My Dagestan (Мой Дагестан) (Avar: Дир Дагъистан) by Rasul Gamzatov.
The book was translated in English in 1970 by Julius Katzer and Dorian Rottenberg.
⭐⭐⭐⭐✰ Worth Reading
Let me speak of Dagestan—a rugged land along North Caucasus of Eastern Europe and the western shore of the Caspian Sea. The word Dagestan is of Turkish and Persian origin, directly translating to "land of the mountains". The land has for centuries been a mosaic of peoples and languages: Avars, Dargins, Lezgins, Laks, Kumyks, and many others. The territory was annexed into the Russian Empire after protracted wars in the early nineteenth century. By 1921, with the Red Army’s advance, the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic came into being.
Soviet state enforced sweeping modernization in Dagestan, bringing it into line with Marxist-Leninist ideology while managing the religious sentiments. Arabic was replaced first by Latin, later by Cyrillic; schools sprang up, teaching not scripture but secular education. The writers urged to craft a modern national literature that must reflect Soviet ideals like progress, collective ownership, brotherhood and unity. A strange paradox took root—Islam receded under official suspicion, but ethnic and linguistic self-awareness unexpectedly thrived.
Out of this creative ferment emerged Rasul Gamzatov (1923–2003), the poet whom Dagestan now claims as its voice in the Avar language. Gamzatov’s literary voice reflects a deep connection to his roots, and his writings offer profound insights into the history, traditions, and people of Dagestan. His masterpiece, My Dagestan (1967), celebrates the Caucasian folklore and expresses a deep belonging to his native land.
Gamzatov’s narrative style is generous and warm. He took care to introduce the names and stories of Dagestani people, ensuring they were remembered. Through anecdotes, jokes, and verses, he painted vivid pictures of Dagestan’s natural beauty and cultural richness. His book is a unique literary work that blends poetry and prose, oral traditions, folklore and criticism, and gossip while functioning as both a cultural history of Dagestani poetry and a personal philosophical testament.
Today, West is struggling to narrow down the essential characteristics of Muslim identity – is it primarily culture, religion, ethnicity? But cultures are heterogeneous and contradictory, highly porous, and deeply intertwined. A key aspect of the book is the reflection of Dagestan’s cultural hybridity—where Soviet ideals, pre-Islamic (pagan) traditions, and Islamic values intersect and merge, creating a unique and layered cultural identity. In this book, Gamzatov demonstrated remarkable knowledge not only of Dagestani literature, but also of Soviet & North Caucasian literary traditions and personalities.
For readers seeking a poetic journey through history, poetry, and human connection of a distant land, this book is an unforgettable experience. For the readers seeking a profound understanding of culture of Soviet era Dagestan, this book is an invaluable resource. Rasul Gamzatov doesn’t just tell the story of Dagestan — he makes the readers feel like a part of it.
*The poem, Zhuravli (english translation) by Rasul Gamzatov has become a well-known Soviet song.