Auezov Mukhtar (1897-1961)

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Muhtar Omarhanovich Auezov is a great Kazakh writer, playwright, translator, teacher, scientist, folklorist, classic of Kazakh literature, outstanding scientist and public figure, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR, the first doctor of philological sciences of Kazakhstan, professor, a Honored Scientist of Kazakhstan. He was born in the Kaskabulak area of the Abai district of the East Kazakhstan region  on September 28 of 1897year.  M.Auezov died in 1961.

He began to study in a five-year school and a seminary in Semipalatinsk. The political events in Russia, the establishment of the Provisional Government, the People’s Council of Alash Orda and it’s government have made great changes in Auezov’s life. He organized the Union “Youth of Alash” in Semipalatinsk and took an active part in the opening of various circles. He actively cooperated with the members of the Alash Orda. After Alash Orda was disbanded, he devoted himself entirely to education.

Auezov raised  Kazakh literature to the highest level with his work. He wrote works in a variety of genres; he wrote many essays, short stories, plays, made excellent translations, he published many informative articles, compiled textbooks, he constantly upgraded his professional level. He became a laureate of the USSR State Prize and laureate of the Lenin Prize of the USSR. The 100th anniversary of M.Auezov was celebrated throughout the world by the UNESCO decision (1997).

Reliable information about M.Auezov

  1. Mukhtar’s grandfather Auez was the younger brother of Kunanbay’s wife Nurganym.
  2. In 1910, Mukhtar Auezov, in the last grade of the Semipalatinsk 5-class Russian school, wrote his first work “Dauyl” (The Storm). This work is handwritten. The version has not been saved. It has not been published anywhere.
  3. In 1913 he played in the Semipalatinsk city football team “Yarysh” and was its midfielder.
  4. In 1909-1915 he studied at the teacher’s seminary in Semipalatinsk together with Zhusupbek Aimautov.
  5. At the age of sixteen, he read Abai’s poems by heart.
  6. On January 26, 1914, he took part in a literary evening dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the death of Abai.
  7. On February 13, 1915, the play “Birzhan and Sara” was held at the “Prikazchiki” club, organized by Kanysh Satpayev and Mukhtar Auezov.
  8. In 1917, in the yurt of Abai’s wife Aigerim, the first play “Enlik-Kebek” written by Mukhtar Auezov was staged as a gift on the occasion of the marriage and seeing off of Akysh (Aklia), the granddaughter of Abai.
  9. On March 10, 1917 Auezov’s first article titled “Kazakhtyn ozgeshe minezderi” (“The unique character of Kazakhs”), co-authored with Zhusupbek Aimautov, was published in the newspaper “Alash”.
  10. On May 5-13, 1918, he took part in the All-Kazakhstan Youth Congress in Omsk and was elected a member of the All-Union Central Executive Committee.
  11. From February to October 1918, Mukhtar Auezov, together with the writer Zhusupbek Aimautov, participated in the publication of the popular science magazine “Abai” in Semipalatinsk. There were only 12 issues published. The editor of the journal was Zh. Aimautov, the scientific department was headed by M. Auezov.
  12. In 1919 he was the chairman of the Semipalatinsk executive committee, in 1920 he was the editor of a newspaper in the Kazakh language, in 1921 he was the chairman of the provincial executive committee, and in 1925 he was a teacher at the Kazakh Pedagogical College.
  13. In 1921, he published the story “Korgansyzdyn kuni” (“Day of the defenseless”) in 3-4 issues of the magazine “The Red Kazakhstan” under the pseudonym “Argyn”. It was published as a separate book in 1922.
  14. In 1921, M.Auezov, working in Semipalatinsk, Orenburg, closely collaborated with well-known literary figures – the leaders of the Alash party A. Bukeikhanov, A. Baitursynov, M. Dulatov and others.
  15. In September 1921, at the second Provincial Congress of Soviets in Semipalatinsk, M. Auezov was elected a deputy of the All-Kazakh Congress in Orenburg.
  16. In winter of 1922-23 he participated in the publication of the magazine “Sholpan” in Tashkent. Living in Tashkent, he published articles in the magazines “Sholpan”, “Akzhol”, “Sana”.
