CC BY
14FOREIGN RECEPTION OF MAKHAMBET UTEMISSOV'S POETRY
Mashakova A.
PhD Philology, Leading researcher M.O. Auezov Institute of Literature and Art, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Abstract
The article presents foreign reception of the creativity of the famous Kazakh poet of the XIX century Ma-khambet Utemissov. He is considered the founder of Kazakh heroic poetry. Special attention was paid to the celebration in 2003 of the 200th anniversary of Makhambet at the international level. The foreword by Leon Robel in the poetry collection of Makhambet, published in French in Paris with the support of UNESCO, is considered. This book, published under the title "Red Steppe Wormwood", contains 79 poems of the Kazakh poet. The text of Albert Fischler's speech in Paris at the international conference dedicated to the bicentennial of Makhambet is analyzed. The considered receptive sources make a significant contribution to the process of international popularization of Kazakh literature.
Keywords: Kazakh literature, poetry, foreign researchers, literary translation.
The outstanding Kazakh poet Makhambet Utemissov (1803-1846) was a very bright personality. His role in the culture and history of the Kazakh people, as well as in literature, is enormous. His poetry is full of courage and bravery, an indomitable aspiration for freedom. Makhambet Utemissov is considered the founder of the Kazakh heroic poetry. His creativity can rightfully be called an encyclopedia of the liberation struggle of the Kazakh people in 1836-1838, since in those years Makhambet took an active part in the uprising led by Issatay Taimanov in Western Kazakhstan. "Poetry of Makhambet marks a new stage in the development of individual creativity in Kazakh literature. Makhambet is an original master of the word, with his own style, which is alien to any kind of artificiality and mannerisms. His works are remarkable, both in the passion of thought, political relevance, in the strength of the energy contained in them, spiritual impulse and aspirations, and in the depth of penetration into the spirit of the national artistic language, the brightness of poetic expression" [1].
Many studies are devoted to the poet's creativity, his works translated into Russian have been repeatedly published in separate collections, included into anthologies. Along with Kazakh scientists, foreign researchers are beginning to make an important contribution to the study of the poetic heritage of Makhambet.
Thanks to the active participation of UNESCO in the process of international popularization of the classics of Kazakh literature, 2003 became a special stage in the history of studying and rethinking the creativity of the great Kazakh poet-tribune Makhambet Utemissov. By a happy coincidence, another Kazakh poet - Olzhas Suleimenov, who is the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to UNESCO, was responsible for the organization of the events at UNESCO aimed to mark the 200th anniversary of Ma-khambet.
For a long time Olzhas Suleimenov himself was greatly influenced by Makhambet's creativity, which is clearly evidenced by a number of his poems dating from the 1960s. Among them there are such poetic works as "The last thoughts of Makhambet, dying from
a wound on the shore" (1963), "Prayer of Batyr Makhambet before execution" (1963) etc. In 2003, Olzhas Suleimenov got a chance to once again show his attitude to the poetic idol, whom he called "My formidable Makhambet". O. Suleimenov used this chance by taking the initiative to produce a feature film about Ma-khambet, assist in organizing the translation of Ma-khambet's poetry into French and participate in organizing a solemn presentation of the Kazakh poet-fighter at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
In 2003, a conference dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Makhambet Utemissov was held in Paris at the UNESCO headquarters. From the French side, the Director General of UNESCO Koichiro Matsuura, the first French ambassador to Kazakhstan Bertrand Fessard de Foucault, the director of the Department of Oriental Languages, professor INALCO Michel Bozdemir, and professor Albert Fischler made speeches. The main event of the conference was the presentation of a collection of poems by Makhambet in French. In his speech, the famous poet, writer, playwright and publicist Jacques Jouet, the author of the French translation, said: "As you know, it is very difficult to translate talented poets, but a great desire that Makhambet sounds in French helped to overcome difficulties" [2].
Poetry collection of Makhambet was published by the publishing house "Caracteres" with the support of the Center for Information Exchange on Literary Translation at UNESCO. As noted in the book: "The collection was included into the list of historically significant works of the UNESCO series ... UNESCO believes in the value of literary translation as a means of mutual acquaintance and dialogue between cultures and peoples" [3, p. 4].
This book, published in French under the title "Red Steppe Wormwood", contains 79 poems of the poet, among which there are well-known poems "Without changing the war horse under the saddle", "My name is Makhambet", " Issatay, Son of Taiman", "Word, told to Sultan Baimagambet","We were heroes, heroes", "A blizzard will whirl like snow " etc.
