Mechiev, Kyazim Bekkievich

Born in the family of a craftsman. He was lame from birth, but, like other brothers, he helped his father in the forge. The poet’s father, being himself uneducated, longed for his son’s studies and sizmal gave him to study at Effendi in Bezengi , and after 3 years sent to Leskensky madrasah. In a short time, Kyazim masters Arabic literacy and begins to study languages ​​- Turkish and Persian . Then his first verses, written in Arabic letters , are born.

Upon his return, Mechiev met in Bezengi with one of the enlightened people of that time, known among the people of Chepelleu-effendi, who carried away the young man with secular literature. Acquaintance with the great masters of the East , their work had a beneficial effect on the future classic of Balkar poetry, became an invaluable school of creative search, the driving force of the poet’s thoughts and feelings. Later, works adapted by him to the plot of oriental dastans , and primarily poems, will become a masterpiece of the national literature of Balkaria .

Returning to his native village, Kyazim worked in a forge and, being a deeply religious person, continued to draw knowledge, studying religious literature and works of oriental poets.

Having received a spiritual education in the best madrassas of the North Caucasus , Mechiev makes his first pilgrimage to Mecca (it is known that the poet visited the countries of the Middle East twice: in 1903, 1910).

March 8, 1944 was deported with all the people to Central Asia. He died on March 15, 1945 in the Taldy-Kurgan region of Kazakhstan . In 1999, the remains of Kyazim Mechiev were transported and put to their native land in the city of Nalchik ^[2] .

Son - Mohammed (1895, p. Shiki - 1919) - a revolutionary, died as part of a partisan detachment, fighting with the White Guards in the territory of Chechen-Ingushetia.

Creativity Mechiev does not fit into the framework of an unambiguous assessment. Researchers (D. Mammeev, A. Teppeev ) conditionally note three stages of the poet’s creative evolution:

1. Muslim universities of Kyazim and a pilgrimage to Mecca . The beginning of poetic creativity. Poems on religious topics. Lyrics: love and social motives (presumably 1890-1900).
2. Wandering around the East. Studying at Al Azhar University ( Cairo ). The formation of a realistic worldview. Creation of a new poetic tradition. Philosophical lyrics and poems (1900-1917).
3. October Socialist Revolution and Civil War . Doubts and anxieties, the search for truth, ideological insight and civil feat. The discovery of a new world and a new person. Patriotic lyrics (1917-1944).

Taking into account the new editions, the 4th stage, the 30-40s, can also be designated. (subject of repression and eviction ).

Early Creation

The first poems of Mechiev ("Iman Islam", "Prophets") reflect the poet’s ideological searches in the world of religious philosophy and ethics , thoughts about the appointment of man on earth. The search for truth, true priorities continues throughout the life of the poet, gaining socio-psychological significance in his works.

One of the first Mechiev addresses the topic of protecting the rights of women. Demonstrating the inadmissibility of the invasion of freedom of choice, the harmony of relationships between lovers, the poet in the lyric poem "Tahir and Zuhra" (1891) does not follow either Molla Nepes or the authors of other variations on the traditional plot, but creates a completely original original work. The concept of love, originally developed in love-romantic dastans and the work of nameless folk poets, Mechiev becomes an active form of expression of humanistic aspirations for the perfection of relationships, a kind of protest against the humiliation of the dignity of the individual . This problem is further resolved in the poems Tarygyuu (The Complaint, 1898), Kyzny Tarygyuu (The Girl's Complaints, 1903), and the poem Buzdzhigit (1910).

The poet turned to love lyrics long before his formation as a brilliant creator and philosopher . Poetic comparisons of sublime feelings with a “pure spring”, “rain at the height of summer” at that time are full of delight and genuine sincerity. Correlation of a person’s worldview, his inner state with objects and natural phenomena is one of the artistic techniques used in Mechiev’s early work. Mountain, stone, spring for the poet are not abstract conventions: these are the characters themselves, wholesome, generalized, personifying stamina and will. Oral creativity was for the poet that well of folk wisdom, from where he drew the life-giving power of images and plots. At the same time, the poet was clearly aware that the traditional worldview was not chaos, but was looking for symbols of a single beginning. In this regard, he was a tireless analyst, philosopher, affirming the organic unity of man and nature. Piety helped him overcome difficulties on the path to harmony and pacification of conscience. “Mankind has one faith, one heaven and one house,” the poet says, “we are brothers in faith” (“Din karnashlabiz biz”). To strengthen the acceptance of the key idea, he appeals to the scripture and holds the thesis of the obligatory execution of the pillars of the Koran , so that on the day of the end of the world not to burn in hell (“Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim” - In the Name of Allah the Merciful and the Merciful).

