Sabit Mukanov - His life, art and stories

Sabit Mukanov (1900-1973) is one of the prominent names leaving his mark in his period of Kazakh literature. The writer,being one of the representatives of Socialist Realism movement achieved reflecting this opinion in all of his works. Sabit Mukanov memorized folk songs, ballads and poems in Kazakh literature being committed to the oral tradition, at small ages and presented such types of works. Sabit Mukanov who was one of the artists following the traces of Abay Kunanbayev for the poem delivered sample works enriching Kazakh poem. It is seen that his prose is directed by Socialist Realism ideology and also the government of Soviet taking control after 1920. In that period, writers had to bow pressures of the Communist Party to write works praising the government of Soviet. Men of letters objecting to it or not producing works in this direction were sentenced to prison, exile or death penalty. In that period, Sabit Mukanov was subject to prosecutions however he was not punished since he acted in favor of the government and upon the request of the party. Sabit Mukanov criticized class differences in Kazakh society, backward codes obeyed for the sake of traditions and their damages on the society. Moreover, he achieved conveying the effects of Kazakh liberation movements in 1916, the Russian Revolution in 1917 and World War II on the Kazakh people, successfully. The writer, who included similar themes in his stories, expressed contrasts by comparing the period of Czarism and period of government of Soviet in favor of the government of Soviet and as to canonize it. Other themes addressed by the writer include the fact of not receiving a recompense for their works, living in poverty and struggling with the diseases, persuading of people by the man of the cloth by use of the beliefs. Sabit Mukanov, using a language which could be comprehended by people in his expression preferred events and periods experienced and featured objective time and village and city as spaces more and compared both of them and wanted to emphasize development with city and underdevelopment with village. He also exhibited a sophisticated writer profile in his works such as theatre, paper, and essay and literature history. Key words: Sabit Mukanov, story in Kazakh literature, Socialist Realism, period of Decline and literature, Kazakhstan.