Geo Milev

(real name, Georgi Milev Kasabov). Born Jan. 15, 1895, in Radnevo, near Stara Zagora; died May 15, 1925, in Sofia. Bulgarian poet.

Milev, the son of a teacher, attended the University of Sofia in 1911 and 1912 and the University of Leipzig from 1912 to 1914. The early period of his literary career was influenced by symbolism and expressionism. The rise of the Bulgarian revolutionary movement of the early 1920’s brought about a change in Milev’s work. The poet published the literary journal Vezni (The Scales, 1919–22) and the antifascist journal Plamia (The Flame, 1924—25). The latter advocated Marxism and defended realistic tradition.

Milev’s principal work, the romantic poem September (1924), re-created the popular fervor and tragic episodes that accompanied the suppression of the September Antifascist Uprising of 1923 and expressed with great poetic force faith in the ultimate victory of the people. Milev translated the poetry of E. Verhaeren, V. V. Mayakovsky, and A. A. Blok. He died in a fascist torture chamber.