Depiction of the “ethnic past” in Turkic language Soviet literature (1960s)

The article is devoted to the understanding of the renaissance processes that took place in the national Turkic language literatures of the USSR in the second half of the 20th century. The combination of contextual and hermeneutic methods made it possible to identify the key artistic trends in the depiction of the ethnic past within Turkic language literatures. The study is based on literary works by Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Chuvash, Yakut, Turkmen, and Tatar authors that initiated a positive way to portray the ethnic past, way of life, and traditions. These works include socio-psychological, historical, and biographical narratives. The first serious attempts at national cultural revival were associated with the study and return to the artistic consciousness of motifs, images, and techniques of folk art. The activities of P. Oyunsky, M. Jalil, and N. Sarykhanov testify to this. The works of M. Ibragimov, Ilbek, M. Auezov, A. Yakubov, G. Bashirov, and others laid the foundation for the artistic reconstruction of the people’s past, presenting it as a history of unique culture and profound moral and philosophical ideas. A close examination of these works reveals that Turkic literatures of this period are characterized by a renewed emphasis on national artistic traditions, as well as the fostering the personal development and psychology, intellectuality and philosophy. It asserts the close relationship of man with his world, his native land, and the land of his ancestors. The key artistic techniques in Turkic literatures of the 1960s contributed to the creation of new literary landscapes included: the inextricable interrelation of ethnic and universal values; the appeal to ancient Turkic and ethnic myths and legends; internal monologues; the depiction of spiritual qualities in dynamics; and the expansion of the semantic range of traditional images from the individual to the universal, to archetypal principles, etc.