Chingiz Torekulovich Aitmatov is a writer who created his books in two languages: Russian and Kyrgyz. But his works are read all over the world, as they are translated into more than one hundred languages.
This writer went down in the history of Russian literature more than half a century ago, when one of the most penetrating works of Soviet literature was printed - the story "Jamil". Later it was translated into other languages ââof the world. It is safe to say that the era of talented Soviet writers ended on June 10, 2008, when Chingiz Aitmatov passed away. The biography of a genius writer is the topic of this article.
The son of a repressed communist
He was born in 1928 in Kyrgyzstan, in a remote countryside. Aitmatov's parents belonged to the first generation of communists, which was subjected to repression in the late thirties. The writerâs father did not escape the arrest. Later in his first novel Chingiz Aitmatov will reflect these events.
The biography of this person is amazing. Decades later, even Aitmatov could not believe that, as a fourteen-year-old teenager, he could fulfill the duties of secretary of the village council and solve issues that concerned various aspects of rural life. By the beginning of the war, the future writer managed to finish only seven classes. But all the men went to the front. In the villages there were women and children who had to grow up too early.
Kyrgyz Nugget
In the cultural policy of the Soviet period, the governing apparatus gave direction to the support and development of national literature. Surprisingly, this program was able to identify talented authors whose names became known outside the vast country. One of these names is Chingiz Aitmatov. The biography of a man who was born in a Kyrgyz village and was the son of a communist arrested in 1938 could not be joyful. With such a fate, it is difficult not only to become an outstanding writer, but also to receive an elementary education. But this article is about a real national nugget. Such people are born once every hundred years.
Human themes
It is worth saying that Chingiz Aitmatov is not exclusively a national author. His biography is echoes of the tragic events of Soviet history. And therefore, the books created by him are devoted to universal themes. They are close not only to residents of Kyrgyzstan, and not only to those who live in the territory of the former Soviet Union. The works of this author are able to penetrate the soul of everyone, regardless of nationality.
Kyrgyz writer and Russian prose
The work of Chingiz Aitmatov surprisingly joined the works of such Russian authors as Valentin Rasputin and Victor Astafyev. In the books of all these writers the following general features are observed: saturation, metaphor, the complete absence of socialist optimism. And it seems strange that the rather pessimistic novel âThe White Steamboatâ entered the school curriculum already in the seventies.
The father of the writer, as already mentioned, was a major Kyrgyz party worker who was repressed in 1938. And therefore, the life that Chingiz Aitmatov lived was especially surprising. The biography and work of this man took shape in difficult times, but, despite this, already in 1952 his first works began to be published in the republic.
Jamilya
After an agricultural institute, he worked for three years as the main livestock specialist at a research institute for animal husbandry. And then there were higher literary courses at the Institute. Gorky. And after their graduation, Chingiz Aitmatov was able to publish his first famous work. A photo of the main character in the film, shot on the novel by a Kyrgyz writer, can be seen in this article. This is a work of "Jamil". This story was created within the walls of the hostel on Tversky Boulevard. She became significant in the life of Chingiz Aitmatov, since she brought him fame not only at home, but also abroad. The book was translated into all European languages, and on the shelves of Parisian bookstores it appeared thanks to the work of Louis Aragon himself.
âJamilyaâ is the story of a young woman who at first glance harmoniously fits into Soviet ideology. The heroine Aitmatova breaks with the patrimonial past in order to start a new bright life. However, this book also represents an extremely sad love story. The same can be said about the work âMy Topolek in a Red Headscarfâ.
The story âThe First Teacherâ became more straightforward, in which Chingiz Aitmatov portrayed the horrors of patriarchal violence. Photos from the filming of the film of the same name by Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky are presented below. The name of the Kyrgyz writer thundered throughout the country when he was not yet forty.
âMaternal fieldâ
In 1963, another heartfelt story was published about the fate of a mother who had lost her sons. The writer Chingiz Aitmatov knew about the difficult life of women in the war years. In addition, he knew the hardships of rural life firsthand. But when reading the story âMaternal Fieldâ, it nevertheless seems surprising what her man created. With extraordinary authenticity and bitterness, he conveys the thoughts of a woman whose sons have not returned from the front. There is no patriotic pathos in this work. It is not about a great victory, but about the grief of a small man - a woman who finds strength only in her love. Even when her husband and three sons die, she is in her heart warm and tender for someone else's child.
