Kyrgyz literature

Kyrgyz literature is the literature created by the Kyrgyz people of Central Asia. The roots of the Kyrgyz language are subject to debate, largely due to the ancient Kyrgyz tradition of oral storytelling and later linguistic changes. However, written Kyrgyz literature had taken a definite form by the nineteenth century. Early Kyrgyz poets wrote on many topics, while researchers sought to preserve as many ancient oral stories as possible. Kyrgyz literature changed greatly in the twentieth century, largely due to political changes, most notably the Kyrgyz people’s domination by the Soviet Union and the 1991 formation of Kyrgyzstan as an independent country. Modern Kyrgyz literature often explores cultural traditions and folklore and sometimes laments the contemporary troubles faced by the Kyrgyz people.

Background

Kyrgyzstan is a country in Central Asia that is just west of China. It is a mainly rural, landlocked country known for its mountainous terrain and natural beauty. Most of what is in modern times, Kyrgyzstan was taken over by the Russian Empire in 1876. Despite a bloody revolution against Russia in 1916, Kyrgyzstan remained in the Russian—and, later, Soviet—sphere and was made into a Soviet republic in 1926. It remained as such until 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed, and Kyrgyzstan claimed its place as an independent nation. Since that time, Kyrgyzstan has faced a troubled political climate marked by unstable government and widespread corruption, as well as struggles with ethnic hostilities and threats of terrorism.

The Kyrgyz are part of the Turkic linguistic family and an ancient people of Central Asia. The Kyrgyz originally lived near the Yenisey and Altay valleys and mountains and spent most of their history as nomads and animal farmers. In the 1930s, after being brought into the Soviet sphere, the Kyrgyz people were forced to abandon their traditional nomadic ways and become sedentary. Although this changed their culture, it also boosted their education and connections to the rest of the world, which brought a flourishing of their written literature. In contemporary times, Kyrgyz literature is mainly produced in the now-independent country of Kyrgyzstan and a smaller Kyrgyz community in China.

Overview

Questions of the origins of Kyrgyz literature have brought about some controversy among literary historians. The main point of contention concerns the time frame when the Kyrgyz language was first written, since only works after that time could be truly considered Kyrgyz literature.

The discovery by archaeologists of runes written in early Turkic dialects dating to around the ninth to eleventh centuries in the basin of the Yenisey River, has added some fuel to the debate. Some scholars studying these runes have claimed their arcane tongue was a form of pre-Kyrgyz and should be considered the starting point of the language. Despite these assertions, most major historians have dismissed the suggestion.

Scholars have pointed out that the Kyrgyz people at that time, and for centuries afterward, led primarily nomadic lifestyles, meaning they traveled from place to place in search of food and other resources. Lacking a sedentary society, the Kyrgyz had little opportunity to adopt a written language or have any interest in it. That is not to suggest, that they did not have an appreciation for storytelling. Like other nomadic Central Asians, such as the Mongols and Kazakhs, the Kyrgyz held storytelling as a cherished facet of their culture. Stories were passed by word of mouth through communities, often during public ceremonies and cultural rituals, and memorized to pass through the generations.

Although most of these oral tales have been lost to time, early scholars who recorded and studied some of them noted that they were often epic in nature and dealt with themes important to the Kyrgyz, such as pride, war, and hope for the future. One of the most important oral tales to have survived into modern times is the epic Manas, which was recorded by researchers such as V. V. Radloff of Russia and Chokan Valikhanov of Kazakhstan in the last half of the eighteenth century. These works were published, although by the 1950s, new editions faced heavy editing by Soviet censors concerned about the feelings of autonomous pride held by non-Russian ethnic groups.

These early oral tales helped teach the culture of the early Kyrgyz people and celebrate the great heroes, successes, and sufferings of their communal past. Even when a written language developed and became well-known, much of the storytelling style and many elements of everyday Kyrgyz speech used a poetic flare and often employed old proverbs well-known to their culture.

Most scholars believe that true Kyrgyz literature in written form did not truly begin to manifest until the early nineteenth century. At that time, the written language in use was primarily the Turkic language known as Chagatai, which was used by Central Asian writers but with clearly identifiable elements of the Kyrgyz language, as spoken by its people at that time. This form of hybrid language is sometimes referred to as Old Kyrgyz.

