Essay
Qirolning libosi bormi?
Not translated into English
Emin Usmon · 1989
Synopsis
A writer replies by open letter to a younger man, Olim Otaxon, who has asked him what faith is. A believer, he says, must first know himself and educate himself, and fear betrays a weak faith. He then reviews the cult of the Soviet leaders, the writers slandered or sentenced to death in the thirties and those who profited from it, before returning to Andersen's tale and to the one who dares to speak the truth.
Context
The letter appeared in the third issue of 1989 of a youth magazine, Yosh kuch. It draws on the questions of the moment, the rehabilitation of the Jadids, which was still being stifled, the first secretary of the Uzbek party declared a state criminal, the chemicals spread on the cotton, and it attacks a literary criticism that flatters those in power. It also draws on a short story by Cortázar whose hero unmasks a revered poet, in order to ask Uzbek writers to look their past in the face.
Who it is for
In Uzbek, with no French version, and back online. It is best to know, at least by name, the writers shot during the Stalinist purges, whose fate is at the centre of the work.
Prizes and reception
Republished online in 2017 with an account by its author, the letter is now read as a document of the last Soviet years.