biography abai kunanbaev

Abai: A Poet for All Seasons

• Abai Peter Rollberg Publication

Abai Kunanbaev, the great thinker, enlightener, poet, and composer of the Kazakh people, was born on August 10, 1845 in the Genghis mountains of the Semipalatinsk region 1 . His father, Kunanbai Uskenbaev, was a highly influential elder of the Tobykty Clan, part of the Middle Juz. Abai was educated at home by a mullah, later in the Semipalatinsk madrasah (medrese), and in a Russian school. He studied the Holy Koran, foreign languages, including Arab and Farsi, and read the works of Eastern poets and scientists such as Firdousi, Navoi, and Avicenna. Although a deeply religious man, Abai has also been praised as Kazakhstan’s supreme enlightener.

Abai’s father had high hopes for his son, expecting that one day, he would be his loyal aide in all legal matters relating to other clans, which were often fraught with conflict. To some extent, Abai justified these hopes – he became one of the most famous law experts of his time. However, he was also influenced by classical humanistic ideas and suffered from the unforgiving cruelty of his environment caused by Russian colonial rule and native patriarchal tradition. Among Abai’s Russian acquaintances were several exiled intellectuals whose liberal ideas influenced him. Abai viewed it as his mission to acquaint Kazakhs with the accomplishments of world literature. He rendered some of the best translations of the works of Pushkin, Lermontov, and Krylov, as well as Byron, Goethe, and Heine into the Kazakh language. Another major influence on Abai’s thinking were classical philosophers – Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.

By the age of 35, Abai began to devote serious attention to his own poetry. His poems quickly gained fame throughout the steppes, being spread by word of mouth 2 . But due to Abai’s natural modesty and the questionable status of poets in society, he attributed his works to others, denying that he was the author. Only in the summer of 1886, he signed a poem (“Summer”) with his own name. Eventually, these poems made Abai hugely popular throughout the Kazakh steppes. He introduced a number of new prosodic forms into Kazakh literature, for example, the hexameter. Abai was the first to create a cycle of poems dedicated to the four seasons: “Zhaz” (“Summer”), “Kuz” (“Fall”), “Kys” (“Winter”), and “Zhazgytury” (“Spring”). He also created satirical verses mocking opportunism and kowtowing toward powerful administrators. His long narrative poems such as “Iskander” (dedicated to Alexander the Great), “Mazgud,” and The Legend of Azim,” solidified his reputation as the leading poet of the Kazakh people.

Abai’s  aul  attracted numerous akyns, but also foreigners – including Tatars and Russians – who wanted to witness Abai’s wisdom and artistry first-hand. While handwritten copies of Abai’s works were circulated among readers, it was the akyns who learned them by heart and performed them throughout the country. Abai also was a gifted composer who created tunes for his poems, which made them even more popular. As the great scholar and writer Mukhtar Auezov put it: “He carried his poetry like a burning torch through the gloom of ignorance and prejudice that enveloped the Kazakh steppes, revealing new horizons to his people and the promise of a new dawn.”

A major formative factor in Abai’s upbringing was his contentious relationship with his authoritarian father, whose plan it was to raise Abai as his successor. Kunanbai had four wives who competed against each other. But Abai’s mother, Ulzhan, and his paternal grandmother, Zere, showed Abai the possibility of a life based on values other than power: justice, truth, respect for all human beings, compassion, and mutual help. It was his mother who called him Abai, meaning “the thoughtful one”, rather than Ibrahim, his official first name. And since “thoughtful” was such a fitting description of the boy’s personality, it stuck to him forever.

Abai was a widely respected intellectual whose opinion was valued, including by the Russian administration, especially in legal conflicts. But in his life, he had to face numerous tragedies. He lost two of his sons to tuberculosis in 1895 and in 1904. Struck by grief, his own will to live waned quickly. Abai died on July 6, 1904 and was buried in Zhidebai. In the 1940s and 1950s, Kazakh writer Mukhtar Auezov turned Abai’s life into a four-volume epic, arguably the greatest achievement of Kazakh literature: The Path of Abai (Abai Zholy). Auezov created a veritable encyclopedia of Kazakh culture and customs, unparalleled in its richness and psychological depth. The Kazakh people’s multi-layered nomadic society with its complex relationships, encompassing both time-honored traditions and irrational excesses, is shown through the prism of Abai, a decent man, loyal friend, passionate lover, and deep thinker. This novel is more than a fictionalized biography: it is the portrait of a nation.

