Trivia / Bai Ganyo

• I Am Not Spock: A rare literary example. After Bai Ganyo became a hit, Aleko Konstantinov was often greeted as Ganyo by random strangers. Which greatly annoyed him, as he couldn't be more different from his creation - as another famous Bulgarian writer put it: "Take the opposite of Bai Ganyo and you'll get Aleko".
• Write Who You Know: Aleko Konstantinov has two real-life inspirations for Ganyo Balkanski:
  • At the World Expo in Chicago in 1893, he met a trader named Ganyo Somov, from whom he took the more comedic Country Mouse traits for the character.
  • Ganyo Cholakov was an adoptive son of politician, poet an writer Vasil Drumev. Cholakov didn't hesitate to sentenc his adoptive father to banishment into a monastery for his Russophilia, giving inspiration for Bai Ganyo's ruthlessness when he enters politics.