The joint project of the National State Book Chamber of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the newspaper "Kazakh Adebieti" – the dialog column "Asyl soz"will be continued. This year we have a guest. Anatoly Kim, a talented writer, a genius who translated books of Kazakh writers into Russian, gave an interview to "Asyl Soz". As you know, Anatoly Andreevich does not leave today's literary and cultural intelligentsia of the Kazakhs. Pay attention to the story of the outstanding Russian writer Anatoly Andreevich, whose ardent attitude to his native land has not changed for a second.


The first transfer offer was made by Oralkhan Bokei

- Anatoly Andreevich, as you yourself say, you do not belong to the Kazakh nationality. Many people know that you were born in the village of Sergiyevka, Turkestan region (formerly South Kazakhstan region). There is a place in the literary intelligentsia of Russia. We know that you translate the works of such outstanding writers as Mukhtar Auezov, Abdizhamil Nurpeisov, Abish Kekilbayev, Oralkhan Bokey into Russian. What was the reason for the translation of the works of Kazakh writers?

- Who is close to the Kazakh, who is alien, is determined not by me, but by the people themselves. I was born in Kazakhstan, my childhood was spent in Kazakhstan. When I was eight years old, I left my native land for a ravine-and this country has always remained in my mind as a paradise with such bright, sunny, green roofs, strewn with scarlet tulips and snowdrops. In my memory, green slopes and snow-white snowdrops have been preserved, which still look like a picture that has not lost the slightest secret.

The determination of Anatoly's kinship and foreignness in this country is within the competence of the country. This beautiful place gave me life, and I think that I am not a stranger to the Kazakh people.

And in my creative life, the translation of almost all classical writers from Kazakhstan is not an accident of fate. After becoming a writer, I had no reason to translate Kazakh writers. I can't be a liar if I say that there was only zeal.

The first Kazakh writer who offered to translate his works into Russian was Oralkhan Bokey. The proposals received in my row bygyp the rest revealed the secrets of the Kazakh zhazushysynan sanamda. It seemed to me that my ability to translate from Kazakh to Russian is higher than that of other translators. He also has his own reasons: I got to know the soul of the Kazakh people, absorbed it from birth, learned that the Kazakh environment is my homeland, my environment in which I grew up. We are spiritually bloody, because we grew up in the same place, in the same country with the Kazakh writer...

- Relations between the Kazakh people and the Korean people are at a very high level. How did you feel when you returned to your historical homeland (after all, you worked in Korea for 5 years)? Literature of which nationality is closer to you, in accordance with your being?

- I should have gone to Korea only at the age of fifty-odd. At this time, the writer had a well-formed claim. I have a title, my books have already been translated into the language of twenty-four countries.

When I came to Korea, I realized that I was a Russian writer. Russian Russian was spoken, I thought in Russian, and I wrote in Russian from the time I was born until this age. Russian Russian-speaking environment, my soul got used to Russian-language literature, emotions in Russian, mood in Russian. Even the world-class classics themselves were read in Russian translations.

These are the reasons, and I could not put myself before the choice of Korean literature and Russian literature. After all, it was clear what my soul wanted.

If the main tool of a writer is language, then his soul will strive for this language, to serve this language. Therefore, I had no problems with choosing what is closer from the literature of my historical homeland and native land. Russian Russian reading and writing, I automatically became a Russian folk writer. It is my duty to serve the language that has shaped my view, my inner world since childhood, since childhood, since childhood, to respect it!

- In your works, the plot does not come first. Do you purposefully fill in a deep philosophy between the plot, which plays the same role as the skeleton of the work, or is it a style?

- The laws of life, according to which humanity was formed, did not change their direction at all: you live, grow, serve, in the end, you are lost from this world forever. A person can never attribute anything to this plot formed by nature. Even if they wanted to, human nature would not be able to make such great revolutions, great changes.

That is why a creative person should create values that fill him with beautiful moments between the main stages of life, spiritual and philosophical works necessary for the human generation that will be born after his departure.