The formation of a realistic worldview

The religious and educational principle in Mechiev’s poetry reveals a deep comprehension of the human soul in the context of the problems of time. The moral of his poems expresses the ideals of the people: honesty, determination, rejection of lies and hypocrisy, industriousness and incorruptibility: “Ishlegenny kelu bazko / Ishlemegen bolur zhazyk” - “The hardworking soul is light, / He who does not work is poor.”

In many works, the poet rises to the heights of a philosophical understanding of reality. Images of the house, a keen perception of smells of the native land - the main landmarks of this thematic focus. The freezing sparrow (the poem “Kyar kyun arbazybzda konngan chypchykgya” - “ Sparrow ”) cuts a wound to him, reminding of the oppressed people; the donkey, from insults and pain to the weakened one, sympathizes with his heart: “Jauur eshekge” (“Donkey with a wounded soul”). The poet understands that the world is a difficult path where grief and sorrow take place: like the dark sea, he lures everyone who comes into contact with it into his snares.

Anxiety for the present and future of the people leads the poet to a truly realistic depiction of the circumstances of the life of the highlanders, the poor estate, which receives artistic expression in the poem "Zharaly Zhugutur" (Wounded tour, 1907 ). The image of the tour pursued by the bloodthirsty wolf is a symbol of the oppressed masses. The poet prays for a good hunter who, like poor Hashim, who pitied the tour, would free his people from shackles. Drawing a picture of the violent suppression of one by another, cruelty and lawlessness against the defenseless, Mechiev comes to the realization of the inevitability of social change. His weapon is the word (“Without knowing any other way, I am composing songs”). In essence and genre originality, the poem “Wounded Tour” marks a transition to a new aesthetic quality - a large-scale artistic generalized recreation of the life of a people through the subjective worldview of the lyrical hero. Natural wisdom , associativity of thinking allowed the poet to show all the dramatic nature of the position of the disadvantaged peasantry, its internal psychological depression. But at the same time, they laid bare the fear and confusion of the author before the element of hopelessness, the inviolability of social foundations. The poet suffers, and this leaves an imprint on his entire work:

Pessimism reaches a hypertrophied scope when thoughts of death come to him: “Atasyns of Zhashyn are condemned” (“Testament to the son”).

In 1910, Mechiev took an important and crucial step in his life: at the age of 50, he performed, already repeatedly, the hajj . This time, wise by worldly experience, tempered in the flames of urgent troubles, the poet gazes steadily into the eastern routine and bitterly observes that the world, which had previously seemed to him a light in the universal "kingdom" of lies and hypocrisy, is actually no different from his world own homeland and the fate of his fellow tribesmen:

Patriotic Lyrics

The poet’s word is growing stronger, and with it his philosophical thought is honed. He no longer amuses himself with the hope of the absolute triumph of good over evil, realizing that only an external force is able to redraw the entire socio-legal system of relations, reject the existing “wolf laws”, establish democratic principles. Perhaps that is why he so decisively takes the path of glorifying the ideas of socialism during the years of Soviet power (“Sauut aligyz” - “Take Weapon”, 1919). The slogan, schematism, characteristic of many poets of the beginning of the XX century, did not pass the creativity of Mechiev. The poems of this era are riddled with optimism and faith in a brighter future. They are a component of the poetry collection Meni Sezum (My word), published in 1939. In November of the same year, Mechiev was awarded the honorary title "Honored Art Worker of the KBASSR ."

In general, Mechiev’s work is polyphonic.

Proclaiming humanism as the highest ideal , the poet through the lips of the old architect from the poem "Buzigit" affirms the right to free coexistence of all sectors of society.

