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Abstract

One of the most famous Qazaq representations of Soviet nuclear testing is Roza Muqanova’s short story «Мәңгілік бала бейне» (1990), which was adapted to the theatre stage in 1996. In my paper, I argue that Muqanova’s short story performs what I call “empathic storytelling”. Instead of creating a sense of catastrophe through the imagery of the iconic mushroom cloud or crippled bodies, she carefully analyses and presents her main protagonist Laila, a young woman who looks like a small child due to the impact of radiation on her body. Instead of focusing on the catastrophic, Muqanova’s short story creates empathy for her protagonist who suffers not only from the negative impact of radiation, but also – and maybe even more so – from how she is seen and treated by other people. My analysis relies in part on archival research, particularly a collection of reviews of the short story that give voice to its emotional impact. Secondly, I provide a close reading to show how the short story creates empathy. I argue that it does so by closely describing stigmatisations of disability in rural Qazaqstan. Thereby, the narrative carefully guides the reader to see Laila not in terms of disability, but as a gentle soul that inspires empathy and love. Thus, I argue, that “empathic storytelling” such as Muqanova’s «Мәңгілік бала бейне» helps to de-stigmatise disability.