On July 9th 2016, Auezkhan Kodar, a well-known Kazakh writer, poet, philosopher, culture critic, translator, and dramatist, breathed his last quietly on his bed. Sadness beyond expression has been shared among his family, friends, and acquaintances who deeply appreciated his shining personality and brilliant talents. In response to the unfortunate news, poet Akbari Elgezek extended his condolences on his Facebook status:
“The mournful news about Mr. Kodar’s decease has been heard. It was right after the night when he wrote an article about the budding writers, giving an impulse to the young and talented. We all have lost him today… Does every one of us know his value? It still poses a question… He was one of the greatest representatives for the Kazakh intellects. His soul shall find peace in paradise.”
Auezkhan Kodar is also regarded as a representative for the fresh wave of the Kazakh literature departing from the Soviet legacy. He was a member of the Union of Kazak Writers, in which he worked as an editor in the section of the Artistic and Literary Translations.
Since 1994, he headed the Alliance of Depending Cultural and Historical Heritage — Altyn Gasyr. From 1999 to 2001, he worked as a board member of the Soros Kazakhstan Foundation, and from 2002, he was a counselor for the general director of the Russian-Kazakhstan Foundation Eurasian Research Institute. He held the position of director of the Institute of Cultural Policy and the Arts in 2006.
Recognizing his contributes to the Kazakh culture, the government honored him with Parasat, a medal of nobility awarded to individuals who made remarkable achievements in science, culture, literature, and social activities in Kazakhstan.
Some readers of ours ask how Auezkhan Kodar developed his literary talents both in Kazakh and Russian. To answer the question, a story of his childhood can be shared, especially about his ‘disability’, which he suffered since he was a child.
“I was four when I suddenly fell ill. I mean, one day, my parents brought me along when they paid a visit to someone. Soon after we came back home, I felt sick: I couldn’t move my legs! It meant something terrible had just taken place.”
“A nurse was called in, and she gave me an injection. But, it only made my condition worse: my body got flamed by a fever. My superstitious parents came to the conclusion that I was somehow jinxed. Instead of rushing toward a hospital with their sick kid in their arms, they went to healers and shamans. It turned out much later that I was suffering from polio,” he mentioned in an interview with magazine INFO-TSEK issued in July 2013.
At the age of six, he was sent to the Crimean Peninsula and hospitalized for the better treatment of polio. Although he couldn’t fully recover from his illness, there he was introduced to the world of the Russian language. The disease, which took the mobility of his legs, ironically gave him the wings with which he could soar in the Russian literature. Even though he was challenged by physical difficulties his whole life, it was never an obstacle as he actively nurtured his talents in the various fields of literature and arts.
As bilingual in Kazakh and Russian, he put a tremendous effort to lay bridges between Kazakh and Russian literatures. By his translation, the poems of great poets like Abay Kunanbayev and Zhumatay Zhakypbayev could come into life in the Russian language. In his book “Anthology of the Kazakh Poetry Translated by Auezkhan Kodar (2006)”, many of great poems written by significant Kazakh poets from 15th to 21st centuries were reborn in the Russian language. He also translated the works of Magzhan Zhumabayev and Mahambet Utemisov into Russian, and published them in his book “the Meeting under the Sky: Mahambet Magzhan and Auezkhan Kodar (2011)”.
From Russian into Kazakh, he translated Yevgeny Zamyatin’s drama script “Attila”. In his book “the Anthology of Western Philosophy”, he translated the Russian editions of foreign philosophers’ writings, including Martin Heidegger, Gilles Deleuze, and Xose Ortega Gasset, into the Kazakh language.
His own thoughts and ideas took form in both languages as well. He regularly uploaded his articles on the web-site named Azattyk in Kazakh and Russian languages. He wrote two books in Kazakh: “the Satisfactory Khanate (1994)” and “the Return (2006)”. His other books written in Russian are following: “the Winged pattern (1990)”, “Abai Ibrahim Kunanbayev (1996)”, “the Circles of Oblivion (1998)”, “the Essays on the Kazakh Literature History (1999)”, “the Steppe Knowledge: on Cultural Essays (2002)”, “the Flowers of the Ruins (2004)”, and “The Call of Beings (2006)”.
Although his physical presence is not with us anymore, readers around the world can knock on the doors of his books and meet his spirit as some of his books were translated into various languages including English, Korean, and Ukrainian. For instance, the English editions of his book “the Flowers of the Ruins” and “the Threshold of No Return” were published in 2004 and 2016. The collection of his poems — “the Miss Nil” and his monologue about the Kazakh philosophy — “the Steppe Knowledge” were translated into English by Igor Poluyahtov. Rest in peace, dear Auezkhan Kodar. Your name will be remembered and reminded whenever we come across your footprints on the endless path of the Kazakh literature.