Učënye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta: Seriâ Gumanitarnye Nauki (Dec 2017)
Gabdulla Tuqay: Anniversary commemoration of the Tatar poet
Abstract
The commemorative practices relating to the anniversary dates of the Tatar poet Gabdulla Tuqay (from 1918 to 2016) have been discussed. The commemorative meetings and celebrations, as well as building of monuments to G. Tuqay and a tombstone on his grave, and opening of museums have been considered as commemorative practices. The development of the image of the Tatar national poet during the 20th – 21st centuries has been also analyzed. The paper touches upon the collective memory and national identity of the Tatars. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that the problem of anniversary commemoration has been little investigated, and there are not enough works on the cultural and historical memory of the Tatars. The image and works of G. Tuqay have been thoroughly studied by philologists, literary critics, historians, but the problem of anniversary commemoration of the poet has been raised for the first time. The paper is based on the methodology of studies on commemoration. The terms were introduced by Jan and Aleida Assmann and Pierre Nora. Since the phenomenon of commemoration represents an interdisciplinary field, various methods have been used to analyze the texts and visual sources. The paper cites a number of examples proving that the period of transition from the communicative to cultural memory becomes shorter under the conditions of the cultural change and events of the 1920s–1930s that took place in the Soviet Union. This conclusion is proved by the following facts: firstly, state holidays were arranged in honor of G. Tuqay starting from 1938; secondly, the celebrations of G. Tuqay's birth (distant event) dominated over the commemoration of death (close event) since 1946; thirdly, the ritualization of commemorative practices and the mythologization of G. Tuqay's image as a characteristic feature of the cultural memory can be noted; fourthly, the bearers of memories (communicative memory) turned out to be replaced by the experts keeping them (philologists, historians, literary scholars). Based on the results of the study, the conclusion has been made that we can trace coolness/consolidation of the collective memory through anniversary and monumental commemoration. The myth of G. Tuqay as of a national poet has occurred and established along with the commemorative practices, thereby determining the vision of the past and group consolidation. The results obtained are important for further studies of anniversary commemoration.
