THE PRINTING PRESS THROUGH THE EYES OF THE REVIVAL PUBLICIST

Abstract

The image of the printing press is perceived and conceived in the Bulgarian Revival, on the one hand, as a sign of the modern Enlightenment culture, and on the other, as an archaic machinery, which has irrational, magical and heretical aspects. The examined texts raise the question of the political power, accompanied by the censorship and the freedom of speech in the public press. In some of the more extensive articles, such as in Slavejkov’s “Smesna kitka”, “Letostruj”, “Pravo”, “Obsht trud”, the key functions of the printing press is outline as the ultimate form for the democratization of knowledge. The appeal to the Revival reader aims to provoke a civilizational “shock” and to cultivate a consistent interest and and reading habits in the Bulgarian XIX century.