Novel
Ұлпан
Not translated into English
Gabit Musrepov · 1976
Synopsis
In the Kazakh steppe, from the 1830s to the 1870s, a very young girl of bold character becomes the second wife of Eseney, a rich and powerful man some forty years her senior, who has lost two sons to smallpox and will be elected sultan without descending from Genghis Khan. Caught in the customs that govern women's fate, Ulpan gradually becomes an independent and far-sighted woman, open to the towns and fairs she discovers, while Eseney grows gentler with her.
Context
The novel is the most ambitious of the books Musrepov devoted to the fate of Kazakh women, a theme that runs through his work since his stories about mothers in the thirties. Its characters really existed: they belong to the Siban clan of the Middle Zhuz, and the author brings in his own great-grandfather, Musrep, who came from Turkmen country. The narrative shows how bride kidnapping, bride price, the rank of second wife and the levirate weigh on women's condition and on inheritance. Translated into Russian and Turkish, it is studied by Kazakh and Turkish critics alike.
Who it is for
For readers who want to discover the world of the Kazakh nomads and its customs through the eyes of a woman who frees herself.
Prizes and reception
Read as far as Turkey in translation, the novel still feeds studies of women's condition in old Kazakh society.