The Mythological Factors And Tragic Implications In Aitmatov’s Works

Chingiz Torekulovich Aitmatov(1928-2008)is a famous kyrgyz author during Soviet period.His works have won the Lenin Prize for Literature and three-times National Prizes for Literature consecutively,which have been translated into 187 languages and widely circulated in various countries.Aitmatov’s unique literary style not only enriched and nourished Soviet and Russian literature,but also promoted the exchange and integration of Soviet Russian literature and world literature.Among Aitmatov’s works,tragedy has always been the keynote of his literary creation.In the beginning of creation,his tragedy material mainly came from daily folks & events of Kyrgyz,which highlighted the disasters and spiritual trauma brought by the war and the tenacity of the Soviet people to build a new life in post-war.Until the 1970 s,the publication of the novel "The White Ship" marked that myths and legends became the main carrier for expressing the tragedy in Aitmatov’s literary creation.In the subsequent creations,Aitmatov has embedded myths and legends in realistic works,realized the fusion of myths and reality,mirrored one another,and displayed the tragedy taste by using the symbolism,morality and universality of myths.It’s during this period that the tragic implication of Aitmatov’s literary creations evolved from the original praise of the national spirit as well as the kind,selfless and noble ordinary people which means it,gradually developed from praise for human to in-depth thinking over human and nature,people and society,people and people,which formed his unique writing style.Aitmatov’s creative features based on myths and legends are closely related to his living environment,personal experience and background of the times.All the unique folk customs of nomads of Kyrgyz,the "animism" based shamanism,the myths legends and tragic stories in the national epic "Manas" provided resources in his future creations that adopted mythological elements.Aitmatov’s suffering from family changes,the war life,the Soviet Union totalitarian rule,the ecological crisis caused by the industrial civilization and the belief crisis and moral dilemma of people after the technological revolution,prompted him to present the ecological crises,social disasters and alienation of mankind in the 20 th and early 21 st centuries in the form of tragedy and mythological art.In Aitmatov’s works,nature is the ultimate entity,which operates and exists according to its own laws.However,as one part of nature,human beings cannot be separated from nature,and the fate of human beings and nature coexist.Aitmatov used myths and legends in his works as the blueprint to draw the images of doe totem,wolf totem,and snow leopard totem,so as to use metaphor to show the close symbiosis between human existence and nature,and presents the tragedy of the ecological crisis brought by people after losing faith & reverence in totems,violently destroying nature for their own interests,and ultimately destroying mankind themselves which is in the context of the mutual reflection of mythological factors and reality.Aitmatov also cleverly used the symbolic,allegorical and ambiguous features of myths &legends in his works to expose the suppression of human memory and consciousness by the Soviet totalitarian rule,the ruin of national culture and national traditions,and criticized the tragedy brought to society by the "extreme evil" of totalitarian rulers.In addition to thinking about the "extreme evil" of the ruler,he also showed the "banal evil" of the ruled which was caused by moral decline,which expanded the scope of social tragedy.Aitmatov has always put human at the center of attention and the core of thinking.His works show the ecological crisis between human and nature and the social tragedy between human and society as well as inter-countries through myths and legends,which in fact is a concern about the future fate of mankind.Thinking of human alienation is also one of the main thrusts expressed in Aitmatov’s works.In his works,it not only shows that the essence of human beings has been alienated into money,but also shows the alienated world of self-slaughter among humans wars,which makes the human beings become the murder of weapon in the alienated world.He hopes that human beings can regain their moral beliefs and rationality,consciously resist the alienation of the individual by money,break the cycle of war,break the alienation of the world,and restore human beings as the highest essence of human beings,rather than the murder of weapon.The consciousness of tragedy is the prerequisite of the tragic existence in Aitmatov’s works.He is so concerned about the relationship between human and nature,society and the world,and he is also adopted a sense of salvation for the tragic fate of mankind when foreseeing future.Therefore,he explored the way of salvation from self-salvation,planetary thinking and diversified civilization dialogue,which is based on avoiding tragedies and seeking the sustainable development of the destiny of all mankind.It can be said that this kind of tragedy consciousness transcends and saves the existence of tragedy.For Aitmatov,myths and legends are not only an important method to recognize and explain tragic existence,but also a way to persuade people to show kindness.The tragedy is the concern and warning about the present and the future,while the final purpose of author is to arouse the self-rescue consciousness of human.Aitmatov conveys tragedy through myths and legends to infect people’s spirits,elevate people’s souls,then avoid tragedies,and ultimately aim at the perfection of personal morality.Therefore,Aitmatov’s stylic works of myths and tragedies present an important characteristic of mutual dependence,circulation and symbiosis.