Stoian Nikolov Mikhailovski

Born Jan 7, 1856, in Elena; died Aug. 3, 1927, in Sofia. Bulgarian writer.

Mikhailovski was the son of the teacher and enlightener N. Mikhailovski. He studied law in France from 1875 to 1877. He achieved popularity as the author of fables, poems, and verse directed against bourgeois reactionism, for example, the collections The Iron Strings (1890) and Today the Hammer, Tomorrow the Anvil (1905). Mikhailovski’s allegorical poem Book About the Bulgarian People (1897) and his prose works, including Eastern Legends (1904), sharply criticized Bulgaria’s monarchy. The cycle of poems Prologue to the Book of Slaves (1900) and the poem The Grinder (1902) call for an end to oppression. In the first decade of the 20th century religious and mystical trends appeared in Mikhailovski’s work, and he began writing reactionary publicistic articles.