As with all great artists, Abai’s legacy has been interpreted differently in each subsequent period. Soviet specialists put the strongest emphasis on the social relevance of his work: whereas in the 1920s, the focus was more on the individualistic and spiritual aspects of his texts, in particular, the suffering of the intellectual in a world that largely disrespects education, in post-Soviet decades, the national specifics of Abai’s oeuvre became prevalent. Reading Abai’s poetic texts today, it is clear that they contain multiple elements and allow for a variety of interpretive approaches, all of which are legitimate in their own way. However, the surest method to understand Abai in a way that is true to his original intentions 3 . It is not an exaggeration to say that any exploration of Kazakhstan without an immersion in the legacy of Abai would be incomplete.

Abai used poetry to capture the atmosphere of the  aul  and the steppe during different times of the year. His cycle on the seasons is particularly remarkable as it deviates from typical perceptions of nature in other national literatures, giving Abai’s poetry an unmistakably Kazakh dimension. “Autumn” (1888), for example, emphasizes darkness and not the celebration of plentiful harvesting, whereas “Winter” reflects existential danger, conveying a unique attitude toward forces of nature that defines the life of Kazakhs for many months. In Abai’s poetic world, winter appears as a person, and it is not a friendly one:

His beetling eyebrows are knit in a frown. When he tosses his head — dismal snow starts to fall. Like a crazy old camel he acts in his rage, Rocking and shaking our yurt’s thin wall. The horses in vain try to shatter the ice — The hungry herd scarcely shuffle their feet, Greedy wolves — winter’s henchmen — have their fangs; Watch, or disaster your flocks may meet! 4

Unlike winter poems in other national literatures, Abai’s points to this season’s deadly consequences for people and animals alike: neither is it associated with the glittering beauty of fresh snow, nor the purity of the blue winter sky, nor the vastness of white fields or the joys of sleighing, skiing, and skating. Instead, Abai shows all the dangers that winter brings. Metaphors, such as wolves acting as “winter’s greedy henchmen,” point to an impending doom, a darkly existential dimension of this season in the Kazakh people’s perception. It seems safe to say that in his nature poetry, Abai is the authentic voice of his nation: he expresses the emotions that he, just like every Kazakh, experiences in his interactions with the forces of life. For the inner tension of these poems it is essential that the auctorial voice is not that of an outside observer. Rather, he and his people are one, his viewpoint is theirs.

Nature often serves as the backdrop for love and passion:

In the silent, luminous night On the water the moonbeams quiver. In the gully beyond the aul Tumultuous, roars the river. The mountains respond in a choir To the shepherd dogs hidden from view. You come in a flowery dress To your midnight rendezvous. At once both bold and meek Full of sweet girlish grace, You furtively look around, Blushes light up your face. Not venturing even to speak With a soft half-sigh, half-groan On tip-toe you rise and press Your trembling lips to my own. 5

In this poem, written in 1888, nature provides shelter, a hideout for the lovers. Human emotions live in harmony with the movements of the trees, the moon, and the river. In this and other love poems, passion is captured as an overwhelming, tormenting, but ultimately gratifying power. The erotic candor of Abai’s love poems is remarkable in itself, demonstrating how the poet fully embraces all aspects of love, including the physical.

Didacticism

In his didactic poems, Abai takes on the role of a teacher of life who explains to his listener, or reader, the rules of which principles they are to follow and which to avoid. The generalizations of these poems appear quite authoritative. However, the arguments expressed to the listener/reader are not normative in the conventional sense, verbalizing officially sanctioned rules for life. Rather, they are derived from what Abai himself learned in life, such as in the following poem written in 1889:

When your mind is as keen and as cold as ice, When hot passions burn in your petulant heart, Both fiery passion and patient thought Must be ruled by the will, lest they stray apart. (…) What use is the mind without passion and will? For a thoughtless heart even midday is dark. Be able to keep all three in accord. Let your will make your heart to your reason hark. 6

The poetic form gives these conclusions a crisp shape but also makes it more persuasive in its didactic purpose.

