GABRIELLE VAN DEN BERG

(UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE)

PERCEPTIONS OF POETRY. SOME EXAMPLES OF LATE 20TH CENTURYTAJIK POETRY*

A !though numerous books almost continuously appear on the contemporary 1"1.histoty and society of Central Asia, including Tajikistan, on the subject of modern Tajik literature not much is written, especially not outside Iran, Russia and Tajikistan. The chapters devoted to modern Tajik literature in surveys on Persian literature describe the early stages of modern Tajik literature to 1970, and articles concerning Tajik literature seldom appear. 1 The only substantial re• cent English translation of a Tajik author is an anthology of the writings of Sa• driddin Ayni, commonly known as the founder of Tajik literature.2 Since the independence of Tajikistan in 1991, a few translations and short articles have appeared in a special issue of World Literature Today, and summaries of inter• views with two Tajik poets in a Sondernausgabe of Hannoversche Studien ueber den Mittleren Osten.3 In Italian an anthology of poems in praise of Lenin (Lenin• noma) has appeared in 1992.4 One might argue that the scarcity of information and translations of modern Tajik literature in languages other than Persian reflects the political and eco• nomic situation in present day Tajikistan. The civil war following the rather sudden and unexpected independence of Tajikistan in 1991 has had severe re• percussions on culture and literature. The problematic situation of the past ten years must have hampered the possible spread ofTajik literature abroad. On the other hand, interest in Central Asian literature has never been overwhelmingly great. On the period preceding the last turbulent decade equally few information is available, although this might be attributed to the fact that few people outside socialist countries have been interested in or had access to a literature which was

* - The transcription in this article is based upon the Cyrillic alphabet used in Tajikistan for Tajik Persian; however when reference is made to a source in Persian script, the trascription followed by OrienY Modemo has been used. 1 - J. Becka, "Tajik literature from the 16th century to the present", in J. Rypka (ed.), History ofIranian Literatlm, Dordrecht, 1968, p. 483-605; Keith Hitchins, "Modern Tajik literature", in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Persian Literature, Albany, New York, 1988, p. 454-475. 2 - Sadriddin Aini, The Sands ofthe Oxus, translated from the Tajik Persian by John R. Perry and Rachel Lehr, Costa Mesa, California, 1998. 3 - World LiYr11t11re Today, 7013, 1996, p. 571-583; Hannovmche Studim ueberden Mittleren Osten, Band 24, Duschanbe - Hannover, 1999, p. 24-32. 4-Riccardo Zipoli, II Libra di Lenin -Leninnoma (Italian and Tajik), Venezia, 1992.

OM, XXII n.s. (LXXXIJI), I, 2003 38 GABRIELLE VAN DEN BERG perceived to be by many a docile and artificial Soviet creation. Another factor might have been, and still is, the problem of availability: Tajik literature both in Soviet times and after 1991 is nor easy to come by, not even in Tajikistan. In Soviet Tajikistan it was common practice that literary works were printed in reasonable editions, but when sold out they seem to have been only seldom reprinted, with the exceptions of a few authors such as Sadriddin Ayni, but even his work was not continuously available in the bookshops of Dushanbe. In in• dependent Tajikistan, publishing a book has become a huge enterprise: the land has been for years in an economic crisis, and as a result, paper is scarce, and pub• lishing houses cannot fund publications without external support. This seems to have affected the policy of publishing houses, who are now tempted to publish books of low literary quality, for which funding by unknown sources is pro• vided.5 In Soviet times, literary magazines and journals, such as Adabiyot va San~ at and Sadoi Sharq were widely available; these journals are still appearing, but on a much less regular basis. Despite these problems, in Iran since 1991 much more attention is being paid to Tajik literature than previously; poets are invited to Iran and interviews appear in newspapers. A new series has been started under the title forhang-o tamaddon-e kelvarhii-ye hamsiiye, in which anthologies of the works of the major poets of Tajikistan appear in Persian script.6 It is clear that there is an increased interest from the Iranian side for Tajik literature. The attitude towards this lit• erature varies from sincere curiosity to mild superiority. Tajik literature to Ira• nian literati seems to be the literary production of a long-lost and therefore slightly estranged relative, exotic bur at the same time all too familiar, co be looked upon with a certain benevolence. The available sources, in Persian and in other languages, express the view that Tajik literature is nowadays struggling co free itself from its Soviet legacy, and trying to return to its original source, which is Persian literature, both mod• ern and classical. Some Tajik authors claim that they have been cut off from their Iranian roots ever since the Soviets started to rule Central Asia and that they did not have a chance to develop a modern literature along the lines of their great example, the Iranian modern literature, because they did not have suffi• cient access to the founders of modern Persian literature such as Nima Yusij and Jamalzade. The coming into being of modern Tajik literature has its own his• tory, which is in some ways comparable to the emergence of modern Persian lit• erature in Iran. le is remarkable that what was initially one literature, namely Persian literature, not necessarily belonging to a sharply defined area, from a cer• tain stage onwards came to be known and regarded as two separate literatures,

5 - Radio programme Armughon, Radio Ozodi, 21-1-2001. 6 - Numerous volumes have appeared in this series by Al-Hoda, amongst which Gollini a al'tir-t Osttid £ti