Bangor University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Magical realism : master or servant? Stockwell, Trefor Award date: 2012 Awarding institution: Bangor University Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 04. Oct. 2021 4 Magical Realism: Master or Servant? Trefor Stockwell Submission for the degree of PhD 2012 Bangor University 5 Abstract This study seeks to show the process of development by which my writing of this series of short stories has responded to my relationship to a welcoming, albeit alien, culture; namely: a small mountain village in south west Bulgaria. It also explores my responses to living and working within that culture, and the ways in which my studies of the folk culture, history and the impact of western culture on existing cultural beliefs and values have also affected both my writing and my own rather ambiguous cultural background (see introduction p. 1). The core of the thesis is a collection of eighteen short stories, written to be performed, and consequently written in storyteller’s style. All of the stories, excluding the first and the eighteenth, were written during my two year stay in Bulgaria, and linked using the conceit of the fictional storyteller, Ivan Levsky, and all were written in response either to historical events, cultural events or local incidents or characters. It also seeks to illustrate the way in which my work became increasingly reliant on the freedom that Magical Realism allows. It was this freedom that led me to write this collection in the style in which it is written, and led me to the final conclusion that I had no other option of saying what I wished to say in the way in which it was said; hence the rather ambiguous title: Magical Realism; Master or Servant? The literary background is explored through critical reflections in the final chapters. Where appropriate I have explained the genesis of each work and, where appropriate, the influences of the work of other writers upon my writing; in particular the works of Salman Rushdie and Angela Carter. I have also included short critical explorations of the major works of both of these writers. As the stories contain Bulgarian and Turkish words which may not be familiar to some readers I have also included a glossary. For the same reason I have included a brief historical time line relevant to each story. 6 Contents Introduction 1 Part 1: The Tales of Ivan Levsky Farewell to Ivan Levsky 3 The Martenitsa 8 Khristo’s Truck 14 The Next Emperor of Bulgaria 22 The Small Miracle at Dolno Draglishte 29 The Cats of Thassos 39 Brussels, Jambo the Gypsy and Vera the Horse 47 Samodiva 54 Shipka 64 Progress 72 The Man with One Head Too Many 79 Letters Home 88 Fate and the Life and Death of Chudomir Daev 95 Khan Isperih’s Gift 97 Reflection 108 Stefan Popovitch and the Great ‘What If?’ 118 The Experiment 129 The Downfall and Subsequent Salvation of Todor Yenkov 139 Part 2: Magical Realism: Master or Servant? 155 Part 3: Critical Reflections: Angela Carter and Salman Rushdie 176 7 Part 4: Commentaries: Genesis, Inspiration and Influences Critique: Farewell Ivan Levsky 189 Critique: The Martenitsa 190 Critique: Khristo’s Truck 192 Critique: The Next Emperor of Bulgaria 195 Critique: The Small Miracle at Dolno Draglishte 198 Critique: The Cats of Thassos 200 Critique: Brussels, Jambo the Gypsy and Vera the Horse 202 Critique: Samodiva 204 Critique: Shipka 206 Critique: Progress 208 Critique: The Man with One Head Too Many 211 Critique: Letters Home 213 Critique: Fate and the Life and Death of Chudomir Daev 215 Critique: Khan Isperih’s Gift 216 Critique: Reflection 218 Critique: Stefan Popovitch and the Great ‘What If?’ 220 Critique: The Experiment 222 Critique: The Downfall and Subsequent Salvation of Todor Yenkov 225 Appendices Glossary of Bulgarian, Turkish and Roma words and phrases 227 Bulgarian Historical Time-Line With Reference to the Collection 230 Bibliography 232 1 Introduction I was born in England to Welsh parents, both of whom, though in particular my father, raised myself and my siblings to think of ourselves as Welsh, and to take particular pride in our own unique culture. As a consequence of this I grew up in England, through school and into maturity in the belief that I was living in an alien culture, surrounded by people who were unaware of my ethnic roots. Four years living in North Africa, in my mid-twenties, did little to make me doubt my Welsh heritage. However, on moving to Wales I found that people’s perception of me was that I was English; I spoke with an English accent: ergo I was English. This led me to thinking about the importance of cultural background, and then onto thinking what would happen to artistic output if the artist were removed completely from his or her social, cultural and ethnic milieu to a completely alien environment. I decided to try this as an exercise, and in 2005 moved to the south west corner of Bulgaria. I realised that moving to one of the major cities or towns would not be taxing enough: life in the larger conurbations was more sophisticated with many of the residents having at least a basic understanding of the rudiments of the English language. I did not want this, what I wanted was to immerse myself completely in the culture in an area that had, as yet, avoided the worst excesses of Western European culture. I chose a small village named Dolno Draglishte. This village of less than a thousand souls was situated in the foothills between the Pirin and Rhodope mountain ranges. The residents were mostly middle aged or elderly, the majority of the young having left in order to find work in the larger cities or in foreign climes. I had no means of conversing with the populace. I did not speak Bulgarian and they did not speak English, I had nothing apart from sign language and a phrase book. It was perfect, and at first slightly disconcerting. Chapter one of this thesis contains the sixteen short stories written during my twenty month stay in the village, and related by the fictional oral storyteller, Ivan Levsky; plus a further two, the first and the eighteenth, written after my return to Britain. These final two will be discussed more fully in chapter four. As will my reasons for including them both in the collection. 2 The sixteen stories composed in Bulgaria are an eclectic mix inspired by my experiences in the village, and by my study and growing interest in Bulgarian history, culture and folk traditions, including the strong oral convention still prevalent in remote villages. They also reflect a change in my attitude toward faith and belief: as a convinced atheist I found myself facing what can only be described as a crisis of lack of faith, and was drawn to the possibility of my believing, like Hamlet, that ‘there are more things in heaven and earth -- than are dreamt of in our philosophy.’1 Several of the stories therefore reflect that concern. Chapter Two explores my understanding of the term Magic Realism, its influence on my own writing and posits the question: do writers choose to write in that particular style, or does, because of circumstance, be they political, cultural or gender based, mean that the style chooses them? Chapter three discusses the influence of two writers, Salman Rushdie and Angela Carter, on the writing of this collection. It also takes a critical overview of their major works. Chapter four contains critical reflections on the nineteen works, and discusses their inspirational genesis; it also suggests possible influences. The remaining sections contain a bibliography of all works cited or consulted; a glossary of all Bulgarian, Turkish or Roma words or phrases used within the text, a short historical time line relevant to each of the short stories and disc copies of the interviews conducted with Michael Petrov, history graduate, and the folklorists Yane Kamenarov and Elena Georgiava Kamenarova. 1. William Shakespeare, Hamlet,ed. by T. J. B. Spencer (London: Penguin,1980), p.96. L. 166-167 3 PART ONE The Tales of Ivan Levsky 4 Farewell Ivan Levsky (An Introduction) I first met Ivan Levsky one evening in February 2007. A Bulgarian friend, knowing of my interest in the oral tradition still prevalent in the Balkans, suggested I accompany him through the snow to an evening of storytelling. ‘This man,’ my friend told me ‘is very special; in my opinion the finest storyteller in the whole of the region.’ I was intrigued as my friend, unlike the average Bulgarian, did not suffer from hyperbole, and so that evening I agreed to join him in the local Mehana where the event was to be hosted. I had been to several of these events during my sojourn in the country, and this one started off in much the same vein as the others; if you have ever attended an open mike poetry evening in Britain you’ll pretty much get the picture: some good, some not so good and some downright bloody dire.