The Mission of Poetry

In his poetry, Abai often asks himself: why do I use the poetic form in the first place? Who is my target audience? And he answers with a stringently formulated credo:

Not for amusement do I write my verse, Nor do I stuff it full of silly words. It’s for the young I write, for those Whose hearing is acute, whose senses are alert. Men who have vision and are quick to give response Will understand the message in my verse. 7

Abai’s poem confirms his identity as a teacher of life, an identity he has acquired through many hard lessons. Being privy to hearing or reading his poetry is the right of those who are open to those lessons, to shared experiences; those who are eager for entertainment should look elsewhere.

Philosophical questions are at the center of several of Abai’s poems, addressing existential aspects of our life here on Earth and thereafter. One of these poems, written in 1895, begins with a seeming paradox: Nature may be mortal, but humans are not. For a Western reader educated in a rationalistic framework, this is a paradoxical statement, as the opposite seems to be true: human beings exist in the world for a limited time, while nature in its universality will always be there. But Abai’s worldview is rigorously anthropocentric 8 . The supremacy of humanity in the universe, the fundamental respect for human potential and accomplishments turns the relationship around: Nature is mortal, humans are immortal! Abai’s radical reversal of the conventional relationship between humanity and the universe is rarely found in Western poetry; it is hard to say whether this is a demonstration of the primacy of his religious views or whether Abai speaks strictly within a poetic paradigm. Conspicuously, his anthropocentrism has found a continuation in 20th-century Kazakh poetry, for example, in Suleimenov.

Maybe nature is mortal, but man is not. Though there is no coming back When he draws his last breath. The separation of I and Mine Only the ignorant regard as death. (…) This world and the other can’t both be loved. The divine and the earthly must be divorced. But a man’s no believer if he in his heart Loves this world all too much, and the other perforce. 9

Among the central themes in Abai’s poetry is his nation. The Kazakhs are his people, but who are they, what are their values? Whenever Abai ponders these questions, he is a stern judge; his directness in addressing national vices, as he sees them, is both awesome and terrifying.

Oh my luckless Kazakh, my unfortunate kin, An unkempt moustache hides your mouth and chin. Blood on your right cheek, fat on your left — When will the dawn of your reason begin? Your looks are not bad and your numbers are vast, Yet why do you change your favors so fast? You will never listen to sound advice, Your tongue in its rashness is unsurpassed. (…) Kinsmen for trifle each other hate. God bereft them of reason — such is their fate. No honor, no harmony, only dissent; No wonder cattle is scarcer of late. 10

The sternness and directness with which Abai chastises his nation is astonishing; it is hard to think of other poets revered by their nations who would be able to express such critical sentiments. Indeed, there is no hopeful outlook softening his message – the only way the poet can talk to his people is in uncompromising moral certitude, with a candor that is almost merciless. The fact that the Kazakh nation nonetheless loves Abai reveals a willingness to put up with harsh words as long as they are perceived as truthful.

Autobiographical Motifs

When Abai speaks about himself, his will to verbalize the experiences of his life with utmost honesty outweighs any other consideration. This is particularly true of a number of Abai’s poems that sum up the results of his life struggles, drawing a balance of what he has realized over the years. Such is the poem “It pains me now.”

It pains me now to realize that I have tinkered With nature’s gifts and lived my life in vain. I thought myself one of the rarest thinkers, But empty is my fame… Alas, I have no aim. Inconstancy and idleness are our greatest banes. We put no faith in loyalty of friends. Our warmth of feeling all too quickly wanes, We cool too soon: a trifling hurt offends. I have no one to love now, and no friend. In disillusionment I turned to writing verse. When I was sure in heart, how without end, How fascinating seemed the universe! My soul craves friendship, seeks it daily, My heart is aching for it, and while I Have never known a friend who’d not betray me, I sing a hymn to friendship for all time! 11

It is this uncompromising honesty about himself that earned Abai the right to judge his own people with unrelenting candor.

