Paper long abstract:

The national and ethnic identity of Chingiz Aitmatov's works has been widely debated in literary science and critic field with scholars such K. Asanaliev, A. Akmataliev, M.Apyshev arguing that Kyrgyz identity of Chingiz Aitmatov is present and clear in his novellas, which are written in Russian. The Western scholars such R. Mozur, R. Porter, and K. Clark represent Chingiz Aitmatov as Russian writer. The Russian scholars such V. Bondarenko and M. Butov are critical regarding Aitmatov's Russian culture background and language abilities as a writer.

However, these arguments have not adequately addressed the issue of binary nature of writer's personality and works, which is a result of his Russian- Kyrgyz upbringing and Soviet location of his oeuvre. The one of core characteristics of that location is a principle of superiority of Russian culture among other cultures of Soviet republics.

My paper addresses the issue of the cultural hybridity of Aitmatov's writings with special attention on the manifestations of the being in a "third place".

Specifically, in my project, I will be looking at new information about Aitmatov's cultural background and the specifics of perception of writer's works by Kyrgyz speaking segment of national population of Kyrgyzstan, in order to reveal previously misunderstood connections between Aitmatov and these readers.

I argue that Chingiz Aitmatov is a complex figure of difference and identity, past and present, inside and outside, inclusion and exclusion (H.K. Bhabha, The Location of Culture (London and New York: Routledge Classics,2004) p.2) I dispute the assumptions that the writer's alienation has been caused only by the conservative circles of Kyrgyz culture. I assume that Aitmatov is an active side in cultural conflict.

In conclusion, this project, by closely examining the cultural hybridity of Aitmatov, sheds new light on rarely acknowledged issue of antagonistic and affiliative perception of his works by different readers groups.