The Day of Abai - 10 August!
Abai (Ibrahim) Kunanbayev (10/08/1845 – 23/06/1904) – poet, educator, philosopher, and the founder of the new Kazakh national written literature and Kazakh literary language.
He was born in the Chingiz mountains of the Semipalatinsk region in the family of the elder of the Tobykta family of Kunanbay. He initially received home education from a mullah, then was sent to the madrasah of the Semipalatinsk Imam, Akhmet-Riza. While studying in the madrasah, he also attended a Russian school. He mastered Arabic, Persian and other oriental languages. He read in the original language the works of the classics of the East – Navoi, Ferdowsi, Nizami, Saadi, Jami, Hafiz, Saikhali.
After failing to finish his studies in the city, at his father's insistence he returned to the village of his birth, where he began to delve into the judicial service and the future administrative activity of the head of the family. He mastered oratory, where eloquence, wit and ingenuity served as weapons. He often went against the interests and aspirations of Kunanbay, making fair and impartial decisions.
The remaining first twenty years of his life were spent in meaningful creative and poetic activity. In the mid 70's of the 19th century, he resumed the study of the Russian language and the classics of Russian literature, including A.S. Pushkin, M.Y. Lermontov, I.A. Krylov, L.N. Tolstoy, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, I.S. Turgenev, F.M. Dostoevsky. He got to know Russian political exiles, such as E.P. Michaelis, I.I. Dolgopolov and S.S. Gross, who formed his progressive views.
In his poetic works created in 1882-1886, Abai addressed the social and moral problems of the Kazakh people, urged the Kazakhs to take the right path of civilized development. The aspiration to progressive development of society, where a man is elevated by reason, science, will, is one of the main directions of Abai's work. He regarded labor as the only way to wealth and abundance of society. He revealed the contradictions between the people and the ruling upper class. He protested against tribal strife, criticized vanity and feudal social mores.
In matters of governance, he adhered to democratic principles. He believed that honest people, interested in working for the good of the people, should be elected as rulers.
He believed that the way to improve the life of the people was, first and foremost, by changing the economic basis of society. He inseparably connected the progressive development of Kazakhs with the development of agriculture, crafts and trade.
He saw science and enlightenment as the main forces capable of overcoming ignorance. Recognizing the necessity of peace and mutual understanding for all peoples, he believed that only under these conditions could the main driving forces of society – science, advanced ideas, culture – be fully developed and the nation's prosperity realized.
In his works, Abai praised the women and mothers as the pillar of the family. He was against the practice of paying money to the family of a bride, polygamy, and fought for the equality of women in Kazakh society. The poems Kozymnyn karasy (You are the pupil of my eyes), Kyzaryp, surlanyp (And blush, and pale), Gashyqtyq tili - tіlsіz tіl (The language of love is a language without words) showed the power of love, the beauty of women.
Abai's significant contribution to the development of artistic prose and public thought was the work Words of edification - Gakliya (1890 - 1898). The content of the book consists of 45 words of edification diverse in subject matter. These precepts played an important role in introducing young people to the spiritual roots of folk wisdom. The central idea of Words of Edification is the belief in the triumph of humanistic ideals, in the boundless possibilities of the native people.
An organic part of Abai's creative work were the translations into Kazakh of works of Russian classics (about 50 translations of the works of A.S. Pushkin, M.Y. Lermontov, I.A. Krylov). His method of translation allowed the poet to creatively approach these outstanding works of literature and convey them to the Kazakh people.
Only a few poems were published during Abai's lifetime. A collection entitled Poems of Kazakh poet Ibrahim Kunanbayev was published in St. Petersburg with a circulation of 1,000 copies. Abai's musical heritage occupies a special place in the history of Kazakh national art. Abai knew songs and cues very well, and highly appreciated songs of folk composers Birzhan Sal, Akan Seri, Tattimbet, Zhayau Musa and others.
Abai also showed interest in the songs of the Russian people, romance, vocal works of Russian composers M.I. Glinka, A.A. Alyabiev, A.E. Varlamov, A.L. Gurilev, A.G. Rubinstein.
The image of the outstanding enlightenment poet is depicted in works of literature, music and fine arts. His life and work inspired Kazakh writer M.O. Auezov to create a novel-epic in two books: Abai and Abai zholy (Abai's Path).
Abai's work has been translated into many languages, including Russian, Chinese, French and many others. The State Prize of Kazakhstan in the field of literature was established in memory of Abai. Cities, administrative centers, streets, theaters, libraries and other buildings in Kazakhstan are named in Abai's honor. The 150th anniversary of Abai in 1995 was held under the auspices of UNESCO.