The Changing Kazakh Literature From the Soviet Era to the Independence Period in Kazakhstan

Abstract

Literature in the Soviet Union was an instrument to embed socialism and build Soviet society. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the supreme authority that shaped the literary process. During the Soviet era, especially after the establishment of the Soviet Writers' Union in 1934 and the determination of socialist realism as the primary art method of Soviet literature, literature was incurred entirely under the control of the Soviet ideology. A period has begun in which the authors produced works as “directed” by orders and instructions of the Soviet administration, instead of making literary production freely. Even though there were various historical breaks and relative moderation in the Soviet administration from time to time, this situation continued until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It is possible to entitle this period "national literature" period when looking at the ongoing process since 1991. The Kazakh literature works, which developed from 1991 to the present, dealt with Kazakh national, religious, and moral values damaged during the Soviet period and glorified those values, drew attention to them. It is seen that the issues which were impossible to mention or forbidden in the Soviet era and some historical truths were brought up. There is a permanent national rise in Kazakh literature from the first years of the independence period. It is observed that Kazakh national identity, which was repressed and tried to be erased during the Soviet era, is built upon the literature today. In this article, the literary process of Kazakh literature as experienced in the Soviet era and the Independence period has been discussed. The point where the Kazakh literature has come from the past to the present, has been put forward.