Estranged Aestheticization: The Rebirth of the Qazaq Epic Qozı Körpeş – Bayan Sulu in Soviet Socialist Culture

• In Event: Narrative and Memory in Kazakh Literature

Abstract

This paper reads the development of the epic Qozı Körpeş – Bayan Sulu as a result of the complex interaction between the demands of Socialist Realism and the advocacy of Qazaq writers for the preservation of Qazaq oral literature. By examining both pre-Soviet variants of the epic and Ğabït Müsirepov’s theatrical adaptation, I attempt to demonstrate how Qozı Körpeş – Bayan Sulu endured within the boundaries of Soviet Socialist culture, even as it was criticized for its “feudal” elements.

Author

• Galiya Galymzhankyzy, Nazarbayev U (Kazakhstan)