Editing Kazakhstan (section)

=== Literature ===
{{Main|Kazakh literature}}

Kazakh literature is defined as "the body of literature, both [[oral literature|oral]] and written, produced in the [[Kazakh language]] by the [[Kazakh people]] of Central Asia".<ref name="Feldman">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Kazakh-literature |title=Kazakh literature |author=Walter Feldman |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=31 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402083053/https://www.britannica.com/art/Kazakh-literature |archive-date=2 April 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> Kazakh literature expands from the current territory of Kazakhstan, also including the era of [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic]], Kazakh recognised territory under the [[Russian Empire]] and the [[Kazakh Khanate]]. There is some overlap with several complementary themes, including the literature of Turkic tribes that inhabited Kazakhstan over the course of its history and literature written by ethnic Kazakhs.

[[File:USSR stamp A.Qunanbayuli 1965 4k.jpg|thumb|1965 [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] stamp honouring Kazakh essayist and poet [[Abai Qunanbaiuly]]]]
According to Chinese written sources from the 6th–8th centuries CE, the Turkic tribes of Kazakhstan had an oral poetry tradition. These came from earlier periods and were primarily transmitted by [[bard]]s: professional storytellers and musical performers.<ref name="Nurmanova">{{Cite journal|title=La tradition historique orale des Kazakhs|author=Aitjan Nurmanova|translator=Alié Akimova|journal=Cahiers d'Asie Centrale|date=September 2000|issue=8|volume=2000|pages=93–100|url=https://asiecentrale.revues.org/597|access-date=10 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108202604/https://asiecentrale.revues.org/597|archive-date=8 November 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Traces of this tradition are shown on [[Old Turkic alphabet|Orkhon script]] stone carvings dated 5th–7th centuries CE that describe rule of Kultegin and Bilge, two early Turkic rulers ("kagans").{{Citation needed|date=October 2017|reason=We need a source to reference this information.}} Amongst the Kazakhs, the bard was a primarily, though not exclusively, male profession. Since at least the 17th century, Kazakh bards could be divided into two main categories: the jıraws (jiraus, jyraus), who passed on the works of others, usually not creating and adding their own original work; and the [[aqyn]]s (akyns), who improvised or created their own poems, stories or songs.<ref name="Feldman" /> There were several types of works, such as [[didactic]] ''termes'', [[elegiac]] ''tolgaws'', and [[epic (genre)|epic]] ''jırs''.<ref name="Feldman" /> Although the origins of such tales are often unknown, most of them were associated with bards of the recent or more distant past, who supposedly created them or passed them on, by the time most Kazakh poetry and prose was first written down in the second half of the 19th century.<ref name="Feldman" /> There are clear stylistic differences between works first created in the 19th century, and works dating from earlier periods but not documented before the 19th century, such as those attributed to such 16th- and 17th-century bards as Er Shoban and Dosmombet Jıraw (also known as Dospambet Jyrau; he appeared to have been literate, and reportedly visited [[Constantinople]]), and even to such 15th-century bards as Shalkiz and Asan Qayghı.<ref name="Feldman" />

Other notable bards include Kaztugan Jyrau, Jiembet Jyrau, Axtamberdy Jyrau, and Buxar Jyrau Kalkamanuly, who was an advisor to [[Ablai Khan]], and whose works have been preserved by Mäšhür Jüsip Köpeev.<ref name="Nurmanova" /> ''Er Targhın'' and ''[[Alpamysh|Alpamıs]]'' are two of the most famous examples of Kazakh literature to be recorded in the 19th century.<ref name="Feldman" /> The ''[[Book of Dede Korkut]]'' and Oguz Name (a story of an ancient Turkic king [[Oghuz Khan]]) are the most well-known Turkic heroic legends. Initially created around the 9th century CE, they were passed on through generations in oral form. The legendary tales were recorded by Turkish authors in 14–16th centuries C.E.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Meeker|first=Michael E.|date=August 1992|title=The Dede Korkut Ethic|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|volume=24|issue=3|pages=395–417|doi=10.1017/S0020743800021954|s2cid=162799102 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=GÖMEC|first=Saadettin|date=2009|title=The Identity of Oguz Kagan, the Oguz in the History and the Epics of Oguz Kagan|journal=Turkish Studies|volume=4|issue=8|pages=133–145}}</ref>

The preeminent role in the development of modern literary Kazakh belongs to [[Abai Qunanbaiuly]] ({{langx|kk|Абай Құнанбайұлы}}, sometimes Russified to Abay Kunanbayev, Абай Кунанбаев) (1845–1904), whose writings did much to preserve Kazakh folk culture. Abai's major work is ''The Book of Words'' ({{langx|kk|қара сөздері, Qara sözderi}}), a philosophical treatise and collection of poems where he criticises Russian colonial policies and encourages other Kazakhs to embrace education and literacy. The literary magazines ''[[Ay Qap]]'' (published between 1911 and 1915 in Arabic script) and ''Qazaq'' (published between 1913 and 1918) played an important role in the development of the intellectual and political life among early 20th-century Kazakhs.<ref>{{Cite book|url={{GBurl|id=y3Sk7GeUe5oC|p=79}}|title=Culture and Customs of the Central Asian Republics|first=Rafis|last=Abazov|date=11 October 2007|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=9780313056185|via=Google Books}}</ref>