  17. On June 16, 1923 the first article by M.Auezov in Russian was published in the issue of the newspaper “Stepnaya Pravda” (Steppe Truth) under the title “To the third anniversary of the Kirrepublic”
  18. In 1923 he was expelled from the ranks of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) for violating labor discipline and nationalist activities.
  19. In 1923 he entered the Leningrad University in a special direction and was admitted to the literary and linguistic department of the Faculty of Social Sciences.
  20. In 1923-26 he wrote the stories “Okygan azamat” (Educated person), “Kyr suretter” (Field pictures), “Үilenu” (Wedding), “Eskіlіk kolenkesinde” (In the shadow of antiquity), “Kіnаmshіl boyzhetken” (Choosy girl), “Karaly sulu” (Woman in mourning), etc., plays “Baibishe-toqal” (Older and younger wife), “Karakoz” (Black-eyed girl).
  21. On October 1, 1924 M.Auezov became a full member of the Russian Geographical Society.
  22. On December 29, 1924, a literary evening was held in the club named after Lunacharsky in Kazakh language, in which M.Auezov read a report “Abai’s place in Kazakh Literature”
  23. The Academic Drama Theater, which opened in Kyzylorda on January 13, 1926, on August 10, 1961 was renamed the Kazakh State Academic Theater named after M.Auezov by the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR.
  24. In 1930, M.Auezov was arrested for his ideological views. The investigation lasted a long time, and in April 1932 he was sentenced to three years’
  25. From 1932 to 1934 Auezov lectured on Kazakh literature at the Kazakh State Pedagogical Institute, from 1934 until the end of his life at the Kazakh State University named after S.M.Kirov (now Al-Farabi Kazakh National University).
  26. The epic novel by M.Auezov “The path of Abai” is the result of his 15-year research.
  27. In 1951-1953 Auezov was a professor at the Department of Literature of Peoples of the USSR at Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov.
  28. In 1955 he traveled abroad and took part as an honored guest at the Congress of Writers of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in Berlin.
  29. In 1955-1957, six volumes of selected works of the writer were published.
  30. In 1956 he was in Czechoslovakia as part of a delegation of cultural figures of the USSR.
  31. In 1957, the 60th anniversary of M.Auezov was celebrated in Alma-Ata and Moscow.
  32. In 1958, he was one of the organizers of the 1st Conference of Asian and African Writers in Tashkent.
  33. In 1960 M.Auezov visited the United States and in 1961 made a second trip to India.
  34. 1997 was declared the Year of M.Auezov by UNESCO, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the writer, first in Paris and then all over the world.
  35. It took 30 years to write epic “The path of Abai”. From the age of nineteen he thought writing about Abai, for seventeen years he continuously searched and for twelve years he wrote. Auezov first wrote the novel “Abai” (1942, 1947), and then “The path of Abai” (1952, 1956), consisting of two books. In these four volumes, a whole multifaceted gallery was deployed with a wide coverage of various strata of Kazakh society.
  36. For the first two books of the novel “Abai” the writer was awarded the State Prize of the USSR (1949), and after the release of the four-volume epic novel “The path of Abai” he was awarded the Lenin Prize (1959).
  37. Mukhtar Auezov is the founder of the Kazakh literature department of KazNU.
  38. Auezov is the author of more than thirty dramatic works. If you add variants of individual plays it is more than fifty.

 Information about the family life of M.Auezov:

  1. Mukhtar’s grandfather Auez was the younger brother of Kunanbai’s wife Nurganym.
  2. The writer was married 4 times. His first wife was Raikhan, descendants: daughter Mugalima (1918-2010), son Chokan died at an early age.
  3. Abai’s granddaughter Kamila Magauiyakyzy became his second wife. He had two daughters, both of whom died at an early age.
  4. His third wife is Kuzmina Valentina Nikolaevna, they got married while studying in Leningrad. Descendants: Eldes (1927-1928), Eldar (1941-1944), Yernar (1943-1995), Leyla (1929-1993).
  5. His fourth wife is Fatima Gabitova. Descendants: Murat Auezov (1943)