Crushing the Imperial(ist) Eagles: Nationalism, Ideological Instruction, and Adventure in the Bulgarian Comics about Spartacus – the 1980s and Beyond
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4312/clotho.4.2.101-124Keywords:
Daga, Bulgarian comic magazines, Spartakiad, Strimon, ThraceAbstract
Daga (the Bulgarian word for “rainbow”) was a Bulgarian comic magazine launched in 1979 and regularly published until 1992. Its remarkably westernized aesthetic greatly impacted an entire generation of readers. Included in its variety of stories (history, sci-fi, literary classics) is an action-packed account of Spartacus’ exploits. For ten consecutive issues (1979–1983), the story spanned the hero’s life from a more fanciful narrative of his early years in Thrace to the better-documented events in Italy and his death. The paper explores the plotline, characterization, and visual aspects of “Spartak” to reveal the eponymous hero’s significance for young Bulgarian readers in the 1980s. Drawing on the cultural and historical context, I argue that Spartacus was well suited to serve as a role model and a national hero by embodying the proletarian anti-imperialist struggle and also, notably, because of his supposed place of birth near the river Strimon in modern-day Bulgaria. I also look at examples of contemporary comics, including a new graphic novel based on Daga’s story published in 2020, and consider the transmutations of the hero to suit the post-communist (and anti-communist) ideological agenda, characterized by a departure from the proletarian image of Spartacus in favor of more conservative, aristocratic features.
Downloads
References
Bradley, Keith R. Slavery and Rebellion in the Roman World, 140 BC – 70 BC. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.
Danov, Hristo and Maria Daskalova. Spartak [Spartacus]. Sofia: Narodna prosveta, 1977.
Daskalov, Roumen. The Making of a Nation in the Balkans: Historiography of the Bulgarian Revival. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2004.
Duncan, Randy, and Matthew J. Smith. The Power of Comics: History, Form and Culture. New York: Continuum, 2009.
Elenkov, Ivan. “Humanno-klasoviat vtori Zlaten vek: 1300 godishninata ot osnovavaneto na bulgarskata durzhava I istorizirane na ofitsialnata kultura v yubileinata deistvitelnost (1976–1981)” [The humanist-class second Golden Age: The thirteenth centenary of the foundation of the Bulgarian state and the historicization of the official culture within the celebratory reality]. Kritika i humanizam 23 (2007): 33–62.
Fields, Nic. Spartacus and the Slave War 73–72 BC: A Gladiator Rebels against Rome. Oxford: Osprey, 2009.
Genchev, Nikolai. The Bulgarian National Revival Period. Translated by M. Shipkov. Sofia: Sofia Press, 1977.
Genov, Nenko. “‘Spartak – Zashtitnikat na Trakia’ I ‘Spartak – Buntat na robite’ ot Veselin Chakarov I Miroslav Petrov” [Spartacus – the Defender of Thrace, and Spartacus – the Revolt of the Slaves by Veselin Chakarov and Miroslav Petrov]. Knijni Krile, November 24, 2017.
Giovagnoli, Raffaello. Spartak [Spartacus]. Translated by Petar Dragoev, 7th ed. Sofia: Otechestvo, 1982.
Girginov, Vassil. “Bulgarian Sport Policy 1945–1989: A Strategic Relations Approach.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 26, no. 4 (2009): 515–38. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09523360802658184
Gounot, Andre. “Between Revolutionary Demands and Diplomatic Necessity: The Uneasy Relationship between Soviet Sport and Worker and Bourgeois Sport in Europe from 1920 to 1937.” In Sport and International Politics: Impact of Fascism and Communism on Sport, edited by Pierre Arnaud and Jim Riordan, 184–210. Milton Park: Taylor and Francis, 1998.
Griffith, J. G. “Spartacus and the Growth of Historical and Political Legends.” In Spartacus: Symposium rebus Spartaci gestis dedicatum 2050 A., edited by Alexander Fol and Hristo Danov, 65–70. Sofia: Bulgarska akademia na naukite, 1981.
Information Bulgaria: A Short Encyclopaedia of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria. Edited by the Bulgarian Academy of Science; translated by Sofia Press Agency. Oxford: Pergamon, 1985.
Jenkins, Henry. “Introduction: Should We Discipline the Reading of Comics?” In Critical Approaches to Comics: Theories and Methods, edited by Matthew Smith and Randy Duncan, 1–15. London: Routledge, 2012.
Kovachev, Pencho. “1981: 1300 godini Bulgaria, 70 godini Todor Zhivkov” [1981: 1300 years of Bulgarian state, 70 years of Todor Zhivkov]. 24 Chasa. April 24, 2021.
Manolov, Lyubomir, and Vladimir Konovalov. “Spartak” [Spartacus]. Daga #2 (1980), 3–8. Available online, with all the issues that followed, at https://issuu.com/razkazivkartinki.
——— , and Georgi Shumenov. “Spartak” [Spartacus]. Daga #3 (1980), 3–15.
