Bai Ganyo
![Image](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOdJJyBXT6AcBHnvs7ctZiW5ornxw1J4gmdQ59uno7Xp2of1uMePYpgsbFZ3F4fGl1JmwYyOWo6IoboWLBTnAjuf939zy63WICF5UOkFiXnPRKQOVIe6EilNqJ6y9-w-U19SglPgee3PM/s320/41FDZrJGvsL._SY344_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg)
Bai Ganyo: Incredible Tales of a Modern Bulgarian, by Aleko Konstantinov Everybody's doing 2017 halfway posts! And that sounds like a really fun thing to do, but I'm going out of town for a few days, and rushing around getting ready, so perhaps I'll manage one when I get back. Meanwhile, imagine me on a beach, and enjoy the single post I'm able to write before I go. Aleko Konstantinov was a Bulgarian political journalist, and he wrote this comic novel around 1895 (two years before he was assassinated). As far as I can tell, Bai Ganyo became an instant popular classic and has been a favorite ever since. It's a collection of stories about Ganyo Balkanski, a seller of rose-oil. Bai Ganyo is everybody's embarrassing uncle. He blusters and barges in where he isn't wanted. He is a master at mooching off anyone and everyone. He pinches respectable shopgirls and propositions honorable matrons. He needs to bathe more often, and he's vocal about h