Magomet Mamakaev ( – 2 August 1973) was a Chechen poet, prose writer, publicist and literary critic. He is one of the founders of the modern Chechen literature.

Biography

Magomet Mamakaev was born on 16 December 1910, in the Chechen village

Achkhoy-Martan Achkhoy-Martan (, , ''Jaşxoy-Marta'' or Тӏехьа-Март, ''Theẋa-Mart'') is a town and the administrative center of Achkhoy-Martanovsky District, Chechnya. Administrative and municipal status Municipally, Achkhoy-Martan is incorporate ...

to a peasant family. At the age of ten he became an orphan. His childhood pain of loss, sorrow and pleasure are reflected in his poem "Conversation with mother" (1934). In his youth Mamakaev was a

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

member and studied in Moscow at

Communist University of the Toilers of the East The Communist University of the Toilers of the East (, KUTV; also known as the Far East University) was a revolutionary training school for important communist political leaders. The school operated under the umbrella of the Communist Internatio ...

. The outlook of that period was reflected in its first literary works: "Morning over Argun", "Swallow", "Pondar" and lyric epic poem "Bloody mountains" (1928). On pages of magazine "Revolution and the mountaineer", he argued with authorities of that time concerning description of history of the Chechen Republic during the period of the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

in the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...

. He underlined in the articles the role of Russian intelligentsia in formation of the Chechen literature and

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

, value of rapprochement of cultures of

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

and Chechens. Mamakaev's work in the Communist Party, Soviet bodies of Checheno-Ingushetia, in newspapers "Groznensky worker", "the Lenin way" was connected with the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

. He organised publishing of the Chechen language political and literary art magazines. Mamakaev was not only a popular writer, but also a recognised authority in Checheno-Ingushetia. He edited books of poetry, literary almanacs, magazines, participated in preparation of the anthology of Chechen-Ingush poetry. In 1967, Mamakaev published a novel about the Chechen

abrek 250px, up Chechen abrek Abrek is a Caucasian term used for a lone Caucasian warrior living a partisan lifestyle outside power and law and fighting for a just cause. Abreks were irregular soldiers who abandoned all material life, including their f ...

Zelimkhan, which "aestheticizes violence through the lexicon of transgressive sanctity."¹ Mamakaev's role in formation of the modern Chechen literature has earned him the reputation of a major figure in the cultural history of the Chechen Republic.

References

¹Rebecca Ruth Gould, Writers and Rebels: The Literature of Insurgency in the Caucasus (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016), 79.

Notes

* Rebecca Ruth Gould,
Topographies of Anticolonialism: The Ecopoetical Sublime in the Caucasus from Tolstoy to Mamakaev
" Comparative Literature Studies, Vol. 50, No. 1, pp. 87–107, 2013. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mamakaev, Magomet 1910 births 1973 deaths 20th-century poets People from Achkhoy-Martanovsky District Communist University of the Toilers of the East alumni Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Chechen poets Chechen writers Soviet male poets Soviet male writers Muslims from the Russian Empire

Biography

See also

References

Notes