The foreword was prepared by the renowned French poet, translator and philologist Leon Robel. He
graduated from the philological faculty of the Sorbonne, served as professor of Russian language and literature at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations, Director of the Research Center for Comparative Poetics, Head of the Russian department of the Louis Aragon Archive. Leon Robel has published many books and articles on the history of French and Soviet literature, on the theory and practice of translation. In addition, Leon Robel is known as a translator of various poems of the famous Kazakh poet Olzhas Suleimenov and his collections of poetry "Clay Book", "Transformation of Fire".
Thus, Leon Robel has been sincerely interested in Kazakh literature for a long time and his deep knowledge and sympathy are reflected in his preface. He not only acquaints his compatriots with the biography and creativity of Makhambet Utemissov, but also gives a short excursion into the history of Kazakh poetry before Makhambet, notes the types of oral poetic tradition and defines the features of Makhambet's poetic creativity. Leon Robel explains to French readers how oral poetic art spread in the Kazakh steppe thanks to zhyrau, zhyrshy, akyns. He refers Makhambet to ak-yns. The French author of the article writes that "the akyns' favorite genre was zhyr" [3, p. 14]. Further, Leon Robel explains in detail the peculiarities of the zhyr and says about this genre that "it does not have a stanza structure, in fact, but it is presented in the form of loess of various lengths. Poems are mostly single-rhymed. Phonic tessitura is very dense (which favors the structure of the languages of the Turkic group) and rhymes, in particular, are very rich. The clause is regularly three-syllable" [3, p. 14]. As you can see, Leon Robel showed a professional approach to the preparation of the preface.
Leon Robel believes that Makhambet's works in this poetic style were slightly different from the traditional genre. This was manifested in the absence of a single rhyme in some of his poems, interrupting rhymed verses with verses without rhyme, etc. As an example, he cites "Words for Sultan Baimagambet", in which the main rhyme is introduced at the very beginning of Makhambet's poetic creation and appears again after a rather long interval.
Characterizing the poetic world of Makhambet as a whole, the author of the preface emphasizes the presence of both the lyrical principle, and the warlike spirit, and ecological motives of nature with a description of the animal world, and philosophical reflections on the history, life, death and fate of human. According to Leon Robel, Makhambet's life is inseparable from his creativity. All the events that took place in his life are described in his poems, which were passed down orally from generation to generation. In the annotation on the cover of the book, Leon Robel introduced the poet in the following words: "Poetry of Makhambet begins with the breath of the steppe, sounds in the roar of battles, and is rich in amazing metaphors, breathtaking reflections" [3].
In addition, in the preface to the book "Red Steppe Wormwood", Leon Robel emphasizes the talent and experience of the translator Jacques Jouet, noting that "he tried to preserve the original paintings of Makhambet;
preserve the sense of rhyme so as not to fall into artificiality. The Kazakh language is an agglutinative language. It needs much fewer words than French to say anything. The translator has to compress his text as much as possible, not forgetting about the seven-syllable verses of the zhyr" [3, p. 16].
It should be emphasized that in the process of his work, Jacques Jouet relied primarily on line-by-line translations made by his Kazakh colleague Galymzhan Mukanov directly from Kazakh into French. At the same time, he constantly checked with numerous well-known translations from Kazakh into Russian, provided with comments; he had before him the Kazakh original of the texts and listened to the recordings of the Kazakh poetry. Jacques Jouet, according to Leon Robel, managed to reflect the power and freedom of the rhythm of Makhambet's poems, his lively tones, his original vision of the world.
We should also note that the French people have always been skeptical about poetic translations, believing that "poetry is untranslatable" and "to translate means to betray" (traduire c'est trahir). So, the interest of the French audience in translations of completely new, unfamiliar poetic names increases. In this regard, the appearance of Makhambet Utemissov's poetry collection in French takes a special place. First of all, it is a unique literary fact. Translated works remain forever and for a long time after their appearance, they continue to cause resonance and contribute to the true recognition and dissemination of national literature abroad.
Unfortunately, the text of the report "Kazakh society through the poetry of Makhambet Utemissov" by Albert Fischler in Paris at the UNESCO conference dedicated to the bicentennial of Makhambet was not published anywhere. However, the manuscript of this speech was kindly provided by Albert Fischler to the M.O.Auezov Institute of Literature and Art.