As a result of this position, the plot does not come to the fore in all my literary works. For me, any plot seems stereotypical, rather gloomy and repeated hundreds of times. Therefore, in each of my works, I strive to enrich the plot, filling it with values that are significant for humanity, using spiritual materials that do not lose their relevance.

If the plot in a literary work is not based on what is necessary for the human soul, then it has no spiritual meaning. The work must be able to satisfy the needs of the inner world of its reader. Only a work that can impress its reader, help him move forward, change his attitude to the world, eliminate his limitations, can fulfill the writer's cherished dream.

- In your works, we notice an affinity to nature, close interaction with other creatures, even a hint of a fantastic world. How is that? Or do you cast a glance at society through a picture of a holistic nature?

- It seems to me that man and nature are similar phenomena that are intertwined with each other. This is my philosophy. It is also known that such a position is not accepted in human society. But we are witnessing the history of the fact that the concept that man dominates nature has led us to great mistakes.

The human phenomenon is a part of nature, and all nature is a part of the cosmos. Man lives in close contact with the whole being, including nature and other metaphysical phenomena.

Any owner of the soul who considers himself to be a person may not know that he lives in contact with nature, the cosmos, and other various phenomena. Perhaps he had not asked himself such a question all his life. However, the name of legitimacy is legality.

We succumb to the temptation of nature and cannot control it. Therefore, in my opinion, it makes no sense to separate nature from human society at all. The world lives on the basis of these connections. This is the truth.



Sobolev's criticism of Auezov is a historical mistake



- Let's return to the question of translation. In one of the interviews, you criticized the version of Sobolev, who translated the epic novel by Mukhtar Auezov "The Way of Abai", the poets-Smelyakov and Zhovtis, who translated Abai's poems. Is it really true that the first Russian-language version of the "Abai road" is at such a low level?

- During my creative life, I have translated the highest, great and great Kazakh personalities. Indeed, each of them is a writer endowed with writing qualities, identified with the principles of the classical era of world literature.

I translated the epic novel "The Way of Abai" by the great writer Mukhtar Auezov, written by the main Kazakh poet Abai gumyr. I got acquainted with this work by translation. We recognized the translator as Leonid Sobolev. About the fact that the whole team translated Auezov's huge work, Sobolev was assigned to the duties of the foreman. With this translation, I got acquainted with a famous work.

Through Mukhtar Auezov's son Murat Auezov, I obtained a correspondence between Sobolev and the author of the epic novel in the process of translation. Leonid Sobolev, who is considered a classic of Soviet literature and failed to rise above the level of an average writer, told the great writer Mukhtar Auezov how to create literature correctly, where to repair works, and gave several "lectures".

The most notable of the translation team was Leonid Sobolev, the rest were writers below his level. So they were all delighted with Sobolev.

Leonid Sobolev told Auezov that in the writing of historical events, there is a distancing from socialist realism, a disappointing attitude to the people's position and the party approach.

This is the word of a man who is completely far from the feeling that Auezov wrote with such high inspiration. "The Way of Abai" is a great work that covers thousands of years, reflecting the behavior and lifestyle of the nomadic people.

Sobolev, a representative of socialist realism, believes that the criticism of brightness is a historical mistake, a mistake that a creative person should not scold.

Having carefully read these circumstances, I asked Murat Auezov to make a literal translation. After all, it was absolutely impossible to take the previous translation as a basis. He enthusiastically embarked on this initiative, appointing two Kazakh writers and an editor responsible for the literal translation. When the literal translation was ready, I started working.

During the translation of "The Way of Abai", I received a lot of information and breathed into myself the era of millennia. This is a factor that affects how successful the work will be for the writer.

I improved my knowledge of nomadic culture,expanded my horizons of thinking.

The most important values in the novel "The Way of Abai" were lost by the hands of Sobolev and his team. When this team was working, the attitude to rich people in society, to the nomadic culture was completely different. I denied their "results of cleaning works" and tried to translate Auezov without violating the nature of his thoughts and ideas, the ways of describing them. I have been proud of this work all my life, all my creative life.