Abai harbored no illusions about humankind. He describes human behavior as dominated by greed, dishonesty, contempt for others, pride, and ignorance. But he insists that these same human beings, both as individuals and as a nation, are free to make moral choices. He knows human nature; he has observed it keenly and studied it deeply. He shares his insights, hard to accept though they may be, with those who are willing to accept harsh truths. These human beings can opt for the values that Abai holds dearly: education and knowledge, respect and decency, truth and honesty, peace and love. That is the message of Abai, Kazakhstan’s greatest thinker, an inconvenient sage. Because Abai’s poetry addresses such a wide array of themes, from nature and love to life, death, and the character flaws of the nation, it seems fair to say that Abai is a poet for all seasons. His universality, sensitivity, and truthfulness explain why Abai’s poetic legacy is alive and dear to Kazakh readers today.

• The region has been renamed Abai district, part of the Eastern Kazakhstani oblast.  ↩
• Only much later did Mursent Bekin write down Abai’s poems.  ↩
• This article deals exclusively with Abai’s poetry, not his major prose work, Words (Gaklii, 1890-1898), which will be the subject of another publication.  ↩
• Translated by Dorian Rottenberg; cf. Abai Kunanbayev, Selected Poems. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1970, p. 58.  ↩
• Translated by Dorian Rottenberg, op. cit., p. 60.  ↩
• Translated by Dorian Rottenberg, op. cit., p. 76.  ↩
• Translated by Olga Shartse, op. cit., p. 74.  ↩
• In his opposition to a rationalist approach, he was followed by Olzhas Suleimenov’s poetic worldview: “Earth, bow down to Man [i.e., humankind]!” [Zemlia, poklonis’ cheloveku!”] (1961).  ↩
• Translated by Dorian Rottenberg, op. cit., p. 133.  ↩
• Translated by Dorian Rottenberg, op. cit., p. 32.  ↩
• Translated by Olga Shartse, op. cit., p. 44.  ↩

Peter Rollberg

Peter Rollberg is Professor of Slavic Languages, Film Studies, and International Affairs and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research Initiatives at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Rollberg studied at Lomonosov University in Moscow and at the University of Leipzig where he earned his Ph.D. in 1988. His main field of expertise is Russian literature and film, as well as Georgian and Kazakh cinema. In 1996, Rollberg published volume 10 of The Modern Encyclopedia of East Slavic, Baltic, and Eurasian Literatures (Academic International Press) and in 1997, a festschrift in honor of Charles Moser, entitled And Meaning for a Life Entire. His Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema was published in 2009 (second, enlarged edition 2016).

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Abai Kunanbauyly

Abai kunanbayuly (1845-1904).

Abai Kunanbay uulu was a well-known Kazakh poet, a great thinker, composer, philosopher, the founder of written Kazakh literature, and its first classic. The legacy he left his nation is rich in songs and poems, translations, and prose. His translations of the poetry written by Russian writers and poets such as Pushkin, Lermontov, and Krylov became the national inheritance of Kazakhstan. He translated the works of Schiller, Goethe, and Byron into the Kazakh language.  He also participated in the governing of the country and played a certain role in attempting to solve complicated problems justly. The name of Abai is known worldwide just as Shakespeare, Goethe, and Pushkin are well-known in many countries, because his great words became a spiritual patrimony of not only one nation, but of the entire humankind.

Ibrahim Abai Qunanbaaev was a Kazakh poet, composer and philosopher.  Abai was born in Karauyl village in Chingiz volost of Semipalatinsk uyezd of the Russian Empire, today it is Abai district in East Kazakhstan. He was the son of a rich and powerful Kazakh provincial prince, gave himself the pen-name Abai the Righteous.  He was sent to a Russian secondary school in Semipalatinsk. There he read the writings of Mikhail Lermontov ad Alexander Pushkin, which were influential to his own development as a writer. Further, he was fond of reading eastern poetry, including Shahname and 1000 and 1 night.

He was married against his will and had to bow to all his father’s whims. Henceforth, he vowed to dedicate all his work to the effort to liberate his nomadic people from ignorance. He took topics from his immediate environment, transformed them into poetry and put them into literary shape.

By translating them into Kazakh, Abai made important works from Russian and European literature accessible to his compatriots. He concentrated on Kazakhs’ national self-consciousness. As the best prerequisites for this he recommended education and moral integrity. His literary and philosophical masterpiece, the Book of Words, is dedicated to this theme. His work provided a powerful impulse to the development of Kazakh writing; today, Abai is honoured as the founder of Kazakh literature.

