The Day of Abai

Today we celebrate the Day of Abai. Abai Kunanbaiuly (1845-1904) – a great Kazakh poet, philosopher, composer, translator, founding figure of Kazakhstan’s modern national literature.

Ibrahim Kunanbayev was born on August 10, 1845 in the city of Semey (then - Semipalatinsk) in the family of a large buoy belonging to the local nobility. His grandfather and great-grandfather dominated in their family as rulers and judges. The nickname Abai, meaning “attentive” or “careful,” young Ibrahim received from his grandmother Zere.

As a child, Abai Kunanbayev received a home education. After that, he simultaneously studied at the madrasah, where they taught Oriental languages, and at the Russian school. At that time, he became acquainted not only with poets and scholars of the East, but also with the work of Russian writers and Western European literature. Towards the end of his studies, Abai wrote his first poems.

By tradition, Abai was to become the head of the clan, but at the age of 28 he moved away from this, taking up self-education. A significant event for Abai was communication with political exiles who were serving their sentences in Semipalatinsk. It is also known that Abai Kunanbayev contributed to the spread of Russian and European culture among the Kazakhs.

In the 1880s verses by Abai Kunanbayev appear. He was engaged in translations of poems by I.A. Krylova, A.S. Pushkin, Johann Goethe and George Byron. So, in 1780, Goethe wrote his “Night Song of the Wanderer,” which 60 years later was translated by Lermontov. This verse was translated by Abai Kunanbayev into the Kazakh language, after which it became a folk song "Mountains doze in the dark night."

Abai Kunanbayev was an innovator of Kazakh poetry. He introduced new dimensions and rhymes into Kazakh versification. He created about 170 poems and 56 translations. The most famous work of Abai is considered the "Book of words" or "Words of edification." The poem includes 45 brief parables and philosophical treatises, which raise the problems of education and national outlook, morality and law.

Abai Kunanbayev died on July 6, 1904. Of course, he greatly influenced the Kazakh national culture of the late XIX - early XX centuries. For example, the literary magazine "Abai" in Kazakh and Russian languages, published in Semipalatinsk from February to November 1918, got its name in honor of the great poet and philosopher.

The life path of Abai and his legacy were deeply studied by the historian and writer Mukhtar Auezov, who wrote his main work - the novel "The Way of Abai".