Acknowledgements
Frankly speaking, I do not recollect when and how exactly the idea came to my mind to write this book. It may well have been at some point between 2009 and 2013, when I was leading a project funded by a European Research Council Advanced grant (2009–2013). I was working on the entangled histories of the peoples in the Balkans together with Diana Mishkova, Tchavdar Marinov and Alexander Vezenkov, and we had gratifying exchanges all along. It was then that I was first tempted to work on national master narratives, with the Bulgarian one first coming to mind. In addition, I felt the urge to take issue with what I was taught in school and the university for so many years.
Whatever the origins of this book, I am particularly grateful to the Imre Kertész Kolleg in Jena, especially to Joachim von Puttkamer, for hosting me in 2016. That was a unique opportunity to work on this book in an intellectually stimulating environment, with the kind assistance of Diana Joseph. I also owe special gratitude to the Gerda Henkel Foundation for its support for the completion this book in 2019 and 2020.
I am very much indebted to Chris Springer for his conscientious copyediting, and to the Brill copyeditor, Alice Isabelle Sullivan for putting the final touches onto the text.
Finally, the publication of this book was made possible by the kind encouragement and advice of Florin Curta, professor at the University of Florida and the series’ editor at Brill, to whom I truly feel obliged for bringing the long-drawn enterprise to a successful end.