The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years
Encyclopedia
The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years , originally published in Russian in the Novy Mir
literary magazine in 1980, is a novel written by the Kyrgyz author Chinghiz Aitmatov
.
, the author wrote that the original title was "The Hoop" ("Обруч"), which was rejected by censors. The title The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years, taken from the poem "Unique Days" ("единственные дни") by Boris Pasternak
, used for the magazine version (Novy Mir
, #11, 1980), was also criticized as too complicated, and the first "book-size" version of the novel was printed in Roman-Gazeta
in a censored form under the title The Buranny Railway Stop (Буранный полустанок).
steppes along with pieces of Kazakh
folklore. The author explains the term "Saryozeks" as "Middle Lands of Yellow Stepes". Sary-Ozek (or Russified form "Sarozek", used interchangeably in the novel) is also the name of a (fictional) cosmodrome.
Additionally, there is a subplot involving two cosmonauts, one American and one Soviet, who make contact with an intelligent extraterrestrial life
form and travel to the planet Lesnaya Grud ("The Bosom of the Forest") while on a space station run co-operatively by the United States and Soviet Union. The location of the Soviet launch site, Sarozek-1, near Yedigei's railway junction, intertwines the subplot with the main story.
Initially, Yedigei recalls how he had fought in World War II
but had been dismissed from duty due to shell shock
. As a result, he was sent to work on the railway. Through his work, he met Kazangap, who convinced him to move to what would become his permanent home, the remote Boranly-Borannyi junction, from which he gained his namesake. Kazangap and Yedigei become dear friends, and Kazangap eventually gives Yedigei the gift of a camel, named Karanar, which becomes legendary across the Sarozak because of its strength and vitality.
At the end of 1951, Abutalip and Zalipa Kuttybaev move to Boranly-Borranyi junction with their two young sons. They initially have a hard time adjusting to living on the Sarozek because of the harsh environment; however, they eventually become adjusted. Before relocating, both had been school teachers. Abutalip also fought in the war and had been taken prisoner by Germans
, but he escaped and fought with the Yugoslav
partisan army. Nevertheless, upon his return to the Soviet Union
he still retained the stigma of having been a prisoner
and was often relocated because of political reasons.
To leave a personal account of his experiences for his children and also to maintain his faculties amid the desolate Sarozak, Abutalip takes to writing about his time as a prisoner of war, his escape, and fighting for the partisans; he also records the various legends told to him by Yedigei. Unfortunately for him, these activities are discovered during a routine inspection of the junction and reported to higher authorities. The denizens of Boranly-Borrannyi and Abutalip are interrogated by the tyrannical Tansykbaev, and he is deemed counterrevolutionary. In due Soviet process, he is taken away and unheard of for a long time. Later, Kazangap travels to the nearby Kumbel to visit his son. There he finds a letter meant to inform Zaripa of Abutalip's death, but thinks it best to merely tell her that she has a letter rather to inform her of her husband's death. Yedigei later accompanies Zaripa to Kumbel in order to receive the letter; coincidentally, Stalin also died on the same day, but Zaripa was too overcome with grief to pay notice to the news.
Zaripa decides that it is best to forestall conveying the news of Abutalip's death to her children. Yedigei thereafter becomes the paternal figure in her children's lives and grows to love them more than his own daughters. Abutalip's last request was for Yedigei to tell his sons about the Aral Sea, so Yedigei spends much time telling them about his former occupation as a fisherman. As a result of his frequent reminiscing, Yedigei recalls the time he had to catch a golden sturgeon to quell the desires of his wife, Ukubala's, unborn child, but decides not to share it. He eventually becomes fond of Zaripa from spending so much time with her and her children, but she does not return his affection and moves away one day when Yedigei travels to another junction to fetch his wandering camel. In consequence, Yedigei projects his anger onto Karanar by maiming him until he runs away again, only to later return famished and dilapidated.
Years later, after internal reforms within the Soviet Union, Yedigei pressures the government to inquire into Abutalip's death in order to clear the names of his sons. Abutalip is declared "rehabilitated," and Yedigei also learns that Zaripa has remarried and has once more begun working as a school teacher.