Creativity in Deportation

In 1944, while in exile in the Taldy-Kurgan region, Mechiev turned to the last topic of his work - the topic of deportation , devoting poems to her: “Taukel eteyik biz bugyun” (Let's hope today), “Condemn” (Testament), “Zharly halkim ”(My poor people) and others. The same enlightening ideas are seen in the poetry of Mechiev’s eviction that accompanied the poet even at the initial stage of his creative career. Most of them are based on calls for unity and patience: do not grumble at the things that have been let go of life, trust in the will of God . “In unity is power ... In unity is life”, the sage and thinker insists, not ceasing. To support the spirit of the people, to strengthen faith in the triumph of justice, Mechiev considered his holy duty, life credo. And he carried this mission with honor to the end.

In 1962, the first poetry poetry collection in Russian was published in Moscow . According to experts, the translations reproduce the original “with such precision that allows you to almost fully feel the big and lively heart of Kyazim.” In 1989, a two-volume collected works of Mechiev (compiled by A. Teppeev ) was published, which included the poet’s selected works. In 1996, through the efforts of the Balkarian poet A. Begiev, the so-called anti-Soviet and religious poems of Mechiev were published.

“Small nations give the world outstanding talent,” said M. Gorky . A convincing confirmation of the words of the Russian writer is Mechiev’s creativity, bright in its originality. Wherever the poet threw a wave of life, wherever he was, his heart was inseparably with Balkaria , with its troubles and aspirations, joys and hopes. Through the circles of wanderings, he again and again returned to his native peaks, inhaling the scent of kizyatny smoke of his aul. And even when, by the will of fate, he was excommunicated from his homeland, he did not stop thinking about it and asking the Almighty to return him to his home:

The poet’s prayers were heard: half a century later, his remains were transported from Central Asia and betrayed to their native land ^[2] .

• Mammeev D. Kyazim Mechiev. Nalchik, 1966;
• He is. Kyazim Mechiev // Malkar Literary History of the Descriptor Sons // OIBL. Nalchik, 1978.P. 148-173;
• Teppeev A. Kyazim Mechiev. On the 120th birthday of the founder of Balkar literature. Nalchik, 1979;
• Appaev X. Philosophical and aesthetic views of Kyazim Mechiev / Development of traditions in Kabardian and Balkarian literature. Nalchik, 1980. S. 51-67;
• Teppeev A. Kyazim Mechiev // OIBL. Nalchik, 1981.P. 56-86;
• Babaev I. Poetge sintash (Monument to the poet) / To the 125th anniversary of Kyazim Mechiev // MT. 1984. No. 4. P. 24;
• Gurtuev S. Poetney Curtie Sesleri / (True words of the poet). To the 125th anniversary of Kyazim Mechiev // MT. 1984. No. 4. P. 23;
• Kupiev K, Talent and wisdom. To the 125th anniversary of Kyazim Mechiev // SM. 1984. Dec 20;
• Keshokov A. Master of the word. To the 125th anniversary of Kyazim Mechiev // SM. 1984.20 dec .;
• Rakhaev I. Köchkünchülukde yolgen (Died in exile) // MT. 1994. No. 2. S. 186—193;
• Gurtueva M. Khalk Zharyklandyryuchu - Mechilany Kyazim (People's enlightener - Kyazim Mechiev) // MT. 1994. No. Z. S. 170-179;
• Begiev A. Mechilany Kyazimni chyarmarmylygyny yusyunden (On the work of Kyazim Mechiev) // MT. 1996. No. 4. P. 4-18;
• Kuchmezova R. And my fire burned. An essay on the word Kyazima. Nalchik, 1996;
• Dobrynin M. Anniversary of the founder of Balkarian literature // KBP. 1997 April 19;
• Living word of Kyazim (The original of the book "Iman-Islam" by Kyazim Mechiev, published in 1909 in Buinaksk, was found).

• Mechiev, Kazim Bekkievich
• Poems by Kyazim Mechiev in Russian translation
• Poem "Tahir and Zuhra"
• Poem "Wounded Tour"
• Kyazim Mechiev
• Kyazim Mechiev - Patriarch of Balkar poetry, philosopher and humanist
• I am part of the living. Literary Newspaper, No. 46 (6250), 11/18/2009.
• Kyazim Mechiev in the international poetic almanac "45th parallel."