Elin Pelin and Yordan Yovkov are considered the two outstanding Bulgarian prose writers in the period between the two world wars. "Bard of rural misery," "classic of Bulgarian literature," and "shop writer" are the epithets most commonly used to describe Elin Pelin. The first two, based mostly on short stories he wrote before World War I, indicate the thematic scope of his works and his prominent place in the history of Bulgarian literature. The third one refers to his humorous sketches written in the dialect of the shopi (peasants living in the villages around Sofia) and to the typical locale of his works.

Dimitur Ivanov Stoyanov, who began using the pen name Elin Pelin in 1897, was born on 18 July 1877 in the village of Baylovo in the Sofia district. He was the youngest son in the large family (five sons and two daughters) of Ivan Stoyanov and his wife...