ISSN 0798 1015

Vol. 38 (Nº 50) Año 2017. Pág. 30

The creative writings of Abay Kunanbayev in the Tatar literary reception

Los escritos creativos de Abay Kunanbayev en la recepción literaria del tártaro

Ainur MASHAKOVA 1; Milyausha KHABUTDINOVA 2

Recibido: 11/09/2017 • Aprobado: 20/09/2017

Content

1. Introduction

2. Methodological Framework

3. Results

4. Discussion

5. Conclusions

References

1. Introduction

In the history of Kazakh literature one of the most important figures around whom the process of foreign reception of literature of Kazakhstan is concentrated is the great Kazakh poet of the second half of the XIXth century Abay Kunanbayev (1845-1904). His popularity in modern Kazakhstan is undeniable. The Kazakh nation honors Abay, and is proud of him and pays respect to him. The memory of Abay is maintained at the State level. His works are studied at the educational institutions. In the national literary criticism, a separate direction is developing - the Abay Studies. Along with Kazakhstani scientists, foreign literary critics, literary scholars, writers and poets, translators make an important contribution to the study of the poetic and prosaic heritage of the great Abay. His works, which were translated into many foreign languages, received a significant number of responses from foreign professional readers. The multi-genre creative legacy of the poet-thinker (verses, poems, philosophical essays) is an invaluable treasury of the world literature.

The need for conducting this research is due to the fact that in modern conditions the research on the reception of Abay Kunanbayev's creativity by foreign professional readers is of exceptional importance in the process of international popularization of Kazakh literature. As, a rule, foreign receptive sources serve as an evidence of a new, in most cases, objective, and sometimes unexpected, unconventional view of the common phenomena and facts.

The relevance of the research topic is conditioned by the fact that the recent Abay studies in the world have been enriched with new receptive materials related to Abay Kunanbayev's creative writings, which must be introduced into scientific circulation. This article will focus on the Tatar literary reception of Abay Kunanbayev's work. This research provides an opportunity to show the extent of the spread of the interest in Kazakh literature in Tatarstan based on the example of Abay Kunanbayev's creative writings.

2. Methodological Framework

The methodological basis includes the research works of the literary scholars such as H.R. Yauss (Yauss, 1967), W. Iser (Iser, 1972; Izer, 1976), St. Fish (Fish, 1970), R.J. Clements (Clements, 1978), L.V. Chernets (Chernets, 2003), Vs. Bagno (Bagno, 2004), Yu. Borev (Borev, 2004), I. Aichinger (Aichinger, 2007), T.L. Selitrina (Selitrina, 2009) and others.

 This research assumes the use of a variety of methodological and theoretical approaches. The research is based on scientific concepts of the analysis of the artistic text and the artistic national world. The following research methods have been used: objective-analytical, textological, eureka-hermeneutic, historical-typological, comparative-comparative. Comparative method reveals the nature and originality of the artistic translations, historical-typological - the similarity of the phenomena of different origin, the same conditions of genesis and development of Kazakh literature and foreign reception.

3. Results

The understanding of the foreign reception of Abay Kunanbayev's creative writings usually occurs through the study of its most significant aspects: presentations of the participants of conferences from foreign countries; Critical and research articles of literary critics, translators, writers, poets in periodicals; Biographical articles in the world’s encyclopedias; Prefaces and afterwords to Abay's poetic collections in the world languages; Scientific monographs of literary critics.

 In exploring the Tatar literary reception of Abay Kunanbayev's works at the present stage, we will focus on such aspects as the translation of Abay's works into the Tatar language, the forewords in those published books, the presentations of Tatar participants at the international conferences, monographic studies of Tatar literary scholars. All these receptive materials contain the analysis of the creative writings of the Kazakh poet over the past few decades.

The entry of Kazakh literature into the world literary process has always been conditioned by such factor as artistic translation, which is considered to be the most effective way of the author's accession into the foreign language environment.

The works of Abay Kunanbayev in the form of the separate collections have been published twice in the Tatar language in Kazan, both during the Soviet period. In 1947 the collection “Abay Kunanbaev. Verses and Poems” was published in the publishing house “Tatgosizdat” translated by M. Mansur. The volume of the book was small, only 74 pages. In 1981, the publishing house “Tatknigoizdat” published a book “Abay Kunanbaev. Verses and poems. Words of edification”. The volume of the book increased to 256 pages, as Abay's philosophical essay “Words of edification” was included. The author of the translation is L. Khamidullin, the preface was prepared by S. Hakim. In the second half of the XXth century in Tatarstan, some poems by Abay were published in the newspapers and magazines. For example, the poem “I'll die, will a damp grave be a place for me?” in the newspaper “Socialist Tatarstan” in 1962 translated by H. Tufan. In 1963 the poems “Heart as the Sea”, “Your Language is Rich” translated by Z. Nuri have been published in the magazine “Soviet Literature”. In 1980 the poem “The Cold Mind is Wiser, They Say ...” was published in the newspaper “Socialist Tatarstan”. In 1985 in the magazine “Kazan utlary” – the poems “Broad forehead, as if cast from silver ...”, “Someone asked, begged the God ...” translated by N. Arslanov and L. Hamidullin. In addition to the poems the article by L. Khamidullin “Poet Abay Kunanbayev” was published in this journal.

