Nikolay Raynov is probably the most original creator in all Bulgarian literature from the first half of the XX century. That is why it is somewhat strange that he is so unknown today. It is the first to open the doors of magic, occultism and mysticism in our contemporary literature. He does it with the ease of an experienced wizard, though his first "magic" work was released in 1912 when he was just 23 years old.
The appearance of Nikolay Raynov in Bulgarian literature is a landmark event. His strange book, Bogomil Legends, is a bold challenge to old-world foundations and traditional orders. She won the young author the fame of a symbolist - an artist belonging to the most fashionable literary course in Bulgaria. And nothing in the biography of the youngster suggests belonging to modernity. He is called a weirdo, a life-long mystic and a heretic. It is engrossed in theological issues and seems to be in antiquity.
Nikolay Raynov was born in the village of Kesarevo, Veliko Turnovo, on 1 January 1899. He grows up in a poor and deeply religious family. His father sees him as a future priest, so he insists that Nicholas enroll in a seminary. This largely predetermines his path in life. The gifted youngster earns a scholarship that allows him to go to seminary. Finding himself in the community of Christian preachers, he hates Orthodoxy with its strict dogmatism and hierarchy. The rebel in him spread his wings. It starts flying high above its midpoint.
N. Rainov's literary debut comes in May Kit, where he writes poems under the pseudonym K. Champions. " He soon published and narrated the Yellow Monastery, suggesting that the seminary looks like a building for mentally ill people (insane). The school will find who can read the cheeky story. Subsequently, Nikolai's behavior was reduced by two units and was not deprived of the scholarship for a while. The doctrine begins to shake his faith instead of strengthening it.
With the completion of the seminary, the tireless "Truth Seeker" wanders, as his son will call him in years, Bogomil Rainov. "I studied philosophy, and I did decorative and graphic arts; I decided to become a monk, but I got married; I loved people, and they hated me; my enemies are those whom I have done only good; I'm thirty, but I look old; I thought my calling was reading, but I was forced to write. I am most grateful to the seminary for teaching me to think, to be silent, to honor, to contemplate and to seek something higher than man… ”(Nikolay Raynov)
Nikolay Raynov finds a place among the great writers of Bulgaria after the publication of his book Bogomil Legends. This remarkable creation is unmatched by any other in Bulgarian literature. It is an original compilation of diverse religious myths that claim to revise the Christian notion of God, the creation of the world and people. Satan (Satanail) in Bogomil Legends is the son of God and the true creator of the world. Satanail is the father of Cain, he is also the creator of the Garden of Eden, he tempts and possesses Eve, prompts Cain to kill his brother Evel (Abel), etc. The book may suggest that its author is well acquainted with the theological texts, with the Bogomil teaching and its heretical suggestions. Because, according to the Bogomils, Satan, not God, creates the earth and the people. Nikolay Raynov prefers to sign his work with the nickname "Anonymous", but his authorship remains a secret.
This work fits N. Rainov in the ranks of the Symbolists. It stands out for its peculiar mystical and theosophical nature, for which the author was later identified as both a "worshiper" and a "God-fearing man." Nikolay Raynov is a believer, but not a religious one. His credo is, "There is no religion higher than the truth." He is the first Bulgarian writer to be anathematized by the church for his works. N. Raynov denies unbelief, since it professes a mystically dyed and doubtless belief. "The unbeliever is an aspiring destroyer and the mystic is a creator," he says.
Nikolai Raynov is endowed with an exceptional mind and incredible ability to work. Sam studies the major European languages to the extent that he can read them freely without using a dictionary. In his family, he is remembered forever with a book and a pencil in his hand, detached from reality and Bytovism. If he is not called to eat, he will not remember that he should eat. He rarely welcomes guests, and communicates with people. He likes to say that for a writer, "people" are his readers. That is why the connection with the readers is only really important.
However, Nikolay Raynov finds time for the writers circles of Bulgaria. Collaborates with Geo Milev in Libra (1918 - 1919) and Vladimir Vassilev in Zlatorogo. He became the editor-in-chief of the magazines Zenica and Orpheus, in which he promoted his Theosophical ideas, to which he had been addicted since Bogomil legends. He worked for some time as Chief Librarian at the Plovdiv Library. Two years is a business trip to Paris (1925 - 1927), where he gets acquainted with cultural monuments. Upon his return to Bulgaria he was invited to teach art history. He ended his scientific career in 1950 as an academician.
Nikolay Raynov is a stunningly productive creator. Between 1918 - 1925 published 13 books, with only five published for 1918. In his first 25 creative years, his account included 58 works, around 600 fairy tales and 360 articles. "He made books the way others do tools and furniture," says Bogomil Rainov. "Critics define him as a symbolist, a mystic, a romantic, an individualist ... His son Bogomil Rainov will remind himself over time that in his lifetime some consider him a hermit and a saint, others as a bohemian and a misanthrope. And he is an original and estranged artist. He is a writer, self-contained in an "ivory tower", a stranger wandering the territories of exoticism and fiction. There is a legend that he is a silent and self-sufficient man, an inhabitant of a fictional world. In fact, he is rather a hurt and grieving person in his loneliness. "Most of all, I love children, flowers and small animals. Because they can't hurt you. "(Nikolay Raynov)
Experts rightly point out that throughout the 20 century our literature does not have another encyclopedic figure similar to Nikolai Rainov. He is simultaneously a poet, prose writer, publicist, essayist, art critic and literary critic, classic Bulgarian children literature, translator, magazine editor, author of aesthetic programs, historian of literature and fine arts, calligrapher, ethnographer, professor, professor and more ... It can be said that Nikolai Raynov is a tireless seeker of the divine in man as well. In his interview, he says, "The spiritual fusion of the divine with the human is a very topical truth through which we find ourselves."
Nikolai Raynov's creative career seems to be outlined by his beautiful poems:
"A man is neither nice nor fallen, nor proudly upright.
It's nice - when it gets straight.
Of all the signs of steps along the way, I just liked it
The steps that wander. "
