Nurfiya Marsovna Yusupova,
Kazan Federal University,
2 Tatrstan Str., Kazan, 420021, Russia,
faikovich@mail.ru.
The poetry, dedicated to Gabdulla Tukay, takes up a place of its own in Tatar literary art. It started off in the early 20th century, setting canons of the literary representation of the poet’s personality. With the changes in Tatar literature, the image of the poet, a servant of the nation, has become a new ideal in literature. This ideal is defined by the poet’s devotion to his people and his aspiration to fight for the nation’s wellbeing, its literary embodiment combines the concept of a religious, mysterious ideal person and the theories of an ideal human inherited from Russian and European literature. Based on this theory, Sh.Babich, M.Faizi, S.Sunchalai, N.Gabidov and other writers tended to present Tukay almost as a prophet, pointing out the greatness of his art and portraying him as the leader of the nation. By raising the poet’s image to the level of prophet, they increased the social meaning of literature and the importance of poetry for the nation.
All of these social and aesthetic changes of the 1920s affected the literary evaluation of Tukay and the interpretation of the poet’s image.
The new wave of changes in Tukay-related poetry, caused by changes in the nation’s social life, emerged in the 1960s. The fact that the works of Kh.Tufan, S.Khakim, R.Faizullin, R.Mingalim, M.Shabaev, G.Afzal and others show the poetic embodiment of Tukay as a national poet radically changed the importance of poetry, which was regarded as a means for the nation’s self-evaluation. During the last quarter of the 20th century, Tukay was portrayed as a national fighter (Straight Tukay) with the qualities of an ideal poet. As the national uprising grew stronger in the 1990s, M.Aglamov, Rash.Akhmatdganov, Zulfat, R.Kharis, G.Morat and others once again portrayed Tukay as a national hero and a servant of the nation.
Key words: Tatar poetry, ideal, Tukay, perfect human, image, explanation, concept of a hero.