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Azerbayev Kenen

• LITERARY PROCESS

Abaiuly (Kunanbayev) Turagul (1876-1934)

It is known that children often try to repeat socially political, moral views and principles of parents in their activities  and affirm in life. Without this, the connecting thread of the past and present breaks, the historical memory of the people is lost, spiritual leading lights and cultural and moral guidelines for the development of peoples disappear.

In this regard, we recall that Turagul was the youngest son of Abai. He is known primarily as biographer of Abai, translator.

Turagul Abayily was born in the East Kazakhstan region, Abai district. He got a comprehensive education, he knew Russian, Arabic. From childhood, he listened the musical and poetic works created by Abai Kunanbaev.

He was a poet, translator, public figure. He was closely acquainted with the members of party of Alashorda A. Bokeikhanov, M. Dulatov, Zh. Aymauytov. For the first time Turagul, together with his grand-nephew Kakitai Iskakuly published Abai’s poetry works  in St. Petersburg in 1909. Turagul did a lot to preserve the  Abai’s works, made an invaluable contribution to the compilation of Abai’s biography. Since 1922 he was engaged in creative activities. Among many of his works, the most valuable work is the work-memoirs “On Father Abai,” written at the request of M. Auezov. In this work he made a detailed description of Abai’s life and activities. His poems dedicated to his broher Abdrakhman are kept in the fund of the reserve-museum of Abai.

He is the author of poems “I asked Allah for this day”, “Letter”, “To Abish”, “Reply letter”, etc. The main part of the works of Turagul is literary translations. The story by M. Gorky “Chelkash”, translated into Kazakh, was published in the magazine “Tan” in 1925.  A. S. Neverov’s  stories  “Mary Bolshevichka”, “I am in love with life” were translated by  Turagul  and were published  as a separate book in Moscow in 1927. He translated J. London’s works of “Eskimos Kish”, “Martin Eden” (the manuscript has not been preserved), B. Prus ’s  work “Antek”. His poems, the translation of  M. Gorky’s “Chelkash”, work-memoirs” On Father Abai”, and the research article on Abai were included in the collection “Followers-Poets” (1993, 1 book). The work -memoirs “On Father Abai” was appeared  as a separate book edited by B. Baygaliev.

In addition,  Semipalatinsk’s  newspaper “ Saryarka” , which became the voice of the movement of Alashordy, published  the first victories of the Alash army: Alash forces conquered troops of army of  Bolsheviks in the direction of the Altai province in 1918. Turagul Abaiuly,  Biakhmet Sarsenuly, Karazhan Ukibaev and others took part in the Alash army. At the end of the 20s of the 19 century, Turagul’s family was convicted and exiled to the Syrdarya district, and his son was executed as an enemy of the people. Turagul  has lived  last years of his life in Shymkent . In 1934, Turagul died of a serious illness in Shymkent. Unfortunately, the grave of Turagul, has not been preserved, because the territory of the old cemetery was subsequently built up with the buildings of the Shymkent chemical pharmaceutical factory.

Literature:

• Begalin K. As part of the empire: children’s encyclopedia of Kazakhstan. – Almaty: Aruna, 2011. – P.46
• Gainullina F.A. Literature of the Semipalatinsk Irtysh Region: Textbook. – Semipalatinsk, 2002. – P.136
• Mukhamedkhanov K. Turagul Abaiuly Kunanbaev // Kazakh SSR: brief encyclopedia v.4.-Alma-Ata: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1991.- P.561
• Toporkov V. The master of his fate // Rudnyi Altai. – 2005. – June 7. – P.6

5 The history of Kazakh literature in 3 volumes ,v.2 – Almaty: Nauka, 1957 – 340 p.

6 Writers and poets of the Semey region: bibliographic guidebook  – Semey: Publishing House “Press House”, 2015.-106 p.

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Abai Kunanbaev: poems, quotes, biography

The great thinker, great poet, and consummate fighter for the prosperity of the Kazakh people, Abai Kunanbaev, became the founder of Kazakhstan's classic literature. The creative heritage of the writer became the spiritual heritage of the nation and enriched the culture of the Kazakh people.

