LITERATURE
The section Literature will include studies of Tatar literature from the remote past to the present. The development of literature and historical-literary processes will be examined within the national context. The Turkic-Tatar literature evolution, which has more than a thousand year old history, is described in several periods.
Despite the fact that research on poetic art began with the birth of literature, the first scientific analysis of Tatar literature was published only in the 19th century. The works of G. Utuz-Imyani, S. Mardjani, K. Nasuri, R. Fahretdinov and others are devoted to various historical periods and provide information about the writers and their novels. At the beginning of the 20th century owing to F.Amirkhan, G.Tukay, Dzh.Validi, G.Ibragimov, etc. the study of Tatar literature began in earnest, however, it was only in the great works of J.G.Ibrakhimov, G.Gaziz, G.Rakhim, G.Nigmati in 1920-1930 that a considerable amount of work was accomplished. In 1940-1950,efforts of such experts in literary studies, as M.Gaynullin, G.Khalit, Kh.Khayri, G.Kashshaf, B.Gizzat,aimed to advance the study of literary and spiritual heritage beyond the narrow scope of the class ideology. Thus, in 1960-1980 a number of scientific works devoted to chronological analysis of the history of Tatar literature were published. Considerable attention was given to works devoted to the study of the history and structure of Tatar poetry, issues of style and genre and various literary schools, as well as monographs analyzing the literary works of Tatar writers of the given historical periods.
Attitudes toward the study of Tatar literature and science changed at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries thanks to dramatic changes in both the socio-economic and ideological spheres. This renaissance was based on the research and evaluation of Tatar literature in accordance with the moral values of the human past as well as modern esthetic, moral, philosophical and historical principals. Therefore, the study of the history of Tatar literature, its development and evolution, as a part of people’s social and cultural consciousness is currently one of the most significant topics.
This section will identify the main trends and norms of each historical-literary period. The analysis of the national creative self-consciousness and its direction is of particular interest as this work preserves both traditions and innovations and demonstrates common literary school features and the features characteristic of each historical-literary period.
This section will also discuss such topics as the national features of the different historical periods, the ethnic and esthetic peculiarities of the various literary schools, the theory of ethnos, the Tatar people’s national-ethnic psychology, their social-esthetic ideals, and specific aspects of national artistic thinking both in comparison with other literatures and separately.
This section presents papers on the theory of literature and literary criticism and the theory of national literature in particular. It will cover the Tatars’ spiritual development and progress and their remarkable achievements in literary criticism. This includes a plan to work out scientific criteria for the research of Tatar history and Tatar literature, the comparative analysis of poetry (different styles, genres, content, and historical features of poetic descriptions), scientific papers on literary schools, literary trends and methods (realism, romanticism, classicism, modernism, and postmodernism) and their reflections in Tatar literature. It is important both to work towards scientific discoveries and to reveal the heritage of well-known scholars who work in this area and who have their own scientific schools in the field of Tatar literature. Papers on textology, literary source, etc. as branches of Tatar literature studies are of considerable interest.
Nowadays the history of the Tatar people, Tatar literature, its culture and folklore are of great interest not only to Turkic peoples, but also to Arabic and Near-Middle East countries. Foreign scientists have made great contributions to the interpretation of the Tatar artistic word culture and the works of a number of well-known Tatar writers and their novels. In 1917 after the October Revolution, many prominent Tatar people were forced to leave and currently live abroad. Thus, it is essential for us to restore their literary and scientific heritage.
As it is well known, Tatar folklore has deep roots in Tatar literature. In fact, it lies at the core of Tatar literature. At all times, Turkic literature was enriched by the folklore, folk motifs, and stories about the life of Tatars, their cherished desires and ideals, and their mythological and traditional-symbolic heroes, thus making the history of Tatar folklore the focus of literary analysis. This section presents scientific papers on the history of Tatar folklore and information about the scientists working in the folklore sphere who have done original research in this field.
