Kyrgyzstan: Jamilia (Chingiz Aïmatov, trans. James Riordan)

Chinghiz Aïmatov (1928-2008) was born in Sheker village, Kirghiz ASSR, former Soviet Union. His father was Kyrgyz and his mother was Tatar, although both worked as civil servants. When Aïmatov was nine years old, his father was arrested and executed and thus he was required to begin working when he quite young. He worked variously as a assistant to a secretary and an engineer, a tax collector, and a loader among many other things. He initially studied animal husbandry at the Kirghiz Agricultural Institute, but decided to pursue literature instead, transferring to the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute where he remained from 1956-1958. He wrote for the newspaper Pravda, served as a jury member on occasion for the Moscow and Berlin International Film Festivals, and acted as a diplomat to the European Union, NATO, and UNESCO. At the same time, he continued to write, publishing in both Kyrgyz and Russian. He died of pneumonia and kidney failure in Germany.

Background: Our earliest information on the region come from Chinese sources, from about 2000 BC. Both these and Muslim sources from somewhat later (7th-12th centuries) agree on the people residing there: pale with red hair and light eyes. In Chinese sources, they are called Gekun, or Jiankun. The Gütürks established a state in the area in the 6th century. After the dissolution of the Khanate, the Buddhist Uyghur Empire arose in its place, ruling from about 740-840 when various branches broke up into a more fragmented grouping, some of which converted to Islam by the 10th century. These Muslim tribes became increasingly close to the Persians, while other tribes maintained more of the Uyghur traditions. In the beginning of the 12th century, the Mongolic Khitans attacked, and the Khitan dynasty took over. This was a tumultuous time, and the 13th century invasion by the Mongols destroyed the Kyrgyz culture, their written language, and their freedom. For two hundred years, they remained under the rule of the Golden Horde, the Chagatai Khanate, the Oirats, and then the Dzungars. In 1510, they briefly regained independence, but the Kalmyrks conquered them in the 17th century, followed by the Manchus in the mid-18th, and the Uzbeks in the early 19th. (The only exception to this were the northern Kyrgyz, who were able to maintain some amount of independence). In 1775, a tribal leader named Atake Tynay Biy Uulu made diplomatic contact with the Russian Empire, although the Khanate of Kokand remained in power until 1876, when the Russians finally brought the territory under their control. The Kyrgyz rebelled regularly, and many moved to Afghanistan or to China after their rebellion’s were mercilessly put down. In 1924, the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast was created as part of the Russian SFSR, later changed to the Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1926, and then to the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) in 1936. As part of the USSR, things changed significantly. The economy developed, and the Kyrgyz language and alphabet were standardized. Although Stalin suppressed many regional traditions, the Kyrgyz managed to maintain much of their culture, probably in part because of how different their ideology was (Muslim/nomadic). After Gorbachev took power in 1985, and Kyrgyzstan began to have more freedom, and in 1990, demonstrations against Communism began to take place in the cities, while ethnic tensions between the Uzbeks and Kyrgyz rose into violence. By December of the same year, Democratic officials had beaten the Communists in elections, and the Republic of Kyrgyzstan was declared independent, although many voters sought to stay as part of the Russian Federation. They finally broke away in 1991. In the next decade, continued referendums, parliamentary changes, and unfair elections destabilized the new state, culminating in the Tulip Revolution of 2005, protesting the government. From 2005-20190, Kurmanbek Bakiyev was elected President with 89% of the vote, but protests continued. In 2010, an opposition figure to the government was arrested, sparking yet another revolution, as arrests and large-scale demonstrations went on. A new government that limited presidential power was voted into place. Kyrgyzstan remains one of the fifty most corrupt countries in the world.

Jamilia is short novel told from the perspective of an artist named Seit. Seit’s brother is away fighting in World War II, and his sister-in-law, Jamilia works with him in the collective farms of northwest Kyrgyzstan. Jamilia is a strong, independent woman, disinterested in the advances she receives from most of the village men. Soon, Daniyar comes to town. He has been injured in the war, and silently joins in the farming work. His standoffishness is confusing the villagers, but Seit and Jamilia see his sensitive side and he sings while he works with them. Seit watches as the two slowly fall in love, inspiring his own burgeoning art. Seit’s world is still ruled by tribal expectations, but the love he witnesses helps forge his creative spark, allowing him to consider his own artistic desires against those of this family. Once called one of the world’s most beautiful love stories, I am not sure I would go remotely that far, but the tale offers a window into rural life, the clash between expectation and desire, the individual verses collectivism, the wider power that love can exert. It can certainly be read as well in the context of shifting Kyrgyz identity under Soviet rule. I knew almost nothing about Kyrgyzstan and this small tome certainly has made me want to know more.