Abay Kunanbaev: literary heritage

Abai's poems were written over a century and a half ago, but remain relevant in today's world. The works of the great classical have been recognized in different parts of the world and have been translated into many languages. Learn about the literary activity of the first classic of Kazakhstan, read the aphorisms and statements of the outstanding Kazakh. Photo: ru.wikipedia.org Abay Kunanbayev: Literary Legacy The Kazakh classical began his literary activities as a teenager. His first poems were written when he was 12, but few of his early works have reached his contemporaries. From the age of 28, the poet thoroughly studied the poetic creativity of Eastern nations and Russian classical literature.

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He was the first to translate into Kazakh the works of the genius poets and writers Krylov, Schiller, Pushkin, Byron, Mickevich, Geine, Lermontov, and Goethe. Thanks to the works of an outstanding person, Kazakh people got acquainted with the world's classical literature for the first time. During his creative activity, Abai Kunanbayev left a vast literary legacy to the world community. It included poems, conversations with readers, poems in which the author praised the beauty of native nature, wisdom, and diligence of the Kazakhs.

Abay Kunanbaev, whose poems are imbued with love for the homeland, realistically described the way of life of the nomadic Auls, condemned the imperial usurpers and village governors, convinced the people of the need for enlightenment, and called for a fight against social evils. Abai presented the most typical portraits of his contemporaries in his works "Kulembaya," "Kozheqbay," and many others.

Ideologically and thematically, the literary heritage of the prominent Kazakh is diverse. For example, in the poems, The Tale of Azim, Masgoode, the author reveals to the reader his own ideals, the central idea of which is to celebrate labor, social and moral justice, humanity, reason, and service to the people.

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In his poem "Iskander," the poet expresses his attitude toward the historical figure Alexander the Great. In the work the author condemns the conqueror's greed, setting him against the eminent philosopher Aristotle. In "Gacclia," the poet acts as a demanding mentor and thoughtful thinker. In wise aphorisms, the author presents to the reader issues of culture, morality, history, pedagogy, labor, and the community of nations.

Abai's writings were widely known even before they were published. His poems and poems were delivered word of mouth. Kunanbayev's aesthetic innovations had a huge impact on contemporary Kazakh literature. The way of life and creativity were covered by such artists as:

• writer Mukhtar Auezov (novel trilogy "Abay");
• director Georgy Roshal (film "Songs of Abay");
• and director Kurmanbek Jandarbekov (opera "Abai").

Abay's innovative literary achievements had a huge influence on the works of national Akyn's and figures of Kazakh literature.

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The main work of the writer was an epic philosophical work, The Words of Edification , which includes philosophical treatises and short proverbs. The prose poem raises questions of Kazakh worldview, morality, law, and national education. Abay Kunanbayev, whose biography is full of persecution, never lost faith in the strength of the Kazakh people.

Abai masterfully implemented the fresh ideas in his works in innovative literary forms. The author actively used the richness of national oral poetry and the Kazakh language. He introduced innovative poetic genres into literature, employed previously unknown techniques and forms.

In addition to his literary work, Abai Kunanbayev wrote music. More than 20 tunes were widely used by Soviet composers (Ahmet Zhubanov, Latif Khamidi, and Evgeny Brusilovsky) in creating the Abay opera and many symphonic poems. Tatiana's letter to Onegin accompanied by his tune has been adorning the song repertoire of the people of Kazakhstan for more than 100 years.

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K.Iskakov . LIFE OF ABAI (IBRAGIM) KUNANBAEV

T. Kunanbayev. ABOUT ABAI, ABOUT MY FATHER

For those who collect information on the biography of my father, will be needed data about his character, lifestyle, about how he looked like: an expression of his face, clothes, gait, speech, was he pleased or indignant. Among the contemporaries of my father there were a few people who know how to write. So I had to involuntarily take up the pen. Although, to my notions, writing about the nature and habits of the father is not quite decent. Before, I never wrote these things and also have never seen or read a book of memories. I want to take the father’s character as a whole and, gradually, pondering, open it as far as I can. Azamat, who will need my words, will find from the heap of bales and choose the right material and cut out what he wants. &#82&#101&#97&#100&#32&#109&#111&#114&#101 »

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The Power of Context: Abai Kunanbayev’s Translations Made European Literature Accessible to the Kazakh People

By Dmitry Babich in Opinions on 7 November 2020

This year is marked by the celebration of the 175th anniversary of Kazakh poet and writer Abai Kunanbayev. Kunanbayev went on to become the first Kazakh classic writer famous not only for his works, philosophical treatises and music, but also as a translator, who popularized the masterpieces of world literature for a general audience. He translated into the Kazakh language the works of Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Ivan Krylov, Ivan Bunin, Adam Mickiewicz, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Lord Byron.

