Recently the Sofia-based Lettera Publishers released a new Bulgarian novel, The Temptation of the Lady Collector. In it, writer Elena Alexandrova explores the passion for luxury, the striving to get into the circles of the fabulously rich and how these aspirations can affect human life.

The author talked to Radio Bulgaria about the messages in her works. 

"In our lifetime we have seen so many changes and some absolutely fantastic metamorphoses. We all enjoy our freedom, the chance to travel extensively and say whatever we want without fear of repression. However I have tried to explore our freedom and whether it is real. I have also focused on dictatorship and its impact on our lives. What about the dictatorship of money, for instance? What about wealth and its origin? What about wealth that is not creative, and is rather booty? I gather that these are very serious problems that the Bulgarian society faces and that create its stumbling blocks too.”

The Island and the House are symbolic notions in Elena's novel. What are their meanings?

"The Island is a metaphor that I used to portray our present-day society. It is a place for the rich and famous and the winners, no matter how they succeeded. It has always been the target of hatred and envy. As to the House, my heroine is an average woman who loses her chance of indulging in her hobby that has become a passion for her. She collects haute couture pieces, designer jewelry, French perfumes and other expensive stud. The moment she becomes aware she can no longer keep that hobby and while walking in the Island, she spots the House. For her it is a symbol of security and good life, a life lived in beauty. Unfortunately, she is not aware of the laws of this place, and so she hurriedly indulges into the adventure.” 

Elena Alexandrova's debut novel belongs to the genre of fantasy and is entitled Wild Violets was released in Bulgaria and also in France where it has been published by Velour Publishers. The novel is indeed an anti-utopia, depicting a world of super technology, of unnecessary luxury and convenience but also a world of indescribable poverty and violence, alienation and solitude. This is a world in which the protagonist looks for meaning and joy turning to the planet's past. Here is a quote about the book by French journalist Sophie Leclair. „Technological development of mankind no doubt improves living and makes living easier. However, man is also a spiritual being and is torn by inner conflict. Elena Alexandrova describes the total absence of spiritual development that transforms humans into victims of super progress - technological and material. It gives me the creeps to imagine that one day our society will be divided into totally impoverished individuals on the one hand, and super-rich ones on the other… And the rich will be so very much spiritually impoverished that they will be actually poorer than the poorest.”

"Sophie Leclair took the novel emotionally”, Elena Alexandrova says. "And a very good critic who writes with the penname Panteleimon had made a very detailed analysis of Wild Violets. He said he was impressed with it and added it was a bit difficult to read because it is about serious things, not just fun. He however still defined it as an indisputable success for Bulgarian literature.”

English Daniela Konstantinova