Konstantinov, Aleko (1863-1897)

Bulgarian satirical writer. His most famous work is Bai Ganyu (1895), in which the eponymous hero is shown to be a cunning, greedy, and ignorant peasant behind the fanglishade of a ‘Europeanized’ Bulgarian. Konstantinov's humour made him many enemies, but his murder appears to have been a case of mistaken identity.

Konstantinov studied law in Odessa, and began a career as a magistrate, but from 1888 devoted himself exclusively to writing. He travelled widely in Europe and the USA, using his experiences both in his fictional work and to create one of the first travel books in Bulgarian.