Abai Kunanbayev. The painting was created by the artists from the Zhagyru creative association. The painting is on display at the Museum of Arts of the East Kazakhstan region in Ust-Kamenogorsk.

Recently, Sauytbek Abdrakhmanov, Deputy of Mazhilis (the lower chamber of Kazakh Parliament), Doctor of Philology and Member of the State Commission on preparation to the 175th anniversary of Abai Kunanbayev, released the work dedicated to Kunanbayev’s contribution as a translator and analyzed the originality and meaning in his translations.

In Search of the Context

This is the most striking and the most modern element in Abdrakhmanov’s  philological essay on Kunanbayev’s translations “Thus Spoke Abai” – the context, in which Abdrakhmanov puts the translations of Pushkin and Lermontov. Known to every high school student in Kazakhstan and Russia, these works get fresh colors and produce new melodic sounds, when a meticulous, but also loving researcher puts them next to each other – Pushkin’s verses and Kunanbayev’s translations. And when Abdrakhmanov adds a charming contextual detail – such as a brief study on love letters in the nineteenthcentury rural Russia and Kazakh steppes of the time – the reader is invariably rewarded for the time spent on reading the Russian and Kazakh variants of “Eugene Onegin” or other works. 

Sauytbek Abdrakhmanov

Let us not forget: the works of one of the greatest modern philologists – Vladimir Nabokov’s “Commentary to Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin,” Yuri Lotman’s “Pushkin. Biography of a Poet,” Mario Vargas Llosa’s “Flaubert and Madame Bovary” – they were all about that same thing. About the context of a certain great literary achievement of the past. 

Essay review in Russian media 

Parts of Abdrakhmanov’s essay “Thus Spoke Abai” were reprinted and discussed on the pages of some of Russia’s most popular and influential newspapers: Komsomolskaya Pravda, Nezavisimaya Gazeta and Argumenty i Fakty. The interest of the Russian-speaking public could be easily explained: the essay is easily readable and talks about things both familiar and new to the followers of highbrow literature in Kazakhstan, Russia and other countries. This essay tells us about the writers of our childhood: Pushkin, Lermontov, Byron, Lafontaine and Ivan Krylov – but their works and life stories are presented in a very special Kazakh way, they are put in the context of the Great Steppe. 

Abdrakhmanov chose his special theme: how were the world’s great literary works interpreted by Abai, which obstacles and prejudices did he have to overcome when searching for a way to bring Pushkin and Lermontov to the heart of his freedom-loving nomadic people, which was originally more used to listening and not reading long poetic works.

From Aesop to Abai

Did you know, for example, that Aesop’s famous fable “The Crow and the Fox” originally speaks of meat, and not of cheese, as the Fox’s prized reward for flattery?

The great French writer La Fontaine replaced Aesop’s meat with cheese (a part of “delicatessen” of his epoch). Abdrakhmanov proves that it was a part of La Fontaine’s “text strategy”: the Fox is not going after something necessary for survival (such as meat), its lies are a way to get an undeserved luxury. Later the Russian translator of that fable Ivan Krylov chose to stick with cheese. Abai Kunanbayev, who followed suit translating from the French and Russian translations into Kazakh, kept the cheese option, but used the adjective ‘karagym’ (my dear) when describing the Fox’s flattering attempts to make the Crow sing. Abdrakhmanov proves convincingly that Abai did it to demonstrate his Fox’s special approach to flattery. 

“There was no shortage of meat in the Great Steppe of Abai’s times,” Abdrakhmanov explains Kunanbayev’s decision to keep the cheese. And cheese, especially the famous cheese from the Duchy of Limbourg, mentioned in the first chapter of Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin,” cost a lot because it was imported straight from the producer in today’s Belgium. 

