Discover Kyrgyzstan : Literature (Comics / News)

From the oral tradition..

You have to imagine a country of mountains, where rare passes allow you to reach the northeast and the southwest, bordered by an inland sea, Lake Yssik Kul, and by the Tian Shan mountain range which separates it from the immense China, a capital, Bishkek, which culminates at an altitude of 800 m, to understand how the topography imposes a way of life and draws, by ricochet, the relationship of a people to its literature. Until the beginning of the 20th century, Kyrgyz literature was mainly oral. The reunions of the various nomadic clans lend themselves to festivities and these never take place without music and verbal jousting, the aïtysh, during which the akyns (storytellers) confront each other by improvising sung dialogues. Beyond these poetic competitions, the chants, accompanied by the komuz, a traditional three-stringed instrument, have the virtue of transmitting knowledge and news in a journalistic manner, and sometimes take on the scale of an epic when they sketch the history of the entire community. The popular repertoire is broad and includes many references, such as Kokojach and Kurmambek, but none of them can rival the inevitable Manas, Semetey and Seitek, which are listed as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO

The trilogy impresses first of all by its importance; it is said to comprise more than half a million verses, 20 times more than The Iliad and The Odyssey combined, and although historians do not agree on the date of its appearance, the country nevertheless celebrated its 1000th anniversary in 1995. The Kazakh explorer and ethnographer Chokan Valikhanov (1835-1865) was the first to transcribe part of this epic, a veritable "encyclopaedia" as he called it. There are several dozen versions, the best known being those of Jusup Mamay and Sayakbay Karalaev. Translated into several languages, including Russian and English, the Manas is unfortunately not available in French. Given its length, its recitation takes hours, and only initiates, the manaschys, designated by a prophetic dream, are at the end of their long apprenticeship capable of entering the trance necessary to recreate this unique atmosphere, mixing the musicality of the rhymes with their own poetic style. Some of them have acquired real fame, such as Kaba Atabekov, who died in 2008, but whose voice continues to resonate on the Internet.

The only son of Jaqyp and Chyyyrdy, the sages predicted from his birth that Manas would have an extraordinary destiny, and it is indeed he who succeeded in uniting the forty Kyrgyz tribes against the Chinese enemy. Although left for dead by his lifelong enemy, he gave birth to the valiant Semetey, and thus the legend could continue to be written, and is still written today, why not until the eighth generation. But Manas is much more than a lyrical song, it is also a testimony to the life and morals of the Kyrgyz people, an emblem that was at one time a national treasure, so much so that children learned at school the values it carries, from patriotism to love of nature. Whether in the form of comic strips, film adaptations or stories, it still permeates the hearts of new generations.

... at the turn of the 20th century

The year 1915 saw the birth of an important man, Alikul Osmonov, whose short life was marked by his orphaned youth and health problems that took him away at the age of 35. It is in his loves, sometimes radiant, often unhappy, that he found the inspiration that made him one of the first to modernize Kyrgyz poetry, preferring the written word to the oral tradition. Translator, he knew how to transmit certain classics to his people; very liked, he is represented by a statue which is discovered in the National Library of Bichkek. But the one who really marked the twentieth century is undoubtedly Tchinguiz Aïtmatov (1928-2008). Born in Sheker, Talas province, in Kyrgyzstan, then an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union, his father, a high-ranking civil servant, disappeared in the great purges of 1938. When he was not 10 years old, Tchinguiz was entrusted to the care of his grandmother, the grandson of a nomadic shepherd, and returned to his native mountains, discovering life in the fields. In 1943, appointed assistant to the secretary of the local soviet, he was given the heavy responsibility of bringing to his fellow citizens the letters announcing the death of their loved ones in combat. From all these experiences, from all the odd jobs he had done, from the simple and difficult life of his village, the budding writer knew how to be the messenger when, in 1952, after studying at the Bishkek Agricultural Institute, he decided to take up the pen, while working as an agronomist and journalist. His first literary works are translations, because he handles Russian as well as his mother tongue, Kyrgyz, and it is in this one that he writes Djamilia which, from 1958, makes it known to the general public, and this until France, thanks to the intervention of Aragon which does not hesitate to celebrate this text as "the most beautiful love story of the world" in a memorable preface. Even today, we can still be attached, in our language, to the shy emotions that stir the young Seït when he admires and draws the beautiful Djamilia, also wife of his brother gone to the front, thanks to the re-edition published by Gallimard (collection Folio)

If our national poet celebrates the innocence of this love, the story of this adultery still agitates the good morals in Kyrgyzstan, and yet Tchinguiz Aïtmatov continues to write. The First Master, to be discovered by Le Temps des cerises in a collection of three short stories, evokes the worker Diouïchène sent to a poor Kyrgyz village to set up a school, and will be the subject of a Russian film adaptation noticed in the 1960s. At the beginning of that same decade, Aïtmatov is crowned by the Lenin Prize for News from the Mountains and Steppes, he then opts for his second language and sets about writing Il fut un blanc navire (He was a white ship). His texts became denser, he tackled novels, each of which, including his grand finale The Snow Leopard published the year of his death, was rewarded by unfailing admiration. Not hesitating to take sides against Stalin, his political commitment and his literary approach close to social realism earned him the position of adviser to Mikhail Gorbachev when he came to power. The date of his burial, 14 June, was declared a day of national mourning, which affirms, if need be, the importance that Tchinguiz Aïtmatov has for Kyrgyz letters.

And today..

There are indications that Kyrgyzstan is not turning away from its traditions and writers, such as the organization of the first international festival of Aitysh in 2008 or the fact that in 2012 Bishkek was chosen to host the first festival dedicated to Central Asian literature. In addition, some authors are making their mark at international competitions, and some names are beginning to become familiar, such as that of the young author Yulia Eff or that of Omor Sultanov, who initiated the creation of the literatura.kg website. Nevertheless, since the independence won in 1991, the country has had to face changes, the diaspora it has undergone has rhymed with the departure of some of its intellectuals. At the same time, it has been necessary to reconcile Kyrgyz and Russian, which are competing for the rank of official language. Finally, the number of publishing houses has fallen along with the number of bookshops. For example, according to a 2012 study, there was one per 266,000 inhabitants, compared to one per 33,000 in nearby Kazakhstan. Although during this period books suffered from shortages, as school textbooks themselves had difficulty reaching the most remote regions, these difficulties may have led to a growing lack of interest in reading. So the younger generation prefers to try their luck abroad, where they believe it will be easier to reach a wider audience, even if it means writing in Russian, or decide to turn solely to digital media. However, nothing is set in stone, as evidenced by the esteemed success of rapper L'Zeep, from Pichpek, a modest neighbourhood of the capital, who does not hesitate to say that he came to rap through poetry. In the years to come, who knows what form Kyrgyz literature will take, one thing is certain, it will continue to exist, and the epic will continue to be written.