Bogomil Raynov(1919-2007)

Bogomil Nikolaev Raynov was a Bulgarian writer and professor in aesthetics , functionary of the Bulgarian Communist Party . He was born on June 19, 1919 in Sofia, Bulgaria. He was a son of the writer, philosopher and artist, academician Nikolai Raynov. From 1953 to 1960 he was an culture's attache in the Bulgarian Embassy in Paris ; at that time he had purchased various works of art displayed at the National Art Gallery . He was a member of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party; Deputy Speaker and Deputy Chairman of Union of Bulgarian Writers. He was a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences. Along with Svetlin Rusev he had participated in the selection and purchase of paintings for the National Gallery for Foreign Art . He had cooperated in "Journal of Women", "Student progress", "Svetlostruy", "Literary Life", "literary Critic", "Art criticism". For the first time his works were published in 1936 in the newspaper "Woman's Newspaper". He had scientific publications in the fields of aesthetics, art history and cultural studies . He is the author of numerous monographs on art, history of theosophy , criminal and spy novels whose protagonist is Emil Boev. His novels are very popular, and are issued several times in large quantities. In one of his recent books - "Lyudmila" he has provided interesting information about the process in Bulgarian cultural and political life in the 80th of the 20th century, which had happened in behinds the scene and about the attempt to break the narrowness and to open the door to the world of free culture. He had the titles "A National Figure of Culture (1971), Hero of Socialist Labor (1976). He was a winner of "Dimitrov's Prize" (1952, 1969). In 2006 he was awarded the state prize "St. Paisiy Hilendarsky". Bogomil Raynov was a highly controversial figure in Bulgarian culture. Longtime deputy chairman of the Union of Bulgarian Writers and a member of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party, he had played a big role in the imposition of socialist realism in Bulgarian literature and ideological defeat of many "ideologically misguided" Bulgarian writers. He died on June 8, 2007 in Sofia, Bulgaria.