Near the end of the story, the group that set out to bury Kazangap has nearly reached the Ana-Beiit cemetery. However, they are hindered in their journey by a barbed wired fence erected in the middle of their route. Resolved to go around it, they travel along it toward another road only to reach a check-point manned by a young soldier. To their dismay, they are told that access beyond the fence is prohibited, but the soldier calls his superior to see if an exception can be made. It is then that Yedigei learns that the superior is named Tansykbaev, but discovers that this is a different man from the one previously known. However, the new Tansykbaev is also encrusted in a patina of hierarchical obedience and interpersonal tyranny; unmoved by the procession's request, he denies them entry and also informs them that the Ana-Beiit cemetery is to be leveled in the future.
During their return, everybody in the group, with the exception of Kazangap's son, Sabitizhan, decides that it would be against tradition to return from a burial with a body. They decide to bury Kazangap near a ravine on the Sarozak, and some of the men vow to also be buried there themselves. Yedigei, most adamant among them, makes them promise to bury him next to Kazangap, as he is the oldest and the most likely to die next.
Everybody leaves after the burial, but Yedigei remains with Karanar and his dog, Zholbars, to ruminate over the day's circumstances. He decides to return to the check-point in order to vocalize his anger at the guard, but a series of rockets are launched into space from within the fenced area before he reaches the check-point, sending Yedigei, Zholbars, and Karanar running off into the Sarozak.
This launch, and the circumstances surrounding it, have been kept secret from the public, and an American launch from Nevada
occurs at the same time. Both are destined for the joint Soviet-American space station
, Parity, currently orbiting the earth. There were already two cosmonauts onboard the Parity space station before the launch; however, they had mysteriously curtailed all contact with the aircraft carrier
Convention, afloat between San Francisco and Vladivostok
, which serves as a base of operations for the Soviets and Americans.
Once they arrive, the two cosmonauts sent to Parity discover that their predecessors have disappeared completely. Before leaving, they left a note stating that they had made contact with intelligent life from the planet Lesnaya Grud. Together, they decided to keep their findings private out of fear for the political turmoil that might occur. The inhabitants of Lesnaya Grud had traveled to Parity and transported the two cosmonauts to Lesnaya Grud. From there, the cosmonauts send a transmission back to Parity describing the planet. It is much larger than Earth, nobody has any concept of war, and there is an established and functional world government
. Furthermore, Lesnaya Grud suffers from the problem of "internal withering," where portions of the planet turn to uninhabitable desert. Although this problem will not be critical for many millions of years, the inhabitants of Lesnaya Grud are already trying to decide what to do about it and how to possibly fix it.
In response to the cosmonauts' actions, the officials on Convention decide to prohibit them from ever returning to earth. Moreover, they all vow never to mention what took place. In order to ensure their decision, the Americans and Soviets threaten to destroy any foreign spacecraft that comes into earth orbit, and both nations launch missile-equipped satellites to secure their threat. The aircraft carrier Convention is then handed over to neutral Finland
, and the operation is shut down.
. He is a railway worker on the Sarozak who was once a soldier in the second World War and before that, a fisherman on the Aral Sea
. It is he who undertakes the responsibility for Kazangap's burial and most of the story is told from his perspective
.
Discussion is open about the origin of the work 'mankurt'. It was first used in press by Aytmatov and he said to have taken the word from Manas epos. 'Mankurt' may be derived from Mongolian
term "мангуурах" (stupid), Turkic
mengirt (one who was deprived memory) or (less probably) man kort (bad tribe) or even from Latin
mens curtus (mind cut off). http://lingvoforum.net/index.php/topic,37141.25.html?PHPSESSID=2ac2e484de83ba4757940d6838fa66a8
(Манкурт) was released in the Soviet Union
. Written by Mariya Urmatova, the film is based on one narrative strand from within the novel The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years. It represents the last film directed by Khodzha Narliyev. Its main cast was Tarik Tardzhan, Maya-Gozel Aymedova, Jylmaz Duru, Khodzhadurdy Narliev, Maysa Almazova. The film tells about a Turkmenian who defends his homeland from invasion. After he is captured, tortured, and brainwashed into serving his homeland's conquerors, he is so completely turned that he kills his mother when she attempts to rescue him from captivity.
