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Zlatko Enev – Writer, Essayist, and Creator of Firecurl
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Monthly Archive

2025

Welcome to our Archives page. On this page you will find totaly 108 of our articles broken down into Months and Years.
The Day of the Awakeners – Culture as Rescue, Culture as Possession
Memory and History
Zlatko Enev
98
7 min read

The Day of the Awakeners – Culture as Rescue, Culture as Possession

    Every nation has its rituals of self-recognition. Some commemorate independence, others revolution, or the birth of constitutions. Bulgaria, like several of its Central and Eastern E read more..
A Specter Is Haunting Bulgaria – the Specter of Europe
Memory and History
Zlatko Enev
141
7 min read

A Specter Is Haunting Bulgaria – the Specter of Europe

  The Buzz: A Miniature Culture War Ignited by One Post Something strange is unfolding in Bulgaria – a Facebook post has detonated a miniature culture war about Europe, national dignity, and read more..
The Two Faces of the Bulgarian Soul: Correctness and Confrontation
Bulgarian Self-Image
Zlatko Enev
427
8 min read

The Two Faces of the Bulgarian Soul: Correctness and Confrontation

    In the personalities of the two great contemporary Bulgarian literary figures, one can glimpse more than individual temperaments. They embody two enduring archetypes of human – and s read more..
On the Labyrinths of the Soul
Thought and Subversion
Zlatko Enev
590
7 min read

On the Labyrinths of the Soul

    It took me many years to realise that hope, expectation, and the search for the ideal relationship filled me with more happiness than the possession of the standard, ordinary, “like- read more..
On the Dialectics of Dialects
Cultural Mirrors
Zlatko Enev
494
8 min read

On the Dialectics of Dialects

    I was nine years old when I first realised that what I was speaking wasn’t simply the Bulgarian language, but something stranger, labelled by the incomprehensible word dialect. I was read more..
A Brief Attempt at a Theory of Happiness
Inner Crossroads
Zlatko Enev
708
12 min read

A Brief Attempt at a Theory of Happiness

  Have I ever told you my own theory about the inverted perspective on happiness? It’s simple, and sounds eccentric only at first hearing. People my age, I suppose, are well acquainted with th read more..
On responsibilty
Bulgarian Self-Image
Zlatko Enev
489
6 min read

On responsibilty

    I’m starting yet another short essay with a familiar mix of feelings: some pleasure, and – inevitably – some tension. The pleasure comes from the discussions that sometimes arise her read more..
The War That Wasn’t: How Israel’s Strike on Iran Became the Most Successful PR Coup of Our Time
Politics and Society
Zlatko Enev
783
5 min read

The War That Wasn’t: How Israel’s Strike on Iran Became the Most Successful PR Coup of Our Time

  In the early summer of 2025, the world watched with bated breath as Israel launched a sudden, high-tech military campaign against Iran. The strikes were described as “precise,” “calculated,” read more..
Thoughts Born of Powerlessness
Politics and Society
Zlatko Enev
781
4 min read

Thoughts Born of Powerlessness

  Author(s): Kapka Todorova, Zlatko Enev Today I read the following on Facebook — a typical Facebook post, written in typical Bulgarian:   Kapka Todorova, Bulgarian journalist based in read more..
The Deceptiveness of Experience
Politics and Society
Zlatko Enev
669
17 min read

The Deceptiveness of Experience

  Let me begin with a phrase so worn-out it almost dissolves on the tongue: We live in strange times. It’s not its repetition that makes it banal. It’s the fact that it couldn’t be otherwise. read more..
The Author Is Not Dead. They Were Simply Never Born
Thought and Subversion
Zlatko Enev
723
7 min read

The Author Is Not Dead. They Were Simply Never Born

  Let me begin with a story. A few weeks ago, I submitted an essay to a well-known American publication. The piece explored the digital present — more specifically, the uneasy future in which read more..
We looked at the Other – and the Other was Us
Perception and Pain
Zlatko Enev
631
<1min
Yordan Radichkov in the Light of Our National Character
Bulgarian Self-Image
Zlatko Enev
417
5 min read

