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Abstract

The Qazaq oral narrative poem Qozı-Körpeş–Bayan Sulü is a classic tale of divided lovers, but with the twist that the two are engaged to be married while still unborn. A further twist is that the father of the boy, Qozı-Körpeş, is killed before he ever meets his own son, and the father of the girl, Bayan Sulü, is so incensed at the thought of his daughter marrying an orphan that he flees with his family and his herds. Eventually, Qozı-Körpeş learns of his engagement and goes in pursuit of his lost bride, and the narrative recounts the various twists and turns of the lives of the two titular lovers as they struggle to be united with each other. This paper argues that the plot of Qozı-Körpeş–Bayan Sulü is at once both a version of the ‘return of the hero’ narrative and a kind of allegory of the social and moral obligations attendant on marriage. Although both Bayan Sulu and Qozı-Körpeş may be read as iconoclastic figures defying the norms of a patriarchal society, the travels of Qozı-Körpeş across the steppe and even his clandestine visits to Bayan in fact read as shadow versions of the formal journeys between the homes of affianced families that typified the marital traditions of wealthy families on the Qazaq steppe in the 19th century. In this way, the plot is driven by the conventions and status anxieties that cluster around the institution of marriage. In particular, the plot hinges upon conflicts between genders and generations over these norms. In carrying out this analysis, the paper draws primarily to Mäšür Jüsip Köpeyulî’s 1904 version, though with comparative recourse to the multiple other versions known from 19th century and Soviet era collections.