The important sources of foreign literary reception include the forewords and afterwords to the books published in foreign languages. We used the preface by S. Hakim to Abay's above-mentioned book, which was published in Tatarstan in 1981. First of all, it is necessary to note the professional approach of the author of the preface to the literary reception. Sibgat Tazievich Hakim is a well-known Tatar poet, author of the books “With a Song in the Heart”, “Summer Dawn”, “Heaven in the Eyes”, “The Gates of the Times”, “Ten Keys on the Mountain”, “Close Distance” etc. He is the Laureate of G.Tukay State Prize of the Tatar ASSR (Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) and M.Gorky State Prize of the RSFSR (The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic). In 1965 he worked as a secretary of the Union of Writers of the RSFSR.

The preface entitled “The Earth that gives birth to miracles” begins with reflections on the fate of the poets (Abay, Pushkin, Tukay, Shevchenko), who laid the foundation of national literature. Tatar poet S.Hakim has immersed into the world of the Kazakh culture, mostly due to the acquaintance with the creative writings of this legendary artist of the word. He sees the main advantage of his personality in the fact that Abay has devoted himself to the service for his nation. He took over a difficult mission – to formulate a national spirit, national unity of his compatriots.

S.Hakim wrote: “Abay is a Kazakh poet. The poems by Abay reflect the hopes and aspirations of ordinary people. It shows the real life of the Kazakh people. Often verses dissolve in translations, and they lose their originality: it becomes impossible to understand what nation they belong to? But I always wanted to distinguish the Kazakh, his appearance, to feel his character, to understand his behavior. All these features can be conveyed by a quality artistic translation. In this book the translations of Abay's poetic works preserve his spirit, the manner of his poetic thinking” (Hakim, 1981, p. 6). The author of the preface notes the interweaving of folklore and literary traditions in his poems. According to S. Hakim, Abay's creative writings are amazing due to the purity and moral power.

The presentations of the Tatar participants at the international conferences dedicated to the honor of Abay are of particular importance. Thus, at the Jubilee session of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Abay Kunanbayev, held in Almaty in 1995, spoke the Tatar literary critic, Doctor of Philology, Professor, Honored researcher of the Republic of Tatarstan, member of the Writers' Union of Tatarstan Flun Muslakhovich Mussin.

It should be noted that the Jubilee Session of National Academie of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan began with a speech by the President of Kazakhstan N.Nazarbayev. The solemn celebration of the 150th anniversary of Abay Kunanbayev was the first jubilee event for the literature and culture of Kazakhstan, which was held all over the world under the auspices of the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

 F.M. Mussin can rightfully be attributed to professional readers, since he worked for many years as the Head of the department of literary criticism at the G. Ibragimov Institute of Language, Literature and Art of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, and currently he is the senior researcher at this academic scientific institution. F.M. Mussin is the author of scientific works “On the life coordinates. Reflections on modern Tatar prose”,”The connection of times: On the historism of modern Tatar prose” etc.

In the report “Abay's legacy and the Tatar world” F.M. Mussin tells about the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Abay in Tatarstan. At that time, in 1995, at the initiative of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, the international jubilee scientific conference was held with participation of Tatar and Kazakh scientists, which adopted recommendations for perpetuating the memory and pro-propaganda of Abay Kunanbayev's heritage in Tatarstan. The reports emphasized that the diverse activity of Abay is of great interethnic importance.

Further F.M. Mussin draws attention to the role of the Tatar enlighteners in Abay's personal destiny. Abay received primary education at home from the Tatar mullah, who was especially invited by Kunanbay to train his son. Then he studied in Semipalatinsk in the madrasah of the Tatar enlightener Ahmet Riza. “Studying in this madrassa in many ways predetermined the further destiny of Abay, instilling in him a love for literature and creating aspiration for poetic creativity. Apparently, from such an early communication with the Tatars, Abay developed his personal relationship to our nation, which he reflected, in particular, in his programmatic work – in the famous "Words of edification"” (Mussin, 1995, p.159). Speaking about the Tatar nation, Abay confidently declared that the Tatars are working hard to earn for life, mastering all new crafts, taking care of their mullahs and madrassas.