But this is just the beginning of Abdrakhmanov’s “chain of contexts,” which follows Aesop’s fable from its Greek origin via the French and Russian translations to Abai’s supreme interpretation. “It is hilarious how in the French translation by La Fontaine the Fox is addressing the Crow as a nobleman speaking to a nobleman,” Abdrakhmanov writes. Indeed, let’s see the French original:

Maître Corbeau, sur un arbre perché,

Tenait en son bec un fromage. Maître Renard, par l’odeur alléché, Lui tint à peu près ce langage : Et bonjour, Monsieur du Corbeau, Que vous êtes joli ! que vous me semblez beau!

Here is an English translation: 

At the top of a tree perched Master Crow; In his beak he was holding a cheese. Drawn by the smell, Master Fox spoke, below. The words, more or less, were these: “Hey, now, Sir Crow! Good day, good day! How very handsome you do look, how grandly distinguished!”

Even in the English translation one can see the satirical approach of La Fontaine to his countrymen’s attempts to appear “distinguished” and to be addressed by the words “sir” and “maître” (a word somewhat more respecting than “mister” or even “master”).

Abdrakhmanov notes that in Krylov’s translation Lafontaine’s two noblemen (the Crow and the Fox are both “maitres,” respected men, in Lafontaine’s fable) suddenly become women, and the Fox calls the Crow “a sister” trying to get into her good graces. In Abdrakhmanov’s analysis, this is a hint at Russians’ habit of searching for relatives and friends in a certain sphere where one has to get an advantage. 

In Abai’s translation the Fox addresses the Crow as a friend (‘karagym’), without referring to any relatives, which reflects the Great Steppe’s ideal of camaraderie. In the Kazakh variant, there is no referring to class solidarity (some very forgivable for the seventeenth century “class solidarity of noblemen” in the French translation) or to family connections  (the “sister” of the Russian translation). 

In Abai’s translation, the Fox (a man) speaks to the Crow as a friend and an equal, but “with a sweet voice” and obviously with some gentlemanly compliments (“what a neck, and the eyes… no need to be shy about your voice too!”).

The result is a funny and charming translation of the immortal tale with several important Kazakh realities, which Abdrakhmanov reveals to us, making shine a side of Abai’s talent that we haven’t been aware of. 

Tribute to Altynsarin

In his quest for context, Abdrakhmanov does not limit himself by the legacy of Abai alone. In his research on translation of European fables, Abdrakhmanov brings to our attention the memoirs of Ybyrai Altynsarin, the prominent Kazakh educator of the 19th century.

“Initially, Abdrakhmanov writes, Altynsarin did not want to include fables into the textbooks for Kazakh children, saying that it took some time for Kazakh children, who grew up in a very severe natural environment, to see the charm of fables. Originally they preferred “realistic” stories to the fictional settings of speaking crows and foxes.”

But,  Abdrakhmanov notes, in 10-15 years this hurdle was overcome: both children and parents learnt to understand and love Aesop’s language. Kazakhs quickly learnt and adapted to their needs European culture, while preserving their own. And in unfree Soviet times Aesop’s language proved to be not just a charming luxury, like cheese in Crow’s beak, but an instrument of survival, necessary for a free thought. 

Abdrakhmanov’s essay is free not only from political constraints. It is also free of the desire to get rid of the past and free of the fear to look further into the future. It is this freedom which is most precious today.  

Sauytbek Abdrakhmanov is Deputy of the Mazhilis (the lower chamber of Kazakh Parliament), Head of the Deputy Group of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan in the Mazhilis and Doctor of Philology. 

Abdrakhmanov was born in 1951 in the South Kazakhstan region. He graduated from Al-Farabi University in the early 1970s. He started his career as a journalist and worked in the Socialist  Kazakhstan newspaper for 12 years. Later he became the editor-in-chief of Yegemen Kazakhstan (Sovereign Kazakhstan) newspaper. He was the Kazakh Minister of Information in 2003-2004. In 2016 he was elected into Mazhilis (the lower chamber of Kazakh Parliament). 

The author is Dmitry Babich, a Moscow-based journalist with 30 years of experience of covering global politics, a frequent guest on BBC, Al Jazeera and RT.

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