——— , and Georgi Shumenov. “Spartak” [Spartacus]. Daga #4 (1981), 3–11.
——— , and Georgi Shumenov. “Spartak” [Spartacus]. Daga #5 (1981), 3–9.
——— , and Georgi Shumenov. “Spartak” [Spartacus]. Daga #6 (1981), 3–11.
——— , and Georgi Shumenov. “Spartak” [Spartacus]. Daga #7 (1981), 3–12.
——— , and Georgi Shumenov. “Spartak” [Spartacus]. Daga # 8 (1982), 3–7.
——— , and Georgi Shumenov. “Spartak” [Spartacus]. Daga #9 (1982), 3–9.
——— , and Georgi Shumenov. “Spartak” [Spartacus]. Daga #10 (1982), 3–10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3516934
——— , and Georgi Shumenov. “Spartak” [Spartacus]. Daga #11 (1983), 3–9.
Manolov, Teodor. Spartak: Grafichen roman s entsiklopedia na antichnostta po nashite zemi; Kniga 1, Sinat na nepokornite [Spartacus: A graphic novel with an encyclopedia of our lands in antiquity; volume 1, The son of the disobedient]. Sofia: Istoricheski park, 2020.
Markov, Georgi. Buntat na Spartak [The rebellion of Spartacus]. Sofia: Siela, 2017.
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. Collected Works, translated by Peter and Betty Ross, vol. 41. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1985.
Mommsen, Theodor. The History of the Roman Republic. Abridged from the History by Professor Mommsen. New York: Charles Scribner & Co., 1911.
Petrov, Miroslav, and Veselin Chakarov. Spartak: Zashtitnikat na Trakia [The Defender of Thrace]. Sofia: Fondatsia Vazdigane, 2017.
——— , and Veselin Chakarov. Spartak: Buntat na robite [The Revolt of the Slaves]. Sofia: Fondatsia Vazdigane, 2017.
Popov, Dimitar. Spartak Trakietsat [Spartacus the Thracian]. Sofia: Iztok-Zapad, 2015.
Rudenko, Oleksii. “The Making of a Soviet Hero: The Case of Spartacus.” The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review 47 (2020), 333–56. DOI: https://doi.org/10.30965/18763324-20201365
Schiavone, Aldo. Spartacus. Translated by Jeremy Carden. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2013. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674075801
Smirnenski, Hristo. Selected Poetry and Prose. Translated from Bulgarian by Peter Tempest. Sofia: Sofia Press, 1980.
“Spartak.” Vesyolie kartinki #4 (1980): 14–16. Available online at www.barius.ru/biblioteka/book/1894.
“Spartakiada po morski sportove” [Naval sports Spartakiad]. Bulgarska armia. August 8, 2021.
Stajnov, Stojan, and Marija Jankova. Legenda za mladia Spartak [Legend of young Spartacus]. Sofia: DVI, 1972
Staykov, Anton. Kratka Istoria na Bulgarskia komiks [A Short history of Bulgarian comics]. Sofia: Kibea, 2013.
——— . “Daga – detsko-yunosheskiat komiks kult.” [Daga – the children-teenage comic cult]. Egoist, April 10, 2017.
——— . “Bulgarian Comics in the Second Decade of the New Century.” Available online at openartfiles.bg.
Stefanov, Petar. “‘The Infantile Genre’ – Between Yesterday and Today (Sketches on the History of the Bulgarian Children’s Comics during the Past Half-century).” In Comics for Children: Collection of Reports of the Round Table, Sliven, 10–12 May 2010: XII national Children’s Book Festival, edited by Rostisa Petrova-Vasileva, 41–52. Sliven: Zhazhda, 2010.
Stoilov, Stoil. Spartak [Spartacus]. Sofia: Durzhavno voenno izdatelstvo, 1964.
Strożek, Przemysław. Picturing the Workers’ Olympics and the Spartakiads: Modernist and Avant-garde Engagement with Sport in Central Europe and the USSR, 1920–1932. London: Routledge, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003179894
Velkova, Zivka. “Der Name Spartacus.” In Spartacus: Symposium rebus Spartaci gestis dedicatum 2050 A., edited by Alexander Fol and Hristo Danov, 195–99. Sofia: Bulgarska akademia na naukite, 1981.
Ziegler, Konrad. “Die Herkunft des Spartacus.” Hermes 83 (1955): 248–50.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Miryana Dimitrova
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1) Authors are confirming that they are the authors of the submitting article, which will be published (print and online) in Clotho by Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Aškerčeva 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia). The author’s name will be evident in the article in the journal. All decisions regarding layout and distribution of the work are in the hands of the publisher.
2) Authors guarantee that the work is their own original creation and does not infringe any statutory or common-law copyright or any proprietary right of any third party. In the case of claims by third parties, authors commit themselves to defend the interests of the publisher and shall cover any potential costs.
3) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
4) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
5) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