Novy Mir
Novy Mir is a Russian language literary magazine that has been published in Moscow since January 1925. It was supposed to be modelled on the popular pre-Soviet literary magazine Mir Bozhy , which was published from 1892 to 1906, and its follow-up, Sovremenny Mir , which was published 1906-1917...
literary magazine in 1980, is a novel written by the Kyrgyz author Chinghiz Aitmatov
Chinghiz Aitmatov
Chyngyz Aitmatov was a Soviet and Kyrgyz author who wrote in both Russian and Kyrgyz. He was the best known figure in Kyrgyzstan's literature.- Life :...
.
The title of the novel
In an introduction written in 1990, during perestroikaPerestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
, the author wrote that the original title was "The Hoop" ("Обруч"), which was rejected by censors. The title The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years, taken from the poem "Unique Days" ("единственные дни") by Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was a Russian language poet, novelist, and literary translator. In his native Russia, Pasternak's anthology My Sister Life, is one of the most influential collections ever published in the Russian language...
, used for the magazine version (Novy Mir
Novy Mir
Novy Mir is a Russian language literary magazine that has been published in Moscow since January 1925. It was supposed to be modelled on the popular pre-Soviet literary magazine Mir Bozhy , which was published from 1892 to 1906, and its follow-up, Sovremenny Mir , which was published 1906-1917...
, #11, 1980), was also criticized as too complicated, and the first "book-size" version of the novel was printed in Roman-Gazeta
Roman-Gazeta
Novel-Newspaper or Roman-Gazeta was a special kind of literary magazine in the Soviet Union issued monthly since 1927 and twice a month since 1957 by the "Khudozhestvennaya Literatura" publishing house....
in a censored form under the title The Buranny Railway Stop (Буранный полустанок).
Introduction
The novel takes place over the course of a day, which encompasses the railman Burranyi Yedigei's endeavor to bury his late friend, Kazangap, in the cemetery Ana-Beyit ("Mother's Grave"). Throughout the trek, Yedigei recounts his personal history of living in the Sary-OzekSary-Ozek
Sary-Ozek may refer to one of the following, related to places in Kazakhstan.*Sary-Ozek station, a railway station*Sary-Ozek, Kazakhstan, a settlement*Sary-Ozek military range, witnessed demolition of Soviet ICBMs *Sary-Ozek...
steppes along with pieces of Kazakh
Culture of Kazakhstan
Before the Russian conquest, the Kazaks had a well-articulated culture based on their nomadic pastoral economy. Islam was introduced to Kazakhstan in the 7th to 12th century. Besides lamb, many other traditional foods retain symbolic value in Kazak culture...
folklore. The author explains the term "Saryozeks" as "Middle Lands of Yellow Stepes". Sary-Ozek (or Russified form "Sarozek", used interchangeably in the novel) is also the name of a (fictional) cosmodrome.
Additionally, there is a subplot involving two cosmonauts, one American and one Soviet, who make contact with an intelligent extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
form and travel to the planet Lesnaya Grud ("The Bosom of the Forest") while on a space station run co-operatively by the United States and Soviet Union. The location of the Soviet launch site, Sarozek-1, near Yedigei's railway junction, intertwines the subplot with the main story.
Plot summary
The novel begins with Yedigei learning about the death of his longtime friend, Kazangap. All of Kazangap's crucial relatives have been forewarned of his impending death, and it is decided to set off to bury him the next day. To the consternation of his son, Sabitzhan, who is indifferent toward his father's burial, it is decided to travel across the Sarozak to the Ana-Beiit cemetery in order to bury Kazangap. The procession promptly leaves the next morning, and experiences that took place throughout Yedigei's lifetime, as well as various Sarozak legends, are recollected.Initially, Yedigei recalls how he had fought in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
but had been dismissed from duty due to shell shock
Shell Shock
Shell Shock, also known as 82nd Marines Attack was a 1964 film by B-movie director John Hayes. The film takes place in Italy during World War II, and tells the story of a sergeant with his group of soldiers....
. As a result, he was sent to work on the railway. Through his work, he met Kazangap, who convinced him to move to what would become his permanent home, the remote Boranly-Borannyi junction, from which he gained his namesake. Kazangap and Yedigei become dear friends, and Kazangap eventually gives Yedigei the gift of a camel, named Karanar, which becomes legendary across the Sarozak because of its strength and vitality.
