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

June 2025

Welcome to our Archives page. On this page you will find totaly 64 of our articles broken down into Months and Years.
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
632
<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
1026
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
676
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
623
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
314
<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
256
<1min
A Little Nighttime Tale
Modern Absurd
Zlatko Enev
589
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
752
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..
About That Tom, Who’s Really Called Huck
Cultural Mirrors
Zlatko Enev
565
4 min read

About That Tom, Who’s Really Called Huck

  I don’t know whether someone told me this or I read it somewhere, but tonight one of those wise-sounding phrases has been spinning around in my head – the kind of thing you’d proudly serve u read more..
Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Do but Were Afraid to Try
Desire and Delusion
Zlatko Enev
594
10 min read

Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Do but Were Afraid to Try

  “Hello…” Even in this most neutral of phrases, her voice somehow managed to sound drawn out and inviting – or openly seductive, depending on the interpreter’s imagination. For a moment, he read more..
Clash of Civilizations – Reality or Media Myth?
Politics and Society
Zlatko Enev
577
9 min read

Clash of Civilizations – Reality or Media Myth?

    Author’s Note (2025) This essay was written in April 2007, at a time when the discourse around global conflict, terrorism, and identity was shaped by the immediate aftermath of 9/11 a read more..
Certified Genius
Irony and Social Paradox
Zlatko Enev
561
<1min
On the Sagrada Familia
Europe and the World
Zlatko Enev
611
4 min read

On the Sagrada Familia

  I’d like to touch here on a subject I rarely take up – probably because I don’t feel entirely confident in it. I mean architecture and its magic... Let me begin by saying that I’ve never be read more..
Looks Can Lock
Perception and Pain
Zlatko Enev
272
<1min
Fear
Masculinity Unravelled
Zlatko Enev
545
8 min read

Fear

    He was a brave bastard. He knew it – no longer needed to prove it. He’d learned the trick over the years – at first unconsciously, just by instinct, then more and more through experien read more..
A User’s Guide to Failure
Spiritual Struggle
Zlatko Enev
523
7 min read

A User’s Guide to Failure

  I suppose many of you have heard that now-iconic Beckett quote: Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. The fact that I’m beginning to reflect on this parti read more..
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