Highly appreciating Abay as a poet-thinker, the reporter believes that Abay was a great personality because he raised issues and problems in the life of Kazakh people that were close and understandable to the readers of other nationalities, especially related to the Turkic peoples. Mussin puts Abay in line with such outstanding representatives of the Turkic literatures as Akhundov, Iskhaki, Makhtumkuli, Mukimi, Sabir, Tukai and others. “These writers, deeply national, on the one hand, and possessing a wide interethnic character - on the other, in general were accumulators and catalysts of centripetal forces in the Turkic world, strengthening its internal unity and integrity. Possessing such a socially-ideological force, their creativity simultaneously contributed to the unification of our literatures and cultures in general, to the creation of their single ideological and aesthetic basis. Therefore, the heritage of each of them allows us to raise and develop, in a certain way, common issues for our literatures” (Mussin, 1995, p. 161). In conclusion of his detailed and informative presentation, he appeals to explore Abay’s creative heritage in a new way, from positions of current period.

The tradition of honoring Abay Kunanbayev at the international level continues in the 21st century. In 2010, the M.O. Auezov Institute of Literature and Art, SC of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan hosted the International Scientific and Theoretical Conference “Independence and Abay Studies” dedicated to the 165th anniversary of Abay Kunanbayev. One of the participants of the conference was Ildus Gabdrakhmanovich Tarkhanov, PhD Philosophy, Honored Figure of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan, Laureate of the State Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of culture. Tarkhanov worked as a Consul of the Consulate General of Russia in Kazakhstan. By the Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.Nazarbayev for the fruitful work on preserving and strengthening friendship and cooperation among peoples I.G. Tarkhanov was awarded a Letter of Acknowledgement; The medal “10 years of Astana”; Certificate of Honor of the Republic of Kazakhstan; by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan M.Sh. Shaimiev – the Medal “For Valiant Labor”. He devoted his report “The picture of the world in the philosophy of Abay” to the in-depth analysis of the philosophical essay of the Kazakh poet-thinker “The Word of edification”.

In 2015 in the city of Semey at the Shakarim State University at the international scientific conference “Abay and World Civilization”, dedicated to the 170th anniversary of Abay Kunanbayev, the Tatar literary critic, Doctor of philological sciences, professor of Kazan University Khatip Yusupovich Minnegulov spoke with the presentation “Abay and Tatar literature”. He is a member of the Russian Academy of Humanitarian Sciences, a member of the Writers' Union of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan, Laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Tatarstan in the field of science and the Kul Gali International Prize; G. Iskhaki and J. Validi. Kh. Yu. Mynnegulov is the author of scientific works “Tatar literature and Eastern classics: issues of interactions and poetics” (Kazan), “Records of different years (Tatar literature: history, poetics and interrelations)” (Kazan), “Stages of development of the Turkic-Tatar, Ancient and Russian literatures” (Kazan), “Turkic verbal art” (Kazan) and many others. In his speech, the Tatar scientist presents Abay's creativity in the context of interactions between the Kazakh and the Tatar literatures, mentions facts and information about the popularity of the Kazakh poet in the Tatar society.

H.Yu. Minnegulov can be named as the most active participant of the Tatar literary reception at the present stage. He often visits Kazakhstan to participate at the international conferences. In 1997 he took part at the jubilee celebrations dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Mukhtar Auezov. In recent years he has been invited to deliver lectures at higher educational institutions of Kazakhstan, he is a scientific supervisor to PhD students. Besides speeches at the international conferences in Kazakhstan, H.Yu. Minnegulov dedicates his monographic researches to the creative writings of the Kazakh writers and poets. So, in his monograph “The Turkic-Tatar Literature in the Context of Inter-Literary Relations”, published in Kazan in 2017, one of the sections is entitled “Abay and Tukai”.

In the monograph the creative writings of the classics of Kazakh and Tatar literature Abay Kunanbayev and Gabdulla Tukai was analyzed in a comparative-typological aspect. The author shows the relationship of their souls, the similarity of thoughts and the coincidence of wishes: "Both the Kazakh and the Tatar poet wanted to see their nation educated, moral and cultural, they wanted their nation to be among the advanced ethnoses of the human community, and for this purpose often criticized shortcomings, sometimes even scourged the vices of their people" (Minnegulov, 2017, p. 215). Both poets were educated people, were familiar with eastern literature, used motifs, subjects, images, poetic forms of oriental authors. For both masters of the word, folklore was an inexhaustible treasury of poetic creativity, a source of inspiration. The Kazak akyn, based on folklore, creates various variants of stanza, rhyming and poetic dimensions. He especially prefers the "sextain" and "octave". Unlike Abay, most of Tukai's poems were created not by syllabics, but by aruz. The Tatars have an old and rich written literature. Apparently, therefore, the traditions of written literature dominate in Tukai’s creative writings.

