THE LONGEST CHILDHOOD

THE LONGEST CHILDHOOD (Ozone­ ozak bala sak), a story. Written in 1972–76 by M.Karim. The autobiographical story is done in a novel like style and is based on the memories of the author’s childhood. He tries to avoid documentary or memoir styles of presentation. The prototypes of his characters are his relatives and friends, as well as his fellow villagers. The central character is the Elder Mother, which symbolizes Family, Wisdom and Motherly love. Her prototype is the elder wife of Mustay Karim’s father, Minleyamal Karimova, who raised the future poet. This work displays a certain quality of organic interweaving in the plot of folk motifs, ethnic legends and the author’s intertexts. He mentions such disjointed details as the Tsar and the bread crumbs, Akbuzat the magic horse, etc.

The composition of the poem is nonlinear. The author strings many stories, now running into the past, now into the future, thus displaying his own unique style. The eternal themes of love and loyalty, war and peace, friendship and hate, and the unshakable ethnic and family traditions give the play great philosophical depth and high level of humanity. For his story, Mustai Karim was awarded Lenin’s Prize (1984). Based on it, a theatrical performance titled Be What May! And fate not fate!..? (directed by R.V.Israfilov, artistic adaptation by T.G.Yenikeev, musical composition by R.M.Hasanov, choreographic work by H.F.Mustaef) was created. The premiere took place on 24 December, 1978 at the Bashkir Drama The­ atre. In 2005, the Bash­ kortostan film studio made a film by the same name.

Literary translation into Russian was done by I.M.Karimov.