David Kugultinov’s Biiγin Maktal (‘Dance Praise’) and Its Russian Translation

Introduction.The 20th century Kalmyk poetry is characterized by the vivid use of folklore genres, such as yöräl (well-wish), kharal (curse), magtal (praise). Goals. The article aims at revealing the creative history of David Ku-gultinov’s Biiγin Maktal (1956) in different editions under the title ‘Khadris’, comparing the dance magtal to a similarly-named poem by Nimgir Mandzhiev created in 1935. Methods. The employed historical/literary, comparative/typo-logical, statistical and descriptive research methods make it possible to identi-fy genre features and poetics of the texts, distinguish between editions. Results. In terms of genre, the poem is a dance magtal, i.e. shavash, or more precisely — a magtal/shavash synthesis in the 1st edition, while in other editions it is a shavash proper serving to accompany dance and encourage the dancer. The element of magtal (praise) in the 1st edition is determined by the presence of three quatrains that glorify the returned homeland, restoration of Kalmyk au-tonomy, ancestral steppes, and the Communist Party. This is a combination of autobiographical and social principles. Conclusions. The dance motif in sev-eral editions of the original text remains basically unchanged and experiences only minor transformations. The shavash is addressed to a young man per-forming a solo male dance and articulates requests to show certain dance ele-ments, traditionally compares him to representatives of steppe fauna and flora that embody strength, flexibility, dexterity, power, lightness, and smoothness (swallow, snake, jerboa, kite, butterfly, tree), to natural phenomena (whirl-wind/wind, wave). The shavash mentions a number of dance patterns, such as kholkur, moljur, dalvalγn, and tavshur. The lyrical line is defined by figures of two participants — a young man and his beloved maiden he dances for. Dynamics, rhythm, expression are manifested in the employed metrical foot (iamb of different types), in imperative verbs and their repetitions, in com-parisons and bravo exclamations. David Kugultinov’s shavash is distinguished from its folk patterns by that the khadris exclamation serves not to finalize the stanza but begins it with specific repetitions. The Russian translation by S. Lipkin entitled ‘Khadris’ has two editions — an abridged and a full one. In general, the translator conveys peculiarities of Kalmyk dance, majesty of native lands and the CPSU, though introducing some additions and omitting some details of the author

Art · Curse · Dance · Folklore · Literature · Poetics · Poetry · Praise · Sociology · Anthropology · Discourse Analysis and Cultural Communication · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · History · Linguistics and Cultural Studies