Analyzing the unique creative heritage of Abay and Tukai, H.J. Minnegulov quotes from their works. This shows the thoroughness and evidence of the Tatar author of the monograph. One should agree with the opinion of H.Yu. Minnegulov, that although the authors have passed away for more than a century ago, the works of Abay and Tukai are alive and bring joy, and excite the souls of millions of readers around the world. “Abay's words of edification” among the Kazakhs became a kind of life code, and Tukai's poem “Mother tongue” sounds like a hymn of the Tatars. It should be noted that the appearance of monographic researches in Kazakh literature in various countries is the main feature of its current development.

And, finally, we should mention such an important aspect of the foreign reception of Abay Kunanbayev's creative writings as the publication of a biographical article about the Kazakh poet in the encyclopedia dedicated to Gabdulla Tukay. This encyclopedia was prepared by scientists of the G.Ibragimov Institute of Music, Literature and Art, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan and published in Kazan in 2016.

4. Discussion

The research on literary reception is carried out in line with previous researches on this topic.

Literary reception (or perception) has long been part of historical and literary studies of foreign schools of literary criticism. Reception is the main category in the conceptual apparatus of receptive aesthetics – a direction in criticism and literary criticism, proceeding from the idea that the work fully realizes its potential only in the process of meeting, contacting of the literary text with the reader. The Polish philosopher and aesthetics Roman Ingarden, who introduced the concept “communicative uncertainty”, “concretization”, “actualization”, “aesthetic experience” is considered to be the founder of this direction. However, the most consistent and detailed expression of the principles of receptive aesthetics were observed in the works of the researchers who compiled the so-called “Constance school”, which was formed in the FRG (Federal Republic of Germany) in the 1960s. The main representatives of this school are Hans Robert Yauss and Wolfgang Yesser. The translation into English and publication of scientific works of German scientists in the USA (United States of America) should be noted. At the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, books by H.R. Yauss (Yauss, 1982; Yauss, 1989). At the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and at Columbia University in New York, the works of W. Iser have been published (Izer, 1974; Iser, 1978; Iser, 1989; Iser, 1993; Iser, 2000).

The term “reception” was introduced into active scientific circulation in the 1970s, when specialists from different countries began to explore the issue of reception particularly intensively.

In 1970, the essay “Literature in the Reader: Affective Stylistics” by the American literary critic Stanley Fish (Fish, 1970) was published. In the opinion of St. Fish, a literary work can be considered as a finished work only after its reception by the reader. He believes that the reader's response arises in accordance with his/her own context, that is, the reader's life experience, including the amount of his/her knowledge.

 In 1979, the IX Congress of the International Association of Literary Comparative Studies took place in Innsbruck, and one of the four sections in the work of the Congress was entirely devoted to reception issues.

In 1983, the members of the French Society for General and Comparative Literary Studies have prepared a joint monograph “Studies in Comparative and General Literary Studies in France” under the supervision of Daniel-Henri Pageaux. In one of the chapters “From Influence to Critical Perception” the author Yves Shevrel formulates various approaches to setting the issues of reception. Defining the concept of the recipient, or the perceiving side, the author applies it to the specific reader, and to a certain cultural human community.

Over the years, the study of literary reception is becoming more widespread in the world. At the same time, the research works on the reception of the particular work or the creative writings of the writer in the foreign environment are being brought to the forefront. The article proposed by us is also devoted to the foreign reception. In this case the research subject is the foreign reception of literature of Kazakhstan. The research object – is the reception of the creative writings of the Kazakh poet Abay Kunanbayev by Tatarstan's professional readers, that is, literary scholars, literary critics, writers and poets.

5. Conclusions

As a result of acquaintance with the speeches of the Tatar participants at the international conferences, we should note the serious approach of scientists to the preparation of the presentations, which are quite voluminous, interesting and informative. The in-depth analysis of Abay Kunanbayev's creative writings in the context of interliterary relations is typical for the literary works of the Tatar authors. The publication of Abay Kunanbayev’s works in Tatarstan is very significant.

The creativity of the great Kazakh poet and thinker Abay has been worthily recognized by the Tatar researchers, and they highly appreciate his works, recognize his special role and place in the Kazakh community, make comparisons with the outstanding figures of the Tatar people, find much in common in the creative work of the representatives of the related peoples who have common language and faith. In their opinion, he is the classic not only of the Kazakh, but the whole world literature. Positive reception of Abay Kunanbayev's creativity contributes to the strengthening of friendly Kazakh-Tatar literary relations.

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1. M.O. Auezov Institute of Literature and Art, Kazakhstan, 050010, Almaty, Kurmangazy Str., 29; E-mail: a_mashakova@mail.ru

2. Kazan Federal University, Russia, 420008, Kazan, Kremlyovskaya Str., 18