The world-famous Kyrgyz author: Aytmatov

the world-famous Kyrgyz author: Chingiz Aytmatov

Chingiz (Çıňğız Töröqul uulu) Aytmatov (1928-2008), pearl of world literature, incomparable writer, man of letters, scholar, diplomat and more. Many miraculous adjectives can describe this author. As Zoirova, et al. (2021) write, he became the most widely read author in his lifetime. His works have been translated into almost every language in the world. The Kyrgyz writer is one of the great representatives of 20th-century Turkic and world literature, put in black and white Xodjayev & Umaraliyeva (2024). He was a combination of the best traditions of world literature and the traditions of Kyrgyz national literature. According to UNESCO, his works have been translated into 165 world languages and over 70 million copies printed. Ch. Aitmatov wrote in two languages: Russian and Kyrgyz, and began his work by writing short stories. The work that made the writer famous is his short story “Jamila” (Xodjayev & Umaraliyeva, 2024). The famous writer Louis Aragon translated it into French, wrote a foreword to the translation and called the work “the most beautiful story written about love in the world”. In this book, Aytmatov has written about love and struggle lived in the shadow of war.

It’s the intersection of the lives of Danyar, a young veteran wounded in the Second World War, and Jamila, whose husband is a soldier. The book was translated into over 30 foreign languages in two years. This is a phenomenon that rarely occurs in the history of world literature, point out Xodjayev & Umaraliyeva (2024). The work is set during the Second World War. The plot revolves around the fiery love between Daniyor, who has returned from the war wounded, and his wife, Jamila.

For many years, the author worked as editor-in-chief of the leading Kyrgyz literary magazine “Literaturnaya Kyrgyzistan”, as a correspondent for the newspaper “Pravda” in the republic, and as chairman of the board of the Kyrgyz Union of Filmmakers. He also made a major contribution to the development of the republic’s cinema. Kyrgyz cinematographic art, like fiction, has reached world-class status thanks to the screening of Chingiz Aytmatov’s works after Xursandovnaning (2023). That’s why he’s a symbolic man in the history of Kyrgyzstan. Nuralieva, (2019) writes for example Chyngyz Aytmatov strongly promoted the development of theaters in Kyrgyzstan.

In the 20th century, literature was heavily impacted by the Soviets. It was the arrival on the scene of Chingiz Aytmatov that enabled a rather special new form of literature in which traditions were once again used (Hasanov, 2019).

Zoirova, and al. (2021) write of Aytmatov’s miraculous literature: “The novelty also lies in the fact that Aytmatov’s works carry an enduring spiritual value, created by the writer’s powerful spirit and his faith in the future of mankind, which evokes new emotions and aesthetic impressions. Literature takes its place among the arts.”

This Kirgize writer, famous for his fables, tried to reflect his life through the characters he created. As the reader feels immersed in an unhappy childhood, his books deal with subjects such as the conditions of slavery and feudalism, blood, violence and destruction, ancient and sacred values trampled underfoot, people humiliated and oppressed. Nature plays a key role in Central Asian societies. Otaxonova (2024) writes that this author is a prime example of a writer who links nature to people. This is why he is a symbol for the whole of Central Asia.

Chingiz Aytmatov makes extensive use of mythology in his works, but the characters have no pretensions to divinity or divinity in their ranks. These heroes reflect the life of the steppes, and come on foot or horseback, for example, in some of his works.

Chingiz Aytmatov is a realist artist. His realism is a realism saturated with mythology, folklore, religious intrigue and motifs, fiction (Hasanov, 2019).

Xodjayev & Umaraliyeva (2024) write that Chingiz Aytmatov mixes intrigue, fantasy and historical reality. In other words, he tries to show the reality of his times, such as the troika, through fairytale plots, for example, as in the short story “Aq kema”. The work is built on the basis of the troika, in which the plot develops around real reality and two fairy tales. One is the tale about the “White Ship” woven by the child himself, and the other is the tale about “Mother Reindeer Shokhdar” told by his grandfather Momin Chol. The achievements and tragedies of this period are skilfully presented through the image of these people, point out Xodjayev & Umaraliyeva (2024).

