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Wickhamsmith Washington 025 ©Copyright 2012 Simon Wickham-Smith The World in Miniature: The Interrelationship of Humans and Landscape in G. Mend-Ooyo’s Altan Ovoo Simon Wickham-Smith A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2012 Reading Committee: Ilse D. Cirtautas, Chair Robert Bedeski J. Christopher Hamm Christopher Jones Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Individual Ph.D. Program University of Washington Abstract The World in Miniature: The Interrelationship of Humans and Landscape in G. Mend-Ooyo’s Altan Ovoo Simon Wickham-Smith Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Ilse D. Cirtautas Near Eastern Languages and Civilization The leading Mongol writer G. Mend-Ooyo’s poetic novel Altan Ovoo offers a vision of nomadic literature based as much on the history and worldview of Mongol nomadic herders as on the late twentieth century Mongolia, poised between Soviet-influenced socialism and Euro-American democratic capitalism, in which it was written. This dissertation has two aims, namely to offer an overview of Mongol nomadic society and culture and to show the place of literature – and poetry in particular – within this worldview, and then to present Altan Ovoo as a prism through which the ideas on which nomadic culture is based can be shown as being central to the self-image of Mongolia’s people, both in relation to the past and to the future. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 A Note on Terminology ..................................................................................... 15 Part I.............................................................................................................. 16 Chapter 1: The Concept of Homeland (nutag) within Mongol Society .................................................................. 17 Chapter 2: The Expression of Shamanism and Buddhism in Mongol Culture, and Their Relationship with the Environment ................................................................ 38 Chapter 3: The Impact of Stalinist Policies on Mongol Nomadic Culture (1921-1953) ............................................. 65 Part II ............................................................................................................ 89 Chapter 4: Themes in the Poetry of B. Yavuuhulan and Their Influence upon Post-Stalinist Mongol Literature ...................... 90 Chapter 5: The Poetry of D. Nyamsüren and O. Dashbalbar during the 1970s and 1980s ................................................ 112 Part III ........................................................................................................... 140 Prelude to Part III: ................................................................................. 141 Chapter 6: Altan Ovoo as a “book-stūpa” .............................................. 149 Chapter 7: Environment and History in Altan Ovoo ................................. 170 Chapter 8: Environment and Story in Altan Ovoo .................................... 195 Intermezzo: An Overview of Mongol Poetry and Poesis .............................. 216 Chapter 9: Environment and Poetry in Altan Ovoo .................................. 219 Chapter 10: Environment and Nature in Altan Ovoo .................................. 241 Chapter 11: Environment and Auto/biography in Altan Ovoo ...................... 261 Part IV ........................................................................................................... 275 Chapter 12: The Influence of Altan Ovoo on Mend-Ooyo’s Later Work and that of His Contemporaries ............................ 276 Chapter 13: The Influence of Altan Ovoo on the Work of the New Generation............................................................. 303 Postscript......................................................................................................... 332 Appendix: Echoes of Altan Ovoo beyond Mongolia ............................................... 334 Bibliography .................................................................................................... 349 Filmography .................................................................................................... 