganyo ( bg, Бай Ганьо, ; also transliterated as ''Bai Ganio'' or ''Baj Ganjo'') is a fictional character created by the Bulgarian author Aleko Konstantinov (1863–1897). He is considered an exemplary image of an anti-hero: an uneducated ...

, one of the most popular characters in Bulgarian fiction.

Life and career

Born to an affluent trader in the

Danube River The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

town of Svishtov, he attended the Faculty of Law of

Odessa University Odesa I. I. Mechnykov National University ( uk, Одеський національний університет Iмені І. І. Мечникова, translit=Odeskyi natsionalnyi universytet imeni I. I. Mechnykova), located in Odesa, Ukraine, i ...

(formerly the Imperial Novorossiya University), graduating in 1885. He worked as a lawyer in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

before embarking on a career as a writer. His first novel, organized as a collection of short stories, ''Bay Ganyo'' (translating to uncle Ganyo), describes the travels of an itinerant peddler of

rose oil Rose oil (rose otto, attar of rose, attar of roses, or rose essence) is the essential oil extracted from the petals of various types of rose. ''Rose ottos'' are extracted through steam distillation, while ''rose absolutes'' are obtained through ...

and rugs through Western Europe. Though impertinent and clumsy, Bay Ganyo proves to be ingenious and is considered by some scholars to be a mirror for a modernizing Bulgaria. The character is believed to be based on a Karlovo tradesman, Ganyo Somov. Konstantinov, a cosmopolitan traveler, was the first Bulgarian to write about his visits to Western Europe and America. His visits to the World Exhibitions in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

in 1889,

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

in 1891 and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

in 1893 - including a visit to

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the U.S. state, state ...

- provided Bulgarian readers, who had recently gained independence from nearly 500 years of Turkish Ottoman oppression, with a portrait of the developed world. '' To Chicago and Back'' (where Bay Ganyo appears again), his travel notes from his American trip, spurred a lasting interest in Chicago, which today boasts the largest concentration of Bulgarian immigrants in the United States. There is a bust of the writer in the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

's Regenstein Library and a section of Irving Park Road in Chicago is named after him. He was assassinated in 1897 near Radilovo while traveling to

Peshtera Peshtera ( bg, Пещера , sometimes transliterated as ''Peštera''; rup, Peshtera) is a town in the Rhodope Mountains, southern Bulgaria. It is located in Pazardzhik Province near the towns of Batak and Bratsigovo. The town is the third la ...

, most likely by mistake with the intended target being his friend (a local politician), with whom he had changed places in their coach shortly before the fatal shot. However, there exists also a version that his essays, exposing the hidden insidious intentions of the rulers of his day, led to his assassination. Aleko Konstantinov is believed to have initiated the tourist movement in Bulgaria. Two of Vitosha's hotels are named after him – "Aleko" and "Shtastlivetsa" ("The Happy Man", the nickname he gave to himself in one of his short stories). Konstantinov is portrayed on the

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ...

of the Bulgarian 100 levs banknote, issued in 2003.Bulgarian National Bank
Notes and Coins in Circulation
100 levs
– Retrieved on 26 March 2009. Aleko Konstantinov's Grave

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Konstantinov, Aleko 1863 births 1897 deaths People from Svishtov Democratic Party (Bulgaria) politicians Bulgarian satirists 19th-century Bulgarian novelists People murdered in Bulgaria Bulgarian murder victims Deaths by firearm in Bulgaria Burials at Central Sofia Cemetery Odesa University alumni 19th-century Bulgarian lawyers

Life and career

See also

References

Further reading

In English

External links