Old Kyrgyz is the form of language used by nineteenth-century Kyrgyz poet Moldo Nïyaz, whose work is often seen as among the most important in early written Kyrgyz literature. Another influential early writer was Moldo Qïlïch, whose writings, including Tale of the Earthquake (1911), used lyrical observations and instructions to comment on the situation faced by the Kyrgyz people of the early twentieth century, including their tenuous relationship with the Islamic world and the Russian Empire.

In the first decades of the twentieth century, the Kyrgyz written language still faced major challenges. Formal education and language instruction in Kyrgyz was limited. Even the alphabet to be used was in debate. At first, Kyrgyz was rendered in the Arabic alphabet. In 1927, it shifted to the Latin alphabet, and during the Russification policies of the Soviets, it took on its longer-lasting use of the Cyrillic alphabet. However, despite these challenges, the written lexicon continued to grow, gathering elements of the Kyrgyz cultural past and elements from neighboring tongues such as Tatar and Uzbek. It also expanded due to the Soviets’ push for education and literacy among their subject peoples.

Most early modern Kyrgyz writers drew inspiration from their culture’s deep wellspring of folklore. Some of the most prominent of these writers included Joomart Bökönbaev, Kubanïchbek Malikov, and Aalï Tokombaev. Through the first decades of the twentieth century, Kyrgyz writing was confined mainly to poetry and other lyrical works. Only after formal education began did Kyrgyz writers begin to adopt other forms of writing, including short stories and novels. Some standouts in early Kyrgyz fiction included novelist Tügölbay Sïdïkbekov and short-story writer Kasïmalï Bayalinov. Functional nonfiction also arose in Kyrgyz communities through newspapers and essays, which helped foster communication and unification of Kyrgyz people.

The Kyrgyz community spirit was met with dismay from Soviet leaders, who generally sought to quell the ethnic identification of smaller groups in the Soviet Union. Soviet overseers pressured Kyrgyz writers to promote communist political themes, including stamping out ancient notions of small-group autonomy or land ownership. Some Kyrgyz writers flourished during this time, at least partly by adopting more Russian-styled works. These included the gritty war novel Maidan by Uzak Abdukaimov, or the works of Kasymaly Jantöshev promoting Communist-friendly ideals.

However, other writers continued to produce more traditional fare, including the 1957 love story Jamila by Chingiz Aytmatov, which went on to some international acclaim and helped to define Kyrgyz literature for many modern readers. The novel is based on the life of an artist trying to explain the meaning of one of his works. His ongoing narrative unfolds a long-ago love story between his sister-in-law Jamila (in some translations rendered Jamilia or Jamilya) and a wounded soldier, the latter of whom had been the subject to neighborhood mockery. When Jamila eventually falls in love with the veteran, they have to break bonds with Jamila’s husband and escape the confines of their cultural traditions.

The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 allowed Kyrgyzstan to take its place among the independent countries of the world. This led to a new wave of literature that spoke more freely about the country, its people, and its often-troubled past. Writers of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries spoke frankly and often critically about restrictive social traditions, the legacy of Muslim influence, and Russian and Soviet rule. Some modern writers have added social critiques into novels about people facing hardships, such as prison life or gender inequality.

Other modern Kyrgyz writers of note include Aaly Tokombaev, Alykul Osmonov, and Philip Shishkin. Tokombaev was among the first successful writers to speak critically of the period of Soviet rule of the Kyrgyz people. Meanwhile, Osmonov took large steps forward in modernizing and preserving Kyrgyz literature, both by translating great world literature (such as works from Shakespeare) into Kyrgyz and by helping to transcribe oral Kyrgyz tales into forms more accessible to modern readers. Philip Shishkin has documented modern political turmoil in the country, and his writing has helped to uncover hidden networks of governmental corruption and organized crime. An additional contemporary Kyrgyz author of note includes Aktan Arym Kubat, whose works explore the social and political issues affecting marginalized communities in Kyrgyzstan, as well as the complex interplay between tradition and modernity. National identity, history, and social, political, and cultural issues remain prominent themes in Kyrgyz literature in the twenty-first century. 

Bibliography

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