Abai “starts speaking” Slovak
BRATISLAVA, October 5, 2020 – The Embassy of Kazakhstan in Bratislava, together with the National Academic Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the city of Nur-Sultan, conducted today an online presentation of the first ever translation into the Slovak language of the Words of Edification by Abai Kunanbaiuly.
Huge distances were not an obstacle for the connoisseurs of Abai’s works. The online event, timed to coincide with the 175th anniversary of the great Kazakh philosopher and educator, brought together a large number of participants, representatives of the academic community and creative intelligentsia of the two countries.
Opening the presentation, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Bratislava Roman Vassilenko noted that “Kara sozder” became Abai’s invaluable contribution to the development and formation of Kazakh and world literature. “Literally translated from Kazakh, this title means “Black Words,” which has its own deep philosophical meaning and reflects the critical, and even self-critical, nature of his words of wisdom. This, as well as what Abai’s work means for modern Kazakhstan, was very eloquently described in the article by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ‘Abai and Kazakhstan in the 21st Century’... We hope the publication of this book will allow Slovaks to better understand history of the Kazakhs and the modern Kazakhstan and will bring our two peoples and our two countries even closer together,” said the Kazakh diplomat.
In addition to him, Professor of the University of Economics in Bratislava, former State Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Science and a member of the friendship group with Kazakhstan in the Parliament of Slovakia Olga Nachtmannova and the author of the translation, Candidate of Philological Sciences Katarina Strelkova participated in the event from Bratislava.
From the Kazakh side, Director of the National Academic Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor Umitkhan Munalbaeva, poet, Chairman of the Union of Writers of Kazakhstan Ulugbek Esdaulet, and Doctor of the Mukhtar Auezov Institute of Literature and Art, Honored Worker of Kazakhstan, Doctor of Philology Svetlana Ananieva took part in the presentation.
The works of Abai Kunanbaiuly have become classics of Kazakh and world literature. One of the brightest works of the great Kazakh classic is “Words of Edification”, which consists of 45 short parables or philosophical treatises. “Words of edification” is an appeal to the reader, a dialogue, a kind of fruit of “the mind of cold observations and the heart of sorrowful notes”, and the philosophy of the life of an individual against the background of the fate of the people.
The work has been translated into many languages of the world and is now being opened for the first time for Slovak readers.
Copies of the new book will be sent to the library funds of universities and public libraries in Slovakia.