Bulgarians Visit Aleko's Monument at University of Chicago as a Pilgrimage, Says Bulgarian Professor Angelina Ilieva

BTA special correspondent Lyubomir Martinov

Bust statue of writer Aleko Konstantinov at the University of Chicago. Photo: BTA/Lyubomir Martinov

Chicago,

11.11.2024 15:23

(BTA)

Members of the Bulgarian community in the US occasionally go to a monument of writer Aleko Konstantinov in the University of Chicago: that is something of a pilgrimage, Angelina Ilieva, a lecturer at the university's Slavic studies department, said in a BTA interview. "It was given to the library ("Regenstein" of the University of Chicago) in 1993 for the centenary of the Chicago World's Fair, because we are almost on the grounds of the fair in 1893, when Aleko was here, and it was given by the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington," Ilieva said.

She told BTA that up to 20 people a year are majoring in Slavic studies at the university, and that other students are enrolling in it as an elective. She added that students are mainly motivated by curiosity in the programme, which includes Slavic languages, culture, history, literature and cinema.

As for the career development of the graduates of this programme, some of them go to work in the State Department and the CIA, according to Ilieva. "There are many who look for jobs as teachers and at the same time there are those who start working in companies and various enterprises in Eastern Europe."

Ilieva spoke to BTA between two stands displaying Bulgarian books, including classics writers like Aleko Konstantinov and Ivan Vazov, but also contemporary authors such as Georgi Gospodinov.

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