Problems facing Mari literature
16.01.08
 On
the 10th of December Mari El observed Marij Tište keče (the Day
of Mari Letters), which is a celebrated event in the cultural life of the
Mari people. (As background: the Day of Mari Letters is based on the 10th
of December, 1775, when the first grammar of the Mari language was published
in Saint-Petersburg. The author was Putsek-Grigorovich). From the press,
one could suppose that the festival, organized by the Ministry of Culture
of the Republic of Mari El and the Union of Mari Writers in the Shketan
National Theatre, proceeded gloriously: there were speeches of praise,
appearances and a concert. Of course, that’s all well and good.
To be honest, I expected more from this day, that it would have straightforwardly
addressed the Mari language, its writers and its teachers. We’ve entered
2008, and it’s still not known whether the State Prizes were awarded
to teachers of our native language or not. But could such a thing happen
in Mari El without mention of it? There is a prize for teachers of Russian,
but for some reason one doesn’t hear of a prize for teachers of Mari.
Of course, such a state of affairs shouldn’t be linked with discrimination
against the indigenous population, its culture and its language, but with
all this… Why to this day is there not a prize for best writer in the
Mari language? In Karelia, for example, monetary prizes were awarded in
2007 by a commision of the head of the Republic, Mr Katanandov, to 8 teachers
of Karelian, Veps and Finnish.
One doesn’t wish that the development of the culture of the titular
people of the Republic lag and that in the press it be represented in a
negative light.
And of course, there especially should be a Literary Prize, which would
stimulate the work of writers and attract young people to creative work.
Mari literature at this time is undergoing a severe crisis. Most of all,
this is linked to the release of books. The state budget funds the publication
of less than 10 books a year. The sad state of affairs which began during
the financial crisis of 1998 continue to this day — so far there has
been no change for the best. Some authors are skillful enough to publish
books at their own expense or through funding from sponsors. The sponsors
are most frequently the Castrén Society of Finland and the Kindred Peoples
Programme of Estonia, which give financial support to authors and translators
for the publication of books. For example, the Kindred Peoples Programme
of Estonia has founded literary prizes for authors and translators in the
Finno-Ugrian languages of the Russian Federation. It was nice that the
winner of the prize for children’s literature was the Meadow Mari writer
Svetlana Grigorjeva, and the value of the prize was around 40,000 rubles.
Altogether in the course of the year around 15 books were released in Hill
Mari and Meadow Mari. The picture, frankly speaking, is not impressive.
Here’s a question: “How can one talk about Mari literature against
such a background?” There are two literary journals: Onchyko and U sem,
but they don’t manage to keep up to date with literary innovations. They
need a dynamic and a presence in the world literary community. Unfortunately,
this still isn’t visible in Mari literature. From my point of view, these
journals belong to the past, both in time and space, and their issues end
up in some collection in the archives or on the shelves of people aged
60 or older.
In September of this year a Literary Conference of Finno-Ugrian Writers
will be held in Yoshkar-Ola. Perhaps that event will leave a positive impression
on writers as well as the officials who deal with literature. And one wishes
that this would meet with respect, understanding and support from the higher
administration of the Republic. But so far, attention from the authorities
isn’t evident.
I suspect that Mr Markelov, in spite of his important governmental position,
isn’t much of a friend to literature. To substantiate this I’ll give
one example, which can prove this indirectly. In August a couple of years
ago in the city Tsikmä there was an ethnofuturist literary seminar. The
location ought to have been at the Ethnographic Museum under an open sky.
At the last moment the participants were denied the placed assigned for
the seminar. The administration of the museum informed them without ceremony
that a high-ranking personality from Yoshkar-Ola was to arrive. (It later
became clear that this VIP was Markelov himself).
Afterwards the crowd of intellectuals and ethnofuturists went into the
building of the Tsikmä City Library and had their seminar there. There
were conversations about general cultural values, about the ethnofuturist
aesthetics, about the current state of Mari literature, about the problems
of literary translation; there was a presentation of the book by the Finnish
writer Alexis Kivi Seven Brothers; we learnt how Hill Mari children read
books by Astrid Lindgren in their native language, we heard songs performed
by children from the boarding school; and, of course, we didn’t neglect
discussing the ethics of contemporary politicians in Mari El. From conversations
about recent events I understand that there is no dialogue between the
administration of the Republic and writers. And all problems of Mari literature
flow from this, as I understand it, because the administration of the Republic
thinks of literature as a fifth wheel.
P.S. After writing the preceding article, I learnt that the
State Prize for Literature in the Oblast was delivered. Its winner is the
poetess Valentina Izjiljanova. The value of the prize wasn’t announced,
but one wishes that this prize would serve not only to praise the creative
work of the poetess, but also to enable her to realize a publicity tour
in Europe.
Valery Alikov
Translated by Christopher
Culver
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