It is a tragedy if someone is forced to leave his country and the situation turns out to be more than a tragedy when the views or writings of the respective person is treated as ‘unacceptable’ by the Authorities. Hamid Ismailov, Uzbek-Russian writer and poet can be introduