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10PHILOLOGICAL SCIENCES
RECEPTION OF MUKHTAR AUEZOV'S CREATIVITY IN EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
Mashakova A.
PhD Philology, Leading researcher M.O. Auezov Institute of Literature and Art, Almaty, Kazakhstan
ABSTRACT
The article deals with the perception of the creative writings of the classic of Kazakh literature, the writer Mukhtar Auezov in Eastern European countries - Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia. The process of translating his works into Bulgarian, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Czech, and Slovak has been presented. Prefaces in M.Auezov's books which were published in these countries have been considered; reviews in the press; reports at the International conferences. The assessment of M.Auezov's creativity was positive, and the enthusiastic reaction from Eastern European writers and literary critics prevailed.
Keywords: reception, Kazakh literature, novel, review, preface.
One of the outstanding classics of Kazakh literature, writer, playwright, publicist, scientist and public figure Mukhtar Auezov (1897-1961) is the most important figure in the history of Kazakh literature. His active creative activity had a huge impact on the development of modern Kazakh prose, dramaturgy, and literary criticism. Mukhtar Auezov gained a worldwide fame starting from the middle of the twentieth century, when appeared the first translations of the epic novel "Abai's Way" into foreign languages. At the same time, other works of the Kazakh writer were translated into many languages of the world. As a result, from the 1950s to the present, foreign researchers showed interest in his creative writings.
The creative writings of Mukhtar Auezov in modern foreign reception can be observed through the study of its most significant aspects: translation of his works into foreign languages and their publication abroad, prefaces and afterword to these books, reviews in the press, presentations of the foreign participants at the conferences, literary biographies in foreign encyclopedias, literary studies monographs about his life and creativity, which were published abroad.
Most of the articles, prefaces, reports, reviews have been collected, translated and systematized in the collection "The World of Auezov" [1], which was prepared by the staff of M.O. Auezov Institute of Literature and Art, and published in 2004 in the series "International Relations of Kazakh Literature". The collection includes sources written by the authors from 17 foreign countries. Among them there are representatives of Eastern European countries such as Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Articles are presented in the translation from foreign languages into Russian. This book is of great importance for determining the world prestige of Kazakh literature based on the example of the creative writings of M. Auezov. At the same time, on the basis of this receptive material, one can determine the place of Kazakh literature in the world literary process.
Chronologically, all foreign publications can be divided into two periods. The first period includes articles by foreign authors in the Soviet period of the his-
tory of Kazakh literature. They appeared in the periodical press immediately after the translation of the novel "Abai's Way" by M. Auezov into foreign languages and continued to be published in the future.
During the Soviet period, the first foreign translations of M. Auezov's novel were published in Eastern Europe. In Czechoslovakia, the novel-dilogy "Abai's Way" was translated into Czech and Slovak. In 1948 and 1949 it was published in Prague, in 1951 and 1961 in Bratislava. In Bulgarian, the novel "Abai", translated by B. Svetlinov, was published in 1950. In 1964, the second book of the novel-dilogy "Abai's Way" was published in Sofia. In Bulgaria, in 1961, the story "The Shot at the Karash Pass" was translated and published, in 1968 - the story "The Beauty in Mourning". In Poland, both books of the novel "Abai's Way" were published in 1950 and 1951, in 1961 the story "Grey Fierce" was translated into Polish. In Hungary, the novel "Abai's Way" was translated in 1956, and in 1976 - the story "Grey Fierce". In 1950 the first book "Abai" was published in Romania, and then in 1961 this novel was published in two books.
Many books which were published abroad included the prefaces or afterword which were written by the writers. In particular, the well-known writer Fran-tisek Soukup prepared an extensive preface to the Czech edition of the novel "Abai's Way". It should be noted that the novel-dilogy "Abai's Way" is the central work in the creativity of M. Auezov, the author, using the example of the life of the protagonist - the great Kazakh poet of the second half of the XIX century Abai Kunanbayev, tells about the Kazakh people. Since, thanks to this work, the first acquaintance of the foreign readers with the Kazakh land and its people took place, the preface drew attention to the people's way of life, customs, unusual nature (steppe expanses with a harsh climate were unfamiliar for European readers). F. Soukup noted the talent and excellence of the Kazakh writer: "This work depicts the life of the Kazakh people in the last century in an unusually expressive and detailed way. This artistic chronicle covers, in addition to the life of Abai, the traditions and customs of the Kazakhs, starting with the rites of matchmaking and ending with funeral commemorations for the dead, their
everyday life and holidays. The writer depicts social structure, the hierarchy of the society of that period" [1, p. 183]. F. Soukup goes beyond the preface, and in 1956 published his review "A novel about old Kazakhstan" in the newspaper "Pritel SSSR". In it, he highly appreciated the novel "Abai's Way": "The meaning of this biographical novel is much wider - it is a genuine literary encyclopedia of the life, customs and culture of the former Kazakhs, which makes it possible to see the specifics of social relations in Central Asia of the last century incomparably better, than this would be provided by special historical or economic works" [1, p. 181].
A number of foreign reviews and responses were predetermined by M. Auezov's personal contacts with foreign literary figures. For example, in 1956, M. Aue-zov visited Czechoslovakia and met K. Iiroudkova, who wrote an article about this meeting "For the sake of friendship" in the newspaper "Literarni novinky". Talking about the life path of M.Auezov, she sums up: "All this is not just a biography of one person - it is a chronicle of the life of a generation that for half a century has passed through two social formations: from feudalism, bypassing capitalism, to socialism" [1, p. 179]. Some contacts were established in Moscow, where the Kazakh writer, in particular, met the Romanian writer Victor Vintu.
In 1957, Victor Vintu met with M.Auezov on the eve of his trip to Hiroshima (as part of the Soviet delegation) in connection with the anniversary of the victims of the first atomic explosion. Their conversation took place in the room of the Moscow Hotel. In the life of M. Auezov, 1957 was triple jubilee year: his 60th birthday, 40 years of literary activity and 25 years of teaching at the Kazakh State University. V.Vintu asked M. Auezov to tell about his life. The novel "Abay" -the first work of M.Auezov, printed in Romanian, was published without an introduction and without biographical data of the Kazakh writer. Therefore, this conversation, which was subsequently published in the Romanian press, was of great importance for acquainting the readers with the personality of the Kazakh writer. In the article "Revolution and biography of Mukhtar Auezov", Victor Vintu shared the following impressions: "I was not familiar with the akyns, I did not go around villages and did not even hear the sounds of dombra. And yet, a short meeting with one of the most famous sons of Kazakhstan - Mukhtar Auezov - made an impression that I had already seen and heard all of this. This is thanks to him, the creator of many legends, one of which is about Abai, the poet-enlightener... " [2] and "After meeting Mukhtar Auezov, I was struck by his special ability to recreate the atmosphere of Kazakhstan in a simple hotel room in the center of Moscow. Akyn, aul - all this was so close to me, as if I saw these distant regions that were native for Mukhtar Auezov" [2].
Mukhtar Omarkhanovich was actively involved in social activities. He was a member of the Presidium of the Union of Writers of the USSR, the Committee on Lenin Prizes, the Soviet Committee for the Defense of Peace, the Soviet Committee for the Solidarity of Asian and African Writers, the Presidium of the Academy of
Sciences of Kazakhstan and was twice elected to the Supreme Council of Kazakhstan. In addition, he participated in the work of other public organizations, writers' congresses, plenums, International forums. So, in 1959 at the congress of the writers of Afro-Asian countries in Tashkent, M. Auezov met Romanian colleague Toma Gheorghe Maiorescu. By that time, the novel "Abay" had already been translated into Romanian, and therefore, during the conversation T.G. Maiorescu showed particular interest in the biography and creativity of the Kazakh writer. M. Auezov spoke about himself and about how the novel "Abai" was created, how he collected bit by bit the information about Abai. M. Auezov ended the conversation with discussions about the creative path of Abai, who passed away at the age of 60, who was loved by the people, but did not see most of his works published in print. It is interesting that at that time M. Auezov was also 60 years old; thanks to his novels about Abai, which were translated into many foreign languages, the whole world learned about the great Kazakh poet.
It should be noted that interest in the creativity of M. Auezov did not weaken over time. In 1973, the Hungarian literary critic E. Feher Pal, after the fifth meeting of Afro-Asian writers, published the article "The East without Myths", which was completely dedicated to M. Auezov. In this publication, the author draws interesting parallels between the Kazakh writer M. Auezov and the French writer, author of historical novels, French Minister of Culture Andre Malraux. Both of them are writers, both traveled a lot and were interested in the East, both visited India at the same time, in the mid-fifties. André Malraux was also a politician; he travelled to India on behalf of General de Gaulle. Auezov travelled to India as a writer and public figure. However, both had the main goal - to get acquainted with the history and modern life of India. This is how E. Feher Pal writes about it: "Approximately at the same time as Malraux, in the mid-fifties, the Kazakh writer visited India. M. Auezov is an oriental man to the marrow of his bones both by origin and culture. When he was born, his nation had only legends, heroic epics -and there was no written language. The son of a nomadic people, M. Auezov masters the European culture of the XX century. He is not a politician, but, most likely, a historian, an outstanding folklorist, an author of the extensive monographs and a writer, a realist writer, like Malraux" [3, p.18-19]. However, E. Feher Pal also indicates to the differences in the worldviews of both writers: "In the East Malraux is looking for something that is missing in Europe, he strives to show those features that separate Asia and Europe. M. Aue-zov is surrounded by these legends, and behind the myths he sees ruthless reality. Both in his homeland and in other countries of the Asian continent, he was looking for Asia that accepts the requirements of social and technological progress" [3, p.19].
The review of the Slovak literary critic Ondrej Marusiak is one of the evidences that the interest in the creativity of M. Auezov did not stop. In 1981, a book of works selected from the literary heritage of M. Auezov was published in Bratislava. The book "Krasny Rok" includes the well-known novels and stories
"Dashing Time", "Beauty in Mourning", "Grey Fierce" and the novel "Young Generation". One of the translators and the author of the afterword was O. Marusiak, who gave the following comprehensive description of M. Auezov: "The writer is characterized by synthesizing and imaginative thinking, which is reflecting linkages in the national and global context, patriotic and international pathos, intense philosophical impulse, enduring richness of detailing, which are so closely connected with the main historical turns and turning points in Kazakh history, in personal destinies, as well as in many scenes from everyday life and during the celebrations of the Kazakh people with various national games of horse riders and poetic and musical improvisations of venerable old men-aksakals" [4 , p. 92].
A careful study of the publications of foreign researchers of M. Auezov's creativity in the Soviet period reveals the manifestation in them of a characteristic feature which is typical for this period of foreign reception of Kazakh literature, in particular, the descriptive character. In the literary-critical articles of those years, the retelling of the content of the works, focusing the reader's attention on the exotic nature of the described life, prevailed. The assessment of M. Auezov's creativity was positive; an enthusiastic reaction from foreign writers and literary critics prevailed.
The second period of foreign publications refers to the 1990-2000s, that is, to the period of independence of Kazakhstan. In 1997 the creativity of M. Auezov became the object of close attention and study, when the international celebration of the 100th anniversary of the classic of Kazakh literature took place under the auspices of UNESCO. That year, the anniversary celebrations, including scientific conferences, were held not only in Kazakhstan, but throughout the world. Hungary was the first of the foreign countries to organize solemn events in March 1997. This country which is connected with the Turkic civilization both by blood and friendship showed great interest in the creativity of the outstanding Kazakh writer.
Eastern European literary studies scholars, writers, literary critics and scientists also took part in the solemn events which were held in Kazakhstan.
So, at the International conference of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Mukhtar
Auezov - the great writer and humanist of the XX century" the well-known Hungarian scholar in Turkic studies Jozsef Torma spoke. He is the author of scientific works in the field of Turkic ethnography and philology of Turkic languages. The scientist from Hungary focused on the story "Gray Fierce". He noted that "in legends, superstitions and in the literature of the Turkic peoples, the image of a wolf is often found" [5, p.66]. J. Torma spoke about the respectful attitude to the image of the wolf in the Bashkir folklore; for a long time the Kazakh people have considered the wolf a sacred animal. According to J. Torma, M. Auezov in his story "Grey Fierce" touched upon the ancient theme of Turkic legends.
Thus, the reviewed receptive material clearly demonstrates the special interest of Eastern European researchers in Kazakh literature in the person of Mukhtar Auezov. They unanimously emphasize that the epic novel "Abai's Way" by Mukhtar Auezov is one of the masterpieces of the world literature of the XX century.
The article was prepared in the framework of the scientific project OR11465467 "Formation of new humanitarian knowledge and conducting innovative research in the context of modernization of public consciousness in the field of literary criticism and art history" of program-targeted funding of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
References
1. World of Auezov / Compilers: M. Madanova, D. Kunaev, A. Mashakova. - Almaty, 2004. - 212 p.
2. Victor Vintu. Revolutia si biografía lui Muhtar Auezov // Contemoranul. - Bucuresti, 1957, 18.10. - P. 3.
3. E. Feher Pal. Kelet - mitoszok nelkul. Jegyzetek az otodik afro-azsiai irotalalkozo urugyen // A munka nem jaték. - 1973, 8 szeptember. - L. 6-8.
4. Ondrej Marusiak. Nemohol chybat'v tejto edicii // Krusny rok. - Bratislava: Nakladatel'stvo Pravda, 1981. - P. 373-378.
5. Jozsef Torma. Gray fierce and the image of a wolf in Turkic legends // Mukhtar Auezov - great writer and humanist of the XX century. Proceedings of the International conference. - Almaty: Gylym, 1997. - P. 66-70.