Hasanov (2019) writes that Chingiz Aytmatov has strongly influenced Uzbek literature, Turkish literature, Turkish cinema and so on. For example, Uzbek writers also benefit from Chingiz Aytmatov’s lessons in diversifying the plot, revealing the hero’s character traits and psychology, combining real life and mythology, drawing landscapes and portraits, intensifying plots and sharpening conflicts, … Indeed, Uzbek authors such as Togay Murad, Adil Yakubov, Erkin Azamov, have been strongly influenced by Aytmatov in their own works. Xursandovnaning (2023) writes that Ch. Aytmatov is a great friend of the Uzbek people and Uzbek literature. Moreover, the Republic of Uzbekistan has dedicated several events to the 90th anniversary of the birth of the great Kyrgyz writer Chingiz Aytmatov, such as major literary evenings to perpetuate the writer’s memory. This decision was taken by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Almost all the writer’s major works have been translated into Uzbek.

As mentioned earlier, Aytmatov has also influenced Turkish cinematography. For example, the very famous Turkish film The Girl with the Red Scarf Selvi Boylum, Al Yazmalım in Turkish, Кызыл Жолук / Kızıl Jooluk in Kyrgyze, is a case in point. Indeed, The film’s story was adapted from this novel published in 1970. Gariper (2015) writes that Turkish cinema has brought the author’s literature to life.

The reason why Genghis Aytmatov is a pearl in the history of world literature and especially of Turkic languages is that his works are the struggle to protect an identity. For example, his stories show that the atomic age, the development of technology, global civilization, etc. can damage ancient values, national traditions and a person’s identity. This is why he is a global symbol for the protection of individual identity. Indeed, the characters in his works are always in search of their own identity.

The writer skilfully describes Otov’s “listening” as a class. In “Goodbye, Gulsari”, for example, he depicts a demonstration against the excesses of globalization. The writer shows that this can give rise to the loss of kindness, the violation of ancient values, the disappearance of the sense of brotherhood and kinship. “I wish all our brothers were in the same place, for example, in my aunt’s garden – on the steppe, he writes. In other words, he’s trying to say that being Kirghiz or Kazakh means you can’t live without nature. In reality, Chingiz Aytmatov has created the image of a man crushed by the reality of the times.

Alieva, and al. (2021) point out that the particular use of symbolism in Aytmatov’s realist prose, particularly in his short stories “Mother’s Field and The White Boat”, is highly appreciated by literary specialists around the world.

Moreover, this author has also left a philosophical mark on his writings, as demonstrated by the writer’s statement: “The most difficult thing for a person is to be a person every day”.

Koyuncu (2023) takes up the pen to say that “Chinghiz Aytmatov, an important writer of Kyrgyz literature, can be considered a person who merged moral philosophy and other sub-disciplines of philosophy with literature.” Indeed, Aytmatov’s works fundamentally relate to morality.

İlboğa (2023) points out that this author wrote his works with a philosophical emphasis.

He points out that the author’s century saw two world wars, nuclear weapons, hunger, misery, torture, genocide, human rights violations, the destruction of ethnic identities, cultural crises and more. It was against this backdrop that world philosophy developed and more and more people began to question right and wrong. İlboğa (2023) explains that Aytmatov openly criticized dictatorial regimes and showed that they give rise to increased corruption. Akin (2015) agrees and aligns himself with what has been said, completing as follows: “In Cengiz Aytmatov’s works, the language is universal and there is a philosophical perspective by putting the “consciousness of humanity” at the center”. According to Koyuncu (2023), Aytmatov’s novels contain subjects from the sub-disciplines of philosophy based on moral philosophy, philosophy of culture, philosophy of the environment, philosophy of religion and political philosophy. Omurova and Kozobekova (2009) write, for example, that the author often addressed ecology in his writings.

