Literature

Kazakh literature is a history of several millennia. The primary sources of Kazakh literature are the dastans called “Alyp Yer Tonga”, “Shu Batyr”, which were created in the 11-3 centuries BC. Scientific research proved that the events described there are closely related to the ancient history of the Kazakh people. Among the sources of ancient Turkic literature are Orkhon-Yenisei inscriptions, the works of Yusuf Balasaguni and Mahmud Kashgari and treatise “Codex Cumanicus”.

In ancient times, the nomads of Kazakhstan told various legends about the exploits of mythical heroes, about gods and monsters in a poetic form. Over time, these stories developed into original epics called “Korkyt-Ata” and “Oguz-Name”.

In the 15^th century, such genre as “tolgau” was formed. It is a poetic form of reflection, which contained some kind of wisdom or edification for any reason. Tolgau was performed by an author and singer called “zhyrau”. Thus, performing educational and enlightening functions, zhyrau had weight in the political life of the country and could influence society. Later, the tradition of holding “aitys” appeared. “Aitys” is a song/poetic duel between two “akyns” (singers) during which they addressed such topics as religion, society, political order and other acute issues.

In the 19^th century, development of written literature began influenced by Russian and European writers. At the end of the 19^th century, names of such authors as Ibrai Altynsarin, Shokan Valikhanov, and, in particular, Abai Kunanbayev, who is considered a classic of Kazakh literature, became widely known in Kazakhstan. The work of Abai (Ibragim) Kunanbayev (1845-1904) opens a new stage in Kazakh realistic literature. The power of Abai, as a great artist of the word, manifested itself with exceptional power in the poems of the Eight Poems. The main line of his work is a call for goodness, knowledge, culture, honest work, justice, love for the people, his native land. A keen connoisseur of Russian poetry, Abai translated about 50 works by Pushkin, Lermontov, Krylov. In 2020, Kazakhstan celebrated the 175^th anniversary of the great poet.

"Photo taken from open sources"

In the 20^th century, traditional socialist topics became popular. During the Great Patriotic War, poets wrote patriotic poems and poems about soldiers and heroes of the battlefields. In the second half of the 20^th century, writers began to create large novels, developed drama and even mastered science fiction. Thus, the Kazakh literature of the 20^th century joined the global trends and has been maintaining the course to this day.