Yordan Radichkov in the Light of Our National Character

  I have a vague but persistent sense that this topic is far more complex and far-reaching than I can fully comprehend. So I’ll keep it brief — at the risk of sounding reductive or superficial read more..
Twenty Years Later, or The Silence of the Lambs — Bulgarian Style
Bulgarian Self-Image
Zlatko Enev
1023
13 min read

Twenty Years Later, or The Silence of the Lambs — Bulgarian Style

  When I met her at the café in the Red House, my friend’s face was tight with tension. She greeted me a bit nervously, then continued discussing with my other close friend the details of host read more..
In the Dark
Fear and Fragility
Zlatko Enev
675
15 min read

In the Dark

  The trembling light of the tallow candle – a useful and necessary object, if foul-smelling – mixed with the flicker of the hearth, so that the shadows of the three men, seated on low three-l read more..
Metamorphosis–2
Modern Absurd
Zlatko Enev
632
6 min read

Metamorphosis–2

  “When one morning Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams…” “Wait, wait! Can’t we do something else today?” He tried not to show any signs of irritation, closed the small luxury volume — c read more..
The True Story of Mr. K.
Modern Absurd
Zlatko Enev
622
7 min read

The True Story of Mr. K.

    The sky over the city hung like old laundry, worn and faded from too much washing. A fine, sharp drizzle shaved the air; people scurried along, apologizing to one another when their um read more..
The Effort to Stay
Perception and Pain
Zlatko Enev
569
<1min
The Coin of Recognition
Culture and Systems
Zlatko Enev
289
<1min
About the Sowers of Fear
Politics and Society
Zlatko Enev
666
4 min read

About the Sowers of Fear

    I do not believe in Bulgarian tolerance. I can’t, no matter how hard I try. I listen to the boasts, where for the thousandth time I’m told the tale of how our recent predecessors saved read more..
Perpetuum Mobile
Vanity and Identity
Zlatko Enev
313
<1min
The Litmus Test of Communication
Vanity and Identity
Zlatko Enev
295
<1min
Rupture Precedes Insight
Writing and Self-Knowledge
Zlatko Enev
247
<1min
The Pleasure Principle in Communication
Culture and Systems
Zlatko Enev
236
<1min
The Devil’s Circle
Irony and Social Paradox
Zlatko Enev
618
<1min
The tree of knowledge is not that of life
Writing and Self-Knowledge
Zlatko Enev
255
<1min
A Little Nighttime Tale
Modern Absurd
Zlatko Enev
587
20 min read

A Little Nighttime Tale

  Good evening, dear sir – would you permit me the modest pleasure of your company on this grey and rather unpleasant Berlin night? One rarely encounters countrymen here, and if one does, they read more..
On the Unbearable Lightness of Hatred
Cultural Mirrors
Zlatko Enev
751
8 min read

On the Unbearable Lightness of Hatred

  I stepped into the luxurious hall with – thankfully already familiar – the sensation that I had the privilege of touching something truly cultivated, civilization in its least pretentious gu read more..
On Sancho, Freedom, and the Walls Within Us
Inner Crossroads
Zlatko Enev
628
3 min read

On Sancho, Freedom, and the Walls Within Us

  Recently, for the umpteenth time, I watched The Wall again — Pink Floyd and Alan Parker. Only this time, unlike before, I was watching it with my son. I tried to warn him in advance not to p read more..
On the Dry, the Green, and the Flame That Makes No Distinction Between Them
Social Firelines
Zlatko Enev
592
9 min read

On the Dry, the Green, and the Flame That Makes No Distinction Between Them

    Milan Kundera, student, born 1 April 1929 in Brno, resident of Prague VII, student housing, King Jiří VI Street, appeared today at the local police precinct and made a statement conc read more..
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