When looking back, can you clearly see the importance of the Bulgarian book for you?

As far as I remember myself, any book in Bulgarian (that was written originally in Bulgarian or that was translated by a good translator) was the air I breathed and without which I would not be able to live at all.

Which books have given you the most and from which books have you been able to take more than you believed it possible?

My favorite books have, in the course of years, given me more and various things – and that is the inexhaustible spiritual treasure of books.

What is the destiny of fine letters now, and what could this destiny be in the near and in the more distant future?

The destiny of the letters of value has always been and will always be the destiny deserved despite all hindrances, obstacles and stigmatizing, while in the immediate and in the more distant future all these obstacles of various roots will expand unforeseeably. I do believe that Word, by its very nature, bears a powerful charge to survive the eons.

The cultural crisis of today has its causes and its signs, but it also has a remedy that is basically universal. Perhaps, the purely Bulgarian specifics of this remedy remain out of focus?

I think that the sources of the specific Bulgarian remedy during previous national woes and for the current book-market crisis may be looked for in the traditional mutual support, which was largely forgotten during the period of ideological dictates, but which is more and more phenomenally emerging out of lethargy despite the stress of economic hardships.

There are many secrets to a book, and the author’s mastership tends to be among the most obscure. Have you reached a conscious explanation for yourself of everything that you have created – as creative art, besides a pure will, is also the product of the artist’s instincts, of the artist’s enigmatic and mysterious self that he deciphers only partially in his texts to the reader?

As far as I can judge by my own experience, the surprise comes from the initial trust, from the unexpected germination of the concept, but the actual labor over the text itself requires a somber self-control and concentration. There is one more enigmatic aspect: words seem to come in an irresistible tide, it is almost as if somebody else is whispering them in your ear. These are the celestial instants of the arduous literary endeavors.

What has been the major source of hope and belief for you through the years?

I have always drawn belief from engrossing into the Bulgarian language – its mysterious vital power is boiling inexhaustibly in its depths, nourished by the spirit of men throughout the centuries.

What is your vision of Bulgaria at the end of the 21st century? What does Time mean to you?

I would like to see Bulgaria restoring the atmosphere I have known and cherished since the 1930s – the time of my school years in Sofia. Time for me is personified by the images of the personalities that create Time. The sparklingly clean old Sofia seems to come to life in front of my eyes, with the prominent intellectuals promenading on the golden tiles of Tsarya Street or leisuring in the Tsar Osvoboditel café: Elin Pelin, Prof. Alexander Balabanov, Bagryana and Dora Gabe, Vladimir Vassilev, Pipkov, Liliev, Dinekov…

What is the weight of the values created over the last hundred years, and what is the burden that these years have placed on us?

Our century has its indisputable weight in terms of its achievements mainly in the realm of culture but the century has burdened us with wars, with national catastrophes, with terrorism (the assassination in St Nedelya church in 1925), with bombings and with half a century of Bolshevism. And the brightest moral summit: the salvation of the Bulgarian Jews. And towards the end of the century – the adventurous hope for freedom and democracy.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the destiny of the Balkans and mankind, and why?

Optimism and pessimism are purely schematic designations, like black and white. They are never encountered in their pure form in real life. The truth lies in the incessant movement. I have often asked tortuous questions about the destiny of Bulgaria and the destiny of mankind, and these questions have no answer. Still, there is a pillar: the Bulgarian Word that has forged itself under the pressure of our cruel history into something surprisingly flexible and durable, soaked in inextinguishable spill of humor.

Is there any peculiarity of your character that you freely joke about in public? And does it happen frequently?

I have a peculiarity – to run into troubles. Actually, I make bad jokes with myself.

What would you choose – if you had to choose today – between a bag of gold and an eternal book? And what would have been your choice 30 years ago?

It depends on what you mean by "eternal book".

Do you think that in these times when the path to the reader is difficult and uncertain, new names could emerge? Could the experience with your own public recognition be useful today? How did you gain recognition, was it easy?

Genuine works of art must emerge first, and the names will become sooner or later established. Being easily recognized, especially in these tremulous Balkan lands, might be delusive. And in my case there was, thank God, no official recognition.

Would you disclose your own anthology or collection of names of masters of the prose whom you hold in highest esteem – names from the Bulgarian and world, including Balkan, literature?

My collection of names is sacrosanct. I would not like to have it on public display.