At the end of 1951, Abutalip and Zalipa Kuttybaev move to Boranly-Borranyi junction with their two young sons. They initially have a hard time adjusting to living on the Sarozek because of the harsh environment; however, they eventually become adjusted. Before relocating, both had been school teachers. Abutalip also fought in the war and had been taken prisoner by Germans
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, but he escaped and fought with the Yugoslav
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
partisan army. Nevertheless, upon his return to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
he still retained the stigma of having been a prisoner
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
and was often relocated because of political reasons.
To leave a personal account of his experiences for his children and also to maintain his faculties amid the desolate Sarozak, Abutalip takes to writing about his time as a prisoner of war, his escape, and fighting for the partisans; he also records the various legends told to him by Yedigei. Unfortunately for him, these activities are discovered during a routine inspection of the junction and reported to higher authorities. The denizens of Boranly-Borrannyi and Abutalip are interrogated by the tyrannical Tansykbaev, and he is deemed counterrevolutionary. In due Soviet process, he is taken away and unheard of for a long time. Later, Kazangap travels to the nearby Kumbel to visit his son. There he finds a letter meant to inform Zaripa of Abutalip's death, but thinks it best to merely tell her that she has a letter rather to inform her of her husband's death. Yedigei later accompanies Zaripa to Kumbel in order to receive the letter; coincidentally, Stalin also died on the same day, but Zaripa was too overcome with grief to pay notice to the news.
Zaripa decides that it is best to forestall conveying the news of Abutalip's death to her children. Yedigei thereafter becomes the paternal figure in her children's lives and grows to love them more than his own daughters. Abutalip's last request was for Yedigei to tell his sons about the Aral Sea, so Yedigei spends much time telling them about his former occupation as a fisherman. As a result of his frequent reminiscing, Yedigei recalls the time he had to catch a golden sturgeon to quell the desires of his wife, Ukubala's, unborn child, but decides not to share it. He eventually becomes fond of Zaripa from spending so much time with her and her children, but she does not return his affection and moves away one day when Yedigei travels to another junction to fetch his wandering camel. In consequence, Yedigei projects his anger onto Karanar by maiming him until he runs away again, only to later return famished and dilapidated.
Years later, after internal reforms within the Soviet Union, Yedigei pressures the government to inquire into Abutalip's death in order to clear the names of his sons. Abutalip is declared "rehabilitated," and Yedigei also learns that Zaripa has remarried and has once more begun working as a school teacher.
Near the end of the story, the group that set out to bury Kazangap has nearly reached the Ana-Beiit cemetery. However, they are hindered in their journey by a barbed wired fence erected in the middle of their route. Resolved to go around it, they travel along it toward another road only to reach a check-point manned by a young soldier. To their dismay, they are told that access beyond the fence is prohibited, but the soldier calls his superior to see if an exception can be made. It is then that Yedigei learns that the superior is named Tansykbaev, but discovers that this is a different man from the one previously known. However, the new Tansykbaev is also encrusted in a patina of hierarchical obedience and interpersonal tyranny; unmoved by the procession's request, he denies them entry and also informs them that the Ana-Beiit cemetery is to be leveled in the future.
During their return, everybody in the group, with the exception of Kazangap's son, Sabitizhan, decides that it would be against tradition to return from a burial with a body. They decide to bury Kazangap near a ravine on the Sarozak, and some of the men vow to also be buried there themselves. Yedigei, most adamant among them, makes them promise to bury him next to Kazangap, as he is the oldest and the most likely to die next.
Everybody leaves after the burial, but Yedigei remains with Karanar and his dog, Zholbars, to ruminate over the day's circumstances. He decides to return to the check-point in order to vocalize his anger at the guard, but a series of rockets are launched into space from within the fenced area before he reaches the check-point, sending Yedigei, Zholbars, and Karanar running off into the Sarozak.
Subplot summary
Shortly after learning the news of Kazangap's death, Yedigei observes a rocket launching from the launch site north of the Boranly-Borranyi junction. Launches, though infrequent, are not unusual to Yedigei, but this one in particular is because he had no prior knowledge of it. Generally, such occasions heralded pompous celebration, but this one had not.This launch, and the circumstances surrounding it, have been kept secret from the public, and an American launch from Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
occurs at the same time. Both are destined for the joint Soviet-American space station
Space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...
