Fantasy in the Russian-Language Segment of Literature of Kazakhstan

Abstract

The turn of the 20th–21st centuries is characterized by highly intensive processes of national self-identification. An important role in this process is played by fantasy as a popular genre of popular literature. The study of Kazakh fantasy is of academic interest due to its popularity with readers, the dynamic transformation of the genre structure. The article demonstrates a wide genre spectrum of Kazakh fantasy books and their authors. In the novel Resurrecting Legends Timur Yermashev turns to the heroic page in the history of the Kazakhs – the Orbulak battle of the 17th century. Ilyaz Nurgaliyev consistently works with national myths and folklore images of the Turkic peoples. Azamat Baigaliev and Kira Nurullina write about aliens. Sabyr Kairkhanov in the format of urban fantasy (the novel Synchro) raises the question of the ambiguous role of the Semipalatinsk test site in the life of the Kazakhs. An example of the combination of children’s and adventure fantasy is the novel by Zira Naurzbayeva and Lily Kalaus In Search of the Golden Bowl: The Adventures of Batu and His Friends. Particularly popular are fantasy texts with plots based on the facts of national history, those resurrecting the heroes of Kazakhstani mythology, national traditions and customs. The themes and poetics of Kazakh fantasy are in line with the processes developing in modern prose, the nature of the transformation of the genre correlates with the changing readership. Fantasy readers are mainly representatives of a certain social and age group, those attracted by the topical issues raised – the growth of national self-consciousness – combined with an exciting adventurous plot. The entertaining genre of popular literature has taken on an important ideological function – to promote and shape the national identity of the Kazakhs in a situation of geopolitical changes.