Abstract:

The Kyrgyz literature shift from socialist realism to realism indicates the societal changes and the emergence of new democratic movements. In the early days of Kyrgyzstan's independence, Kazat Akmatov – a prominent national writer and co-founder of the Kyrgyz Democratic Movement party- refused political appointment, saying, "I wasted nine years for politics. Appoint me to a literary position in Writer's Union. I put the Kyrgyzstani people of pen on the road to progress in getting rid of the dilapidated socialist realism." The writer fought against the dogma of socialist realism from the beginning of his literary career: the bureaucrats labeled his works as antimoral, anti-Russian, anti-Communist party, and anti-Kyrgyz people. As a result, he experienced publication difficulties, elimination from award lists, and silence in literary criticism. His name rarely appears in reviews of textbooks on the history of Kyrgyz literature. There is a small number of articles about him, two of them in English: Gulnara Aitpaeva explores the novel The Years Around the Sun as a social phenomenon depicting the role of epos Manas Kyrgyz public consciousness, Jyldyz Bakashova's article contains the writer's curriculum vitae and a summary of Akmatov's novels.

As part of the broader field of study on Akmatov's epic works, scholars are currently analyzing the social and political themes in his writing, focusing on his political involvement and democratic ideology. This paper aims to examine the lyrical short novel Munabia from the perspective of its unique artistic representation of reality. The analysis will investigate the work's artistic depiction, comprehension, and evaluation peculiarities. The paper argues that the uniqueness of the method lies in depicting the system of characters. In the context of Kyrgyz prose, what is specific is that the narrator is both a creator and a character, present in the work and representing the reality he created, comprehending it, and evaluating it. Akmatov emphasizes that the narrator participates in the village's events, is related to the people in various ways, and demonstrates the kinship of his worldview with the people's mentality.

The novella presents Akmatov's unwavering resilience against censorship, Russification, and communist ideology during the Sovietization of Kyrgyz literature. Despite Party ideological guidance, he builds a plot on a respectful and admirable narrative about a long-term love affair, which challenges societal norms. Akmatov was a fluent Russian speaker but did not write any works on it during the Russification of native culture. He firmly maintained the principle that a writer must write in the language of his people, and he masterfully used the great possibilities of the Kyrgyz language. The writer deeply knew Kyrgyz folklore, customs, traditions, and rituals. In the episode of the story's protagonist's funeral, the master jeweler, Zhanuzak, combines realism, symbolism, and knowledge of funeral rites. The realistic imagery is an ideal expression of the idea and individuality of the author. This paper argues that the novella Munabia indicates a new literary tendency in the history of Kyrgyz literature.

Abstract:

In this study, I analyze the connection between oral epic poetry and novel form in the first Kazakh novel Akbilek by Zhusipbek Aimauytov. I argue that Akbilek is a modernist novel, which uses stylistic innovations like versed narration as a means of responding to the changes that happened in Kazakh society in the beginning of the twentieth century.

The 1917 revolution in the Russian Empire, which led to the collapse of the Imperial rule and the establishment of the USSR, had significant political, social and economic repercussions for Kazakh people. These challenges coincided with another major change — now in the literary realm — the rise of the novel. While Mirzhakyp Dulatov’s Bakytsyz Zhamal is often recognized as the first Kazakh novel, its length makes it too short for a novel. Akbilek is the first prose writing in Kazakh literature which can be considered a novel, both in terms of length and plot. Serialized in the journal Aiel tengdigi (Women’s Equality) through 1927-1928, Akbilek narrates the story of a teenage girl abducted by the White Army officers, who flee to Mount Altai in the aftermath of the 1917 revolution. The plot of the novel follows the tragic story of abuse, shame and estrangement that culminates in redemption and the rise of the heroine in spite of life’s challenges.

In this novel, Aimauytov addresses both the challenges posed by the revolution and the need for new ways of writing about these challenges. He achieves this through experimentation with versed narration, with narrative perspective and sequence, the use of stream of consciousness as well as symbolism. In this presentation, I focus on Aimauytov’s most innovative stylistic choice — the use of versed narration, which showcases literary devices characteristic of Kazakh oral epic poems: parallelism, end-rhyme, alliteration and simile. Based on the textual analysis of the novel, I argue that Aimauytov merges the long-standing poetic tradition of Kazakh people with the new novel form. While being a means of addressing new challenges, the novel form itself was a change and a novelty. Aimauytov adapts the novel form by using the elements of the existing poetic tradition in his versed narration.

Banned shortly after its publication and rediscovered in 1989, Akbilek has received little scholarly attention. This research contributes to the history of Kazakh literature by making an accurate account of the origin and development of the Kazakh novel.

Abstract:

The interaction between traditional Russian culture and that of the indigenous peoples of Central Asia creates a specific multicultural landscape, hybridized by a plurality of languages and ethnicities. Since the second half of the nineteenth century, the way of life of the region's inhabitants has been undergoing a process of transformation, which was implemented during the Soviet period. The political boundaries of the Soviet Socialist Republics - Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan - were drawn according to the principle of ethno-territorial federalism, according to which nationality and language coincide. The policy of literacy in the respective national languages laid the groundwork for the momentous cultural reform that helped to forge Soviet identity. However, one of the tools used by the Soviet government to promote cultural assimilation was the use of the Russian language, the necessity of which was promoted with increasing intensity over the decades. Russian became the language of intellectuals, a unifying element of Russian-speaking identity, and a bridge between the most diverse cultures. National languages, in a subordinate position, ended up representing de facto impassable walls in the Soviet literary landscape. My dissertation focuses on the literary production of contemporary Central Asian authors: Chingiz Aitmatov, born in Sheker, Kyrgyzstan; Andrei Volos, born in Dushanbe, Tajikistan; and Hamid Ismailov, born in Kyrgyzstan and raised in Uzbekistan; in this chapter I try to illuminate the relationship of these writers to the various languages that become part of the literary world they create, both in the creative process and in the literary creations themselves. The results of cultural and linguistic hybridization in the artistic landscape of their works will be explored, reflecting, on the use of Russian language and of the titular languages of those Soviet republics that gave birth to the three writers.

Abstract:

The paper is devoted to the founder of the modern Dungan literature, poet Iasyr Shivaza (1906 – 1988) and the analysis of his work. At the beginning, some information about Dungan ethnic group and also a short biography of Shivaza will be mentioned. Subsequently, it will be shown how motifs related to religion, China and Dungans are depicted in the poetry collection published in 2006 for the poet's 100th birth anniversary. The motifs from the first category are related to the fact that although Shivaza came from a Muslim background, he was also a communist. Therefore, it's interesting to know, what he has written about religion and islam. The representation of China in his poetry helps describe the author's view of the "old homeland" of this ethnic group. The topic of Dungans in the poet's work then reflects his thinking about his own nation. In addition to specific examples of the representation of all three categories of motifs, some advices to Dungan people from his poetry will also be mentioned.