In “Brussels naked”, Irina Papancheva skilfully and fascinatingly undresses Brussels, Europe and the world, by exposing people, feelings, faith, religiosity, passions and destinies; united in a novel construction.
The book consists of twelve interwoven stories, each with a separate narrator.
The discreet charm of Brussels. Irina Papancheva’s new novel
‘Brussels Naked‘ is a novel written with deep intimate knowledge of the multinational context in the capital of united Europe. Irina Papancheva’s elegant composed style harkens back to the best examples of contemporary European prose, and the original structure of the novel adds to its impact. Each chapter is situated in a separate district of Brussels and has its name, respectively, as well as
Pelican Feather (a book by the contemporary Bulgarian writer Irina Papancheva)
The main theme of Pelican Feather is passionate love and its many – often painful – vicissitudes, experienced through the eyes of a young, smart, sensitive boy – the child of the coulple that broke up – Martin. One of the remarkable things about passionate love is that it exhibits a desire for purity and […]
Opening speech of Viviane Defosset at Brussels presentation of Pelican Feather
I have now translated three of Irina’s works into French from English: the novels Pelican Feather and Almost Intimately, and her short story, No One. In these works, I found human beings fighting for their existence, often in very difficult conditions. They use short phrases, vibrant dialogues, an oral, everyday language, punctuated by poetic passages. They pose open questions with no hint of moralising.
“Almost Intimately” by Irina Papancheva
“Almost Intimately” is an autobiographical short novel full of youthful suffocation and with the desire of the 22-year old Czech language and literature student to understand everything, to live through anything. The main character is to such extent active and drunk by her own youth that she doesn’t have the time to look around, to […]
Emotional experiences in search of wholeness
“Almost Intimately” by Irina Papancheva (publishing house Kronos, 2007) could be defined as a diary of a female spirit, searching for itself in the exciting spaces of the university culture of the Sofia Students’ town, of fusion with the Bulgarian nature and also with Prague…The reader gets the feeling of a well-travelled Bulgarian female character, […]