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    A Collection of Uzbek Short Stories
    A Collection of Uzbek Short Stories
    A Collection of Uzbek Short Stories
    Ebook90 pages1 hour

    A Collection of Uzbek Short Stories

    By Mahmuda Saydumarova

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    About this ebook

    This book contains ten Uzbek short stories which have been translated into English. Each story is unique in its own way in that it portrays the cultural life of the Uzbek nation as well as the social and political events of Uzbekistan. These stories are translated to provide the English reader with information about Uzbekistan and its society. Some of the included stories were written by such famous writers as Abdulla Qahhar, Ghafur Ghulom, Sayed Ahmad, and Khayriddin Sultonov.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateDec 26, 2012
    ISBN9781477297230
    A Collection of Uzbek Short Stories
    Author

    Mahmuda Saydumarova

    Mahmuda Saydumarova was born in Margilan, Uzbekistan in 1990. In 1996, she began first grade at the 243rd school in Tashkent but when her father received a job offer from King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, she traveled abroad with her family. In Saudi Arabia, she attended Manarat Ar-Riyadh and Al-Meena International Schools. After finishing high school, she was accepted to King Saud University where she received her BA in English Language and Literature and graduated with first class honors. Saydumarova started her career as an English teacher at King Faisal School in Riyadh. In 2011, she was accepted to the Second Language Studies Department at Indiana University in Bloomington. She successfully completed her studies and received her MA degree in TESOL and Applied Linguistics in 2012. A Collection of Uzbek Short Stories is Mahmuda Saydumarova’s first publication of literary translation. These stories, which illustrate the Uzbek culture as well as its history and social life, have been translated to provide American readers and others who enjoy reading in English with an introduction to the Uzbek people and its culture.

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      Book preview

      A Collection of Uzbek Short Stories - Mahmuda Saydumarova

      © 2013 by Mahmuda Saydumarova. All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

      Published by AuthorHouse 12/20/2012

      ISBN: 978-1-4772-9722-3 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4772-9721-6 (hc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4772-9723-0 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2012923199

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Contents

      Preface

      How Sweet You are, You Bitter Life!

      My Thief Boy

      The Literature Teacher

      The Brides’ Revolution

      The Bride from the City

      The Grandfather and his Grandson

      The Rainbow

      Ramazon

      The Sensitive Case

      How I was a Mister for a Month!

      Biographical Information

      Preface

      Uzbekistan, located in Central Asia, is a relatively young country that appeared on the map after the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. In the present day, its population consists of approximately 30 million people. The Uzbek people live in all the neighboring countries of Uzbekistan as well. Uzbek literature has a history which goes back more than a thousand years.

      Having translated this collection of ten short stories from Modern Uzbek Literature to English to bring into the American reader’s attention, I would like to briefly mention a few words about the genre of short story in Uzbek literature.

      The literature of this era is an embodiment of the best samples chosen from a thousand-year history literature. It is also a realistic literature which reveals the social and political events that take place in real life. For this collection, I have tried my best to include various stories that pertain to the Uzbek nation’s cultural life of different periods.

      In Khayriddin Sultonov’s How Sweet You Are, You Bitter Life!, an elderly woman, Qurbonjon dodkhoh, who is the head of the opposition movement fighting against the invaders, is able to bid farewell to her son, who is held captive by the neighboring Russian general invader. This is described in moving detail. She comes to her son just before he is about to be hanged by Kaufman’s orders and states, Farewell, my son. Your father and grandfather have also martyred at the hands of their enemies; we have inherited martyrdom. I am satisfied with what I have fed you.

      The story, My Thief Boy, narrates the devastating events that took place in the year 1917 with disturbing realism. Late in the evening, an interesting conversation starts between a thief, lying on top of the roof and an old woman, lying next to her sleeping grandchildren. The thief is not actually a thief but has become one because of life’s difficulties trying to earn a living to support his family. On the other hand, the old woman is a helpless grandmother who spends the nights worrying about the fate of her orphan grandchildren. Both of them have their own pains and sorrows. As a result, they engage in a heartfelt conversation, listening to each other’s woes. Their conversation is so natural and so realistic that both characters become a permanent memory in the reader’s mind.

      Abdulla Qahhor, who is also referred to as the Uzbek literature’s Chekhov, has made a great contribution to the development of the Uzbek short story. There is a kind of sarcasm waiting to be revealed in Qahhor’s satirical stories of this era. Boqijon Boqayev in The Literature Teacher is one example of a satirical character who has been confronted by this kind of sarcasm. Even though he is ostensibly a literature teacher, he is unable to answer his sister-in-law’s simple questions and changes the subject every chance he gets. By so doing, he disgraces himself and reveals that he is in fact a simpleton.

      Another story I have chosen for this collection is Said Ahmad’s The Bride’s Revolution. This story is considered to be one of the representative stories portraying Uzbek customs and traditions as well as the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship in Uzbek society. A play, which has been created on the basis of this story, has been shown in theaters for several years. Another story related to this topic is a young writer, Nargiza Ghulomova’s The Bride from the City, which was written during Uzbekistan’s period of independence.

      Oydin Hojiyeva’s Ramazon and Normurod Norqobulov’s The Rainbow are stories related to children’s literature. As for Toghay Murod’s The Grandfather and his Grandson, it describes the relationship between the older generation and young children; it also describes how the surrounding environment is viewed from two different viewpoints.

      Farhod Musajonov’s The Sensitive Case is a story written in the genre of comedy. Similarly, in How I was a ‘Mister’ for a Month! Sa’dulla Siyoyev expresses his pride of the Uzbek nation by illustrating Uzbek customs and traditions and some facts related to the Uzbek history through his interaction with an American tourist and his letters to him.

      I hope that these short stories will give an idea, albeit somewhat brief, of Uzbekistan and the Uzbek society to the American reader.

      How Sweet You are, You Bitter Life!

      by Khayriddin Sultonov

      From 1865 to 1880, Qurbonjon dodkhoh, the Queen of Oloy, gathered the nation around her, and with a single sword in her hand, fought against General Fon Kaufman. She was so courageous that when her son, Qamchibek, was held as a captive by Kaufman and was about to be hanged by his orders, she came to the gallows and told her son, Farewell, my son. Your father and grandfather have also martyred at the hands of their enemies; we have inherited martyrdom. I am satisfied with what I have fed you. Saying this, she turned around, climbed her horse, and without watching her son die in torture and pain, left.

      Ghafur Ghulom

      * * *

      Eighteen seventy-six, the twenty-sixth of February. Marghilan.

      This chilly, gloomy winter day that resembled any other wintry day was almost over. As usual, the voices of the callers to prayer woke up the city at the crack of dawn. And as usual, after hurriedly performing ablution¹ while shivering in the cold, the Muslims headed to the mosque. As they walked on the pavement, the sound of their boots walking on the freshly-fallen snow could be heard. Also, as usual, there was a thin, bluish fog hanging on top of the high and low roofs. Today also, even the sun that looked like a worn-out coin shone its rays for just a little while and, as if feeling cold, hid itself under thick, gray clouds. And as usual, the people of the city scattered in the empty streets, with the hope

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