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Abstract

This paper examines the Soviet-era reinterpretations of the Qazaq epic Qız Jibek within the broader context of the institutionalization of Socialist Realism, which began with the formation of the Union of Soviet Writers in 1932. Drawing on both published materials, including studies on the idea of the epic during the Soviet era, and archival materials from the Central State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the paper traces how evolving ideological demands reshaped the narrative and thematic emphases of Qız Jibek. Focusing on Jüsipbek Qoja’s and Musabay Jıraw’s pre-Soviet variants alongside Ğabït Müsirepov’s Soviet-era reinterpretations in his opera libretto and film script, I showcase how Qız Jibek was transformed into a didactic narrative that aligned with Socialist Realist principles.

Central to this transformation was a shift in the epic’s conclusion: where earlier versions valorized idealized romantic resolution that featured the custom of ämeñgerlik jesirlik (levirate marriage), Müsirepov’s adaptations returned the epic to an ending that dramatizes social injustices through the tragic death of lovers at the hands of a new fabricated enemy — social class. This revision foregrounded the heroine Jibek as a symbolic figure within a newly created narrative of class struggle.

By emphasizing the Soviet polemical campaign to replace the putative imagery of the feudal, archaic, and patriarchal with ideologically appropriate motifs, this paper argues that Qız Jibek became a key site in integrating pre-Soviet folklore into the realm of Soviet ideological imperatives. Anticipating Soviet critiques of religious and archaic motifs, Müsirepov’s adaptations reconfigured the epic’s rhetoric to support a Soviet vision of modernity and gender.

This study contributes to the scholarship on the repurposing of folklore under the Soviet regime and the gendered dimensions of Socialist Realism. It also offers a case study of how oral literature was not merely preserved but strategically transformed to serve state ideology.