The Bulgarian Novelist Who Challenged Communist Dogma

Dimitar Dimov speaks at a meeting of the Association of Bulgarian Writers in 1964. Among those sitting are Panteley Zarev (second row, second left), Georgi Karaslavov (first row, fifth from left) and Kamen Kalchev (first row, seventh from left), who were some of the most fervent critics of the novel "Tyutyun." The slogan above them reads: "Let the great Communist idea spark ever higher and stronger in our literary works.” National Museum of Bulgarian Literature

For three consecutive days, author Dimitar Dimov was forced to sit and listen to the speeches of 23 of the most respectable critics in Bulgaria, subjecting his newly published novel to destructive, Stalinist-style criticism. Never in the history of Bulgarian literature had an author faced such a panel and then been forced to rework his novel.

The novel “Tyutyun” (“Tobacco” in Bulgarian) was published at the end of 1951 and became an instant hit in the small Eastern European country, though the critics giving speeches labeled it a failure.