Forms of the Comic in Yusup Gereev’s Prose

Abstract

Yusup Gereev is one of the prominent representatives of Kumyk and all-Dagestan prose of the 1920–1930s. During his life and in the subsequent Soviet period, his work was mainly described as an example of literature with anti-clerical content. But now it is obvious that his legacy is much wider than mere narrow social judgments.
Yu. Gereev was a writer of distinctive talent, a master of comic and ironic reflection of reality. This fact is confirmed by his books of short stories as follows: ‘Saparyoldash’ of Molla Nasraddin (Molla Nasrutdinne ‘Saparyoldashy’, Makhachkala, 1928), ‘Saparyoldash’ and ‘Duamajmua’ of Molla Nasraddin (Molla Nasrutdinne ‘Saparyoldashy’ va ‘Duamajmuasi’, Makhachkala, 1929), in which the narrator used the image of the comic character of Molla Nasraddin.
In this regard, we can note the writer’s masterful use of comic elements as related to the events and individuals, including the excellent stylization of folk speech of the character. The characteristic features of his poetics manifest themselves in the substitution of the essence of the phenomena by their external signs, the mixing of fiction and reality, a play on words, hyperbole, grotesque, etc. Largely a humorous tinge, a comic tone arise from the inclusion colloquial words and expressions, as well as obsolete forms and other such expressions which is explained by the very image of the narrator – a representative of folk culture.
The objects of derision are ordinary rural inhabitants and commoners. In Molla Nasraddin’s eyes, those are naive and simple-minded; trusting the advices and recommendations of popular books they try to solve their everyday problems but actually and always are left with nothing, fail.
Thus, the characteristic feature of Yusup Gereev’s poetics is a comic depiction of reality which ranges from caustic sarcasm to an easy, good-natured smile.