Chingiz Aitmatov

If you were asked to name one Kyrgyz person, most of you would naturally say President Bakiev, the borderline dictator of Kyrgyzstan. Others would mention former President Arkiev, who was forced out of the country in a bloodless coup in 2005. Still others would mention Manas, the fictional folk hero about which the world’s longest poem is written (about 250,000 lines or 16 of The Iliad for reference). Again still others would take the simpler route of saying, “Jonathan’s host mother” or something along those lines. In all of these cases, you would of course be right.
But the most famous of all Kyrgyz people is Chingiz Aitmatov, the writer and philosopher. The Kyrgyz freakin’ love this guy, no joke. His two major works are The White Ship, which is about an old Kyrgyz legend set in a remote village and The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years. Though he was a Kyrgyz man, all his writings were in Russian. This year will include his eightieth birthday and has been declared the Year of Chingiz Aitmatov. The guy is like John Lennon and John Updike rolled into one. Easily bigger than The Beatles here.
I recently read The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years and enjoyed it thoroughly (in English, just in case anybody thought my Kyrgyz was at that level). The story was written in 1980 during Soviet occupation of Central Asia and centers on the tale of a man who lives on the Kazakh steppe who must burry his best friend who has recently died. The story takes place over one day, but his thoughts stretch out for decades before and after the actual event (hence the title). The translation I read was not particularly well written (it is choppy in places), but the political and social subtext is obvious to anyone who understands the smallest bit of Soviet history. Aitmatov managed to squeeze many of these un-Soviet themes through the use of ancient tales from Central Asia. The book is masterfully constructed. The names are a little hard to pronounce, but I usually just give them American names and that makes the reading easier.
Anyway, my host mother discovered I was reading the book and we had a quite extended conversation about how awesome Mr. Aitmatov is. It should be noted that she is a Kyrgyz language teacher. The longest conversation I have had with any Kyrgyz person on any subject was right then and there on the couch about Chingiz Aitmatov. I have been instructed that I must read the remainder of his works before I leave Kyrgyzstan, because only then can I understand this place.
So, I just wanted to give a shout out to Chingiz Aitmatov and suggest that anyone who is interested in some good Soviet-era literature, check him out. You don’t have to know anything about Kyrgyzstan (The Day is actually set in Kazakhstan) to enjoy it. Then, when you are at a dinner party, you can impress all your friends with your knowledge of Central Asian writers.