IRTYAK

IRTYAK (irtek) is a kind of Bashkir epic; a fairytale genre in Kazakh, Uzbek and Karakalpak folklore. Kirey Mergen believes that “Ural-batyr”,  “Akbuzat”,  etc.  kubairs  which  have mixed  poem  and  prose  form  are  a  kind  of I. Mythological motifs make I. closer to fairytales, legends, stories. S.A. Galin believes that I. appeared because the epic traditions in folklore were weakening, the art tradition of sesens’ art was fading. It resulted in the destruction of the integral structure of epic poems kubairs, certain moments were being forgotten and certain parts were being written in prose form. The poetic form still remains in the most dramatic and emotionally intensified parts of the plot connected with love lines, as a rule. Mostly it has the form of monologue or dialogue between the epic characters, addresses and descriptions; scientists consider the stories, such as “Akkhak-kola”, “Zayatuluak and Khyu-khylu”, “Kara-yurga”, “Kungyr-buga”, etc. to be classic I.

Modern Bashkir folklore science does not use the term I. as well as the term “ulyan” mentioned by M.I. Umetbayev. F.A. Nadrshina believes that evolutionary processes have influenced not only the content of kubairs, but also their genre nature. Together with the stories that can be definitely called kubairs there are mixed genre forms combining the features of epics and fairytales – kubair­-I. The features of kubair (epic) intermingle with fairytale traits as a result of the syncretic nature of folklore.

F.A. Nadrshina, G.R. Khusainova