Analyzing this speech, one should note the serious approach of the French scientist to the preparation of the report, which turned out to be quite voluminous and, in our opinion, interesting and informative for French listeners. Calling Makhambet "preux-poète" ("valiant poet"), using the example of his poems, including many quotes from them in the report, Albert Fischler shows Kazakh society in the first half of the XIX century. It can be assumed that skillfully selected excerpts from some poems by Makhambet, which the speaker introduced to the conference participants, contributed to a positive perception of the Kazakh poet-hero. Talking about the participation of Makhambet in the uprising of the Kazakh people against the ruling Khan, the French critic assigns him the role of the main ideologue of the rebels, although the leader was Issatay Taimanov. Being both a military commander and an inspired poet, Makhambet evoked the enthusiasm of his associates. According to Albert Fischler, Makhambet's poetry makes one empathize with the fighters for justice and freedom. He said: "Makhambet's desperate poems, full of nostalgia, do not leave me, a representative of Western culture indifferent as well". Further, Albert Fischler draws parallels with other poets who fought using the words, not weapons, referring to the European poets of the XIX century - Byron and Victor Hugo.
In his speech, Albert Fischler demonstrates an excellent knowledge of the history of the Kazakh people, as he mentions Srym Datov, who participated in the uprising of the Kazakh people in the previous century. He believes that the voices and calls of Srym Datov in the XVIII century and Makhambet Utemissov in the XIX century are reflected today, thanks to their spiritual followers Abai Kunanbayev, Mukhtar Auezov, Ab-dizhamil Nurpeissov and Olzhas Suleimenov. Wishing Kazakhstan further prosperity, Albert Fischler ended his speech with the following exclamation: "Makham-bet, you are always alive!"
Foreign reception of Makhambet Utemissov's creativity plays an important role in the development of the process of foreign perception of Kazakh literature. The considered receptive sources make a significant contribution to the process of international popularization of Kazakh literature. The analysis of the perception of the poetry of Makhambet Utemissov abroad is based on an examination of some aspects of French literary reception. The presentation of a collection of poems by a Kazakh poet in Paris at an international conference in the year of the 200th anniversary of Makhambet Utemissov is of great importance for the popularization of Kazakh literature abroad. French researchers characterize his poetic world, emphasizing the presence in it of both the lyrical principle, and the warlike spirit, and ecological motives of nature with a description of the
animal world, and philosophical reflections on life, death and the fate of human. The progress of the very fact of translating the patterns of the Kazakh poetry of the XIX century in the person of Makhambet into French should be noted. Thus, we can talk about the expansion of the chronological boundaries of the history of Kazakh literature in the view of the world audience. Thanks to the active participation of UNESCO in the process of international popularization of the classics of Kazakh literature, 2003 became a special stage in the history of the study and rethinking of the literary heritage of Makhambet, taking into account the foreign reception of his creativity.
This work was carried out in the frame of grant funding from the Science Committee of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the project AR08855803 "Kazakhstan and the world literary space: comparative studies".
References
1. Akhmetov Z. Poetic language of Makhambet // Bulletin of KazNU. Philological series. - 2003. - No. 6. - P. 5.
2. Kuznetsova E. Makhambet is read in Paris // Kazakhstanskaya Pravda. - 2003, October 25.
3. Makhambet Utemissov. L'armoise rouge de la steppe. - Paris: Caractères, 2003. - 124 p.
ЯЗЫК ТЮРКСКИХ ЭПИЧЕСКИХ ПЕВЦОВ XV-XVIII ВЕКОВ В ИСТОРИЧЕСКОМ
РАЗВИТИИ
Жанабаев К.
Доцент
КазНУ имени аль-Фараби Нагымжанова К.М. доктор педагогических наук, профессор Университет Туран-Астана Абитжанова Ж.А. и.о. доцента КазНУ имени аль-Фараби Серикбаева А.Д. научный сотрудник Институт языкознания имени А. Байтурсынова
THE LANGUAGE OF THE TURKISH EPIC SINGERS OF THE XV-XVIII CENTURIES IN
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
Zhanabayev K.
Al-Farabi Kazakh National university Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4755-6631
Nagimzhanova K. Department of Pedagogy and Psychology Turan-Astana University Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2937-5810
Abitzhanova Zh.
Acting Associate Professor of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
Serikbayeva A.
researcher at the A. Baitursynov Institute of Linguistics
