“Imam, don’t go to Groznaya”: on the fundamental idea of the historical novel “The Wild Terek“ by Hadji-Murat Muguev

Abstract

Hadji-Murat Muguev (1893-1968) was a prominent representative of Soviet literature, an Ossetian by origin who wrote in Russian. As a veteran of three wars (WWI, the Civil War, and WWII), Hadji-Murat Muguev devoted most of his works to military topics. The Wild Terek (1937-1968), a historical novel about the Caucasian War of the 19th century, is considered his magnum opus. The topic proposed herein is of interest due to, first, the desirability of a new reading of the text of Soviet literature, especially as regards its historical concept; secondly, a vivid ethno-cultural character of the material; thirdly, a peculiar poetic manner of translingual (written in Russian) literature of peoples of the Russian Caucasus. It is noteworthy that the novel has not received due consideration by contemporary literary criticism; as for the Soviet period, the then critics were carried away with the major ideological issues provoked by its contents and thus disregarded its imaginary characters, internal framework and particular motifs that worked for the fundamental idea. In this article, by relying on a number of key factors, we intend to highlight some ideologic discourses of Muguevs text referring to the authors humanistic system and signs of forthcoming peace between the peoples of the Caucasus and Russia.