Big prose
What else is known about a man named Chingiz Aitmatov? Biography, family, personal life of this person are inextricably linked with his literary work. It is known that a world famous writer did not make any wealth. After death, there was only a house in which the most valuable is the literary works and awards of Aitmatov. The writer invested all the money earned in the education of children. The writer Chingiz Aitmatov, whose biography was undoubtedly reflected in his books, was extremely reverent about family values. And it is difficult to doubt this after reading the works that brought him world fame.
He walked extremely long to great prose. The first truly great novel was the work "And the day lasts longer than a century." This soulful book was published in 1980. It is dedicated to love and suffering, happiness and pain. In the novel, the author achieved true mastery. After writing this book, Aitmatov was rightly called the modern philosopher. The authorâs experiences of his heroes in the novel âAnd the day lasts longer than a centuryâ were conveyed with such authenticity and sincere pain that he seemed to be familiar with the feelings of a person suffering from a totalitarian regime and preferring death to separation from his wife and children.
Poetic prose
By the time the first novel was published, Aitmatov already had behind him the publication of such works as The White Steamboat, The Pinto Dog Running Over the Sea, etc. And, despite the fact that this writer was accepted considered one of the representatives of socialist realism, in his book there is an unusual poetry. They have a carefully structured text and are devoid of any ideology of the work that Chingiz Aitmatov created.
The biography, a summary of which is set out in the article, covers only the main events. It may seem that the creative path of the writer was extremely easy. However, this is a deceptive impression, since Aitmatov went a long and painful road to each of his works.
Soviet bestseller
The most significant work of Aitmatov was the "Scaffold" published in 1986. In this novel, the author spoke for the first time about what had previously been a closed topic: about faith, drug addiction and cruelty, which had already ceased to amaze people. After the publication of this work, Chingiz Torekulovich Aitmatov was added to the host of literary celestials.
A short biography of this writer includes the lightning success of this book, for which long lines stood idle in stores. "Plahu" passed from hand to hand. They talked about her at every turn. Aitmatovâs book has become a bestseller.
Not a single subsequent work of this writer has had such success. And the point is not that they were worse, but in the fundamental changes that took place in society. The first readers of Plakhi were representatives of the outgoing era, for whom literature was of particular importance. Subsequent works did not enjoy such widespread success. And this, rather, speaks of the spiritual poverty of modern society, in which it is customary for literature to assign an entertaining function.
The post-Soviet period in the work of Aitmatov includes such works as âKassandra's Brandâ, âThe White Cloud of Genghis Khanâ, âChildhood in Kyrgyzstanâ, âWhen the Mountains Fallâ.
In 2006, together with his associates, the writer established a charitable foundation whose activities were aimed at the development and dissemination of the Russian language in the countries of the former Soviet Union.
Personal life
The writerâs first wife was a girl who later became an honored doctor of Kyrgyzstan. Her name was Kerez Shamshibaeva. Before dying, this woman bequeathed to her sons to honor and respect her father. The children kept their promise to their mother. However, Aitmatov, according to acquaintances, and close friends, blamed himself for leaving Kerez until the last days of his life. The writer went to another woman when he was at the zenith of fame. The second wife of the writer is Maria Urmatova, from whom Aitmatov had a daughter and a son.
Unknown novel
After the writer's death, his relatives found in his office a manuscript of a work that no one knew before. The novel is dedicated to the events of the construction of the Chui canal. The main character is one of the builders. Aitmatov's daughter suggested that the writer did not dare to publish this work, since it was too liberated for its time. But relatives hope that soon he will be able to publish and translate into other languages.
Aitmatov and cinema
The influence of the work of this writer on Russian literature is well known. It has become the subject of study and the subject of numerous articles. However, its influence on cinema is no less strong. Based on the works of Aitmatov, many films were shot. The most famous of them:
- "Pass".
- "First teacher".
- "Jamilya."
- "Maternal field."
- "White ship".
- "Snowstorm stop".
- âFarewell to the Gulsars!â
In 2008, the writer was hospitalized from the set, where work was done on the film based on the novel âAnd the day lasts longer than a centuryâ. Aitmatov was diagnosed with acute pneumonia. He was later transferred to one of the clinics of Nuremberg. Chingiz Aitmatov died in Germany, was buried near the capital of Kyrgyzstan, in the historical and memorial complex Ata Beyit.
Aitmatov's work was noted by many awards, but his main achievement was the love of readers. So many people gathered at the funeral of the classic of Russian and Kyrgyz literature that the stampede almost turned into a tragedy. In May 2008, the writer was scheduled to be nominated for the Nobel Prize. Unfortunately, Aitmatova did not manage to get her.