Summary of Wolf Hunt
In “Wolf Hunt”, a group of Bulgarian villagers set out on a wolf hunt on Christmas Eve 1965. During the hunt, long-supressed tensions rooted in the Second World War resurface, and the hunters attempt to settle old scores. Through this lens, the novel retraces events in the village from the end of the war to the 1960s – a turbulent period in Bulgaria’s twentieth century.
Reasons to read Wolf Hunt
“Wolf Hunt” is a richly layered novel that delves into mid-20th-century Bulgarian history, particularly the Second World War and the tragic consequences of Communist collectivisation policies in the Bulgarian countryside. The wolf hunt symbolises the underlying hostility and thirst for retribution within the local community. Published just a few years before the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, the book was among the first to portray the devastating effects of the Communist regime on traditional Bulgarian life. Ivailo Petrov received many literary awards in his homeland, including the Union of Bulgarian Writers’ Award and the Hristo G. Danov Prize in recognition of his contribution to Bulgarian literature. He is also celebrated for his short stories, such as “Nonka’s Love” and “Before I was Born and Other Stories”. “Wolf Hunt” is regarded as a modern classic of Bulgarian literature and was adapted into a Bulgarian television series in 2000.
Setting: Bulgaria
Book set in Bulgaria: The unnamed village is thought to have been inspired by Bdintsi, in Dobrich Province near the Romanian border, where the author was born.
Original title: Хайка за вълци
Year of publication: 1986
Nr of pages: 584