, Parity, currently orbiting the earth. There were already two cosmonauts onboard the Parity space station before the launch; however, they had mysteriously curtailed all contact with the aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
Convention, afloat between San Francisco and Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
, which serves as a base of operations for the Soviets and Americans.
Once they arrive, the two cosmonauts sent to Parity discover that their predecessors have disappeared completely. Before leaving, they left a note stating that they had made contact with intelligent life from the planet Lesnaya Grud. Together, they decided to keep their findings private out of fear for the political turmoil that might occur. The inhabitants of Lesnaya Grud had traveled to Parity and transported the two cosmonauts to Lesnaya Grud. From there, the cosmonauts send a transmission back to Parity describing the planet. It is much larger than Earth, nobody has any concept of war, and there is an established and functional world government
World government
World government is the notion of a single common political authority for all of humanity. Its modern conception is rooted in European history, particularly in the philosophy of ancient Greece, in the political formation of the Roman Empire, and in the subsequent struggle between secular authority,...
. Furthermore, Lesnaya Grud suffers from the problem of "internal withering," where portions of the planet turn to uninhabitable desert. Although this problem will not be critical for many millions of years, the inhabitants of Lesnaya Grud are already trying to decide what to do about it and how to possibly fix it.
In response to the cosmonauts' actions, the officials on Convention decide to prohibit them from ever returning to earth. Moreover, they all vow never to mention what took place. In order to ensure their decision, the Americans and Soviets threaten to destroy any foreign spacecraft that comes into earth orbit, and both nations launch missile-equipped satellites to secure their threat. The aircraft carrier Convention is then handed over to neutral Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, and the operation is shut down.
Burannyi Yedigei
Yedigei is the main protagonistProtagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
. He is a railway worker on the Sarozak who was once a soldier in the second World War and before that, a fisherman on the Aral Sea
Aral Sea
The Aral Sea was a lake that lay between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, in the south...
. It is he who undertakes the responsibility for Kazangap's burial and most of the story is told from his perspective
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
.
Kazangap
Kazangap was the oldest man in Buranly-Burranyi and originally encouraged Yedigei to move there. He worked alongside Yedigei on the railway. The "day" mentioned in the title The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years is the day on which he is buried.Ukubala
Ukubala is the wife of Yedigei. Overall, she is mostly submissive to his desires, but does encourage him to seek an investigation into the death of Abutalip. Throughout the story, she is loyal to Yedigei and even overlooks his affection for Zaripa. On multiple occasions, Yedigei recalls them laboring together.Mankurt
N. Shneidman stated "The mankurt motif, taken from central Asian lore, is the dominant idea of the novel and connects the different narrative levels and time sequences". In the later years of Soviet Union Mankurt entered everyday speech to describe the alienation that people had towards a society that repressed them and distorted their history. In former Soviet republics the term has come to represent those non Russian who have been cut off from their own ethnic roots by the effects of the Soviet system.Discussion is open about the origin of the work 'mankurt'. It was first used in press by Aytmatov and he said to have taken the word from Manas epos. 'Mankurt' may be derived from Mongolian
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
term "мангуурах" (stupid), Turkic
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken...
mengirt (one who was deprived memory) or (less probably) man kort (bad tribe) or even from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
mens curtus (mind cut off). http://lingvoforum.net/index.php/topic,37141.25.html?PHPSESSID=2ac2e484de83ba4757940d6838fa66a8
Allusions/references to other works
Two folkstories are told within The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years:- The story of Naiman-Ana, a woman killed by her mankurt son when she tries to free him.
- The story of Raimaly-aga, a bard who fell in love with a young girl but was tied to a tree by his family to prevent him from seeing her.
Film
In 1990 the film MankurtMankurt
Mankurt is a 1990 Soviet film written by Mariya Urmatova and the last film directed by Khodzha Narliyev...
(Манкурт) was released in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Written by Mariya Urmatova, the film is based on one narrative strand from within the novel The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years. It represents the last film directed by Khodzha Narliyev. Its main cast was Tarik Tardzhan, Maya-Gozel Aymedova, Jylmaz Duru, Khodzhadurdy Narliev, Maysa Almazova. The film tells about a Turkmenian who defends his homeland from invasion. After he is captured, tortured, and brainwashed into serving his homeland's conquerors, he is so completely turned that he kills his mother when she attempts to rescue him from captivity.