357 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In working so closely on any given book by a contemporary writer, one’s first debt of gratitude is to that writer, and so I would like to thank my friend and colleague G. Mend- Ooyo, and his assistant O. Mönhnaran, whose enthusiasm for the heritage and future of Mongol literature has made the research and structuring of this dissertation a relatively easy process. Our work together to publish translations of Mend-Ooyo’s books and those of his fellow writers has given me an extremely privileged insight into the nature of the Mongol literary scene and has afforded me the opportunity to forge links with the country’s most talented intellectuals. In addition to Mend-Ooyo, the following Mongol writers and intellectuals have freely offered their assistance in honing my understanding of Altan Ovoo, the circumstances in which it was composed, and the subsequent development of Mongol literature: G-A. Ayurzana, D. Battümör, Ts. Bavuudorj, Ch. Bolortsetseg Smith, J. Dashdondog, D. Enhboldbaatar, T-Ö. Erdenetsogt, D. Gangabaatar, G. Handmaa, Ch. Narantuya, D. Nyamaa, B. dgerel, L. Odonchimed, L. Ölziitögs, Ch. Ösöhbold, H. Süglegmaa, Sh. Tsog, Ts Uranchimeg and, D. Urianhai. I should like to thank Carolyn Aamot (and to her especial thanks for her work in making the final text conform with standards of aesthetic beauty), Rosemary Carroll, Lyn Coffin, Johan Elverskog, Joshua Freeman, Christopher Kaplonski, Matthew King, Beth Myhr, George Myhr Merrifield, Alva Robinson, Mary St. Germain and Vesna Wallace for their moral support, and for helping me, in various explicit and implicit ways, to improve the arguments and understanding presented in the text. In particular I would like to express my gratitude to Stephen Hanson, who, when head of the Ellison Center at the University of Washington, was so vigorous in his encouragement, and who has since been so steadfast in his support of my work in particular, and of Mongolian Studies as a field of which the UW can, in time, be once again a world leader. ii A particular vote of thanks must, of course, go to my committee Ilse Cirtautas (Chair), Robert Bedeski, Chris Hamm and Chris Jones. Their enthusiasm and guidance has been of great benefit, even as they trusted my particular experience with and knowledge of, the literature and its historical context. Professor Cirtautas in particular has spent many hours talking with me about the broader Central Asian region, and our discussions, while they have certainly enriched this dissertation, will have also greatly improved the contextualisation of my future work on Mongol culture. A last word to Sunmin Yoon, who has seen me through the final year of this process, and will undoubtedly see me through more of the same. Thanks to her for her love and insight and support, and for her part in our common vision. Сүүлдээ Сунмин Юүнд баярлалаа, би чамд хайртай, чи бүхнээс илүү шүү дээ…! Seattle, Washington May 2012 iii бүх миний багшид хариулсан iv 1 INTRODUCTION Much as my thesis1 was the first academic treatment of B. Yavuuhulan and the writers who have been most influenced by him, so this dissertation is the first treatment, in any language, of the work of G. Mend-Ooyo, or indeed of any contemporary Mongol writer. It should also be understood that the quality of critical secondary material in Mongol literary studies – indeed the quality of Mongol literary studies itself – is, to put it kindly, extremely poor. The model for such academic work comes, of course, from the Soviet educational system, and such writers as Ludmilla Gerasimovich2 provide fine examples of the ways in which initially Soviet, and subsequently Mongol, scholars have addressed, or have failed to address, the various pertinent thematic and historical and stylistic aspects of literature within the context of Mongol culture. My principal secondary sources have, in fact, been the writers under discussion themselves. G. Mend-Ooyo, the author of Altan Ovoo, has unfailingly answered my questions about the history of Mongol literature and its place within the cultural landscape. His views, while ultimately traditional, remain broad and inclusive, and he has been able to indicate to me sites of similarity between his work and others’ where I had failed to see any connection whatsoever. He has also, as with my thesis on his mentor B. Yavuuhulan, 1 Simon Wickham-Smith, “Nomadic Influence in Contemporary Mongolian Poetry: the Influence of B Yavuuhulan (1929-1982) and the Shine handlaga,” (Unpublished MA thesis, University of Washington, 2010). 2 Ludmilla K. Gerasimovich, (trans. Members and Friends of the Mongolia Society), History of Modern Mongolian Literature (1924-1964), (Bloomington, IN: The Mongolia Society, 1970). This book, originally written in 1962 by one of the leading Soviet Mongolists is an excellent overview, from the point of view of Marxist theory, of Mongol literature. However, Gerasimovich deals in a progressively cursory manner with post-revolutionary literature, and such glaring lacunæ as Chinggis Haan and the psychospiritual importance of landscape, while expected in a work of this period, nonetheless render this book a shadow of what it might otherwise have been. There are other treatments of Mongol literature in Russian,
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