What’s more, Chingiz Aytmatov is a writer famous for having dealt extensively with the Kyrgyz woman in his works. Each of his stories revealed the strength of the Kyrgyz woman, as Zhanybekovna (2024) notes. In Kyrgyz culture, women are highly valued. The mother has a vital place in society, and is portrayed as a beautiful, strong and gentle person who gave life to man, cradled the cradle with one hand and the world with the other. Like his people, Ch. Aytmatov also appreciated and glorified the place of women.

We can cite several strong female characters in his works, such as Saodat, Sabira, Seyide, Jamiyla, Tolgonay, Oltinay, Asel, Qadicha, Jaydar, Bubujan, Aunt Inkamal, Ukubala,… (Zhanybekovna, 2024). The writer has lived through periods of war, and it is during these that mankind realizes the strength of women.

When during the war all the men went to war, the women carried the burden of life. Zhanybekovna (2024) writes that Aytmatov, through each image, was able to show the importance of women in facing world problems, and the author adds that Chingiz Aytmatov emphasized the role of women in society and that they must have an educated future. In the short story “My Red Scarf”, love, chastity, strength, Asel’s inability to pass the test of life and not abandon her child along the way tell of the tenacity, patience and wisdom of a Kyrgyz girl, for example. This is why Zhanybekovna (2024) explains that Ch. Aytmatov was not called a talented writer, but an “engineer” psychologist who studied human life in depth and defended women’s rights. Through his works, he showed the world the strengths of Kyrgyz women. He urged people to treat women as men treat theirs in his short stories. It would be possible to cite his work with the character Zalqar. All in all, these works convey a message: the great intellectual woman who shook the cradle with one hand and the universe with the other must be protected forever, and her education must be ensured in every way.

Alieva, and al. (2021) write that in Jamila, the writer shows just how important the place of women is in Turkish societies such as the Kyrgyz. For example, since the 6th century, women have played a key role alongside their husbands in these societies. In other words, among the KokTurks, ancestors of the Kyrgyz, and the Timurids, women had power, even political power, in the palace. Ch. Aytmatov illustrates in his works that the Mother is the center of Oriental family values. She educates and is the guardian of the home.

Even when the head of the family is absent, his wife stays behind to manage the household. This situation is typical of many Turkic peoples, and here Chingiz Aytmatov gives the elder Mother a central position in the text.

Finally, this man is an example for the preservation of cultural identities and, above all, of the Kyrgyz nationality. Proâeva (2015) writes: “the question of cultural identity is indissolubly linked to language, which is the very material of literature”. Yet this man wanted to preserve communication with the world, which is why he stressed the importance of the Russian language to a Ukrainian journalist in 1997. His novel The White Ship, for example, is both a critique of the dissolution of Kyrgyz identity and a moral struggle between good and evil. In this respect, the novel touches on the theme of dehumanization found in Aytmatov’s works (Koyuncu, 2023). Indeed, his commitment to Kyrgyz identity is reflected in his work Jamila when he writes “Who doesn’t love his own homeland, his own nation!”

In conclusion, Aytmatov is a writer, a diplomat, ayaunt a remarkable and exemplary philosophical, humanistic scope. As Hasanov (2019) notes, Chingiz Aytmatov is compared by many literary scholars to Alisher Navoi, Leo Tolstoy, Mikhail Sholokhov, Gabriel Marquez... In his works, Aytmatov explores with finesse the themes of human nature, philosophy, women’s rights, the devastation of war, the importance of love, morality, goodness, peace… Through characters deeply rooted in their environment, the author invites us to reflect on our own existence and our place in the world. Aytmatov’s poetic writing transports us into his environment, reflected by those of his characters, where emotions run deep. The dialogues between the characters are imbued with wisdom and morality. This is why this Kyrgyz author should be studied in schools all over the world.

More articles? Interview with Chinghiz Aitmatov’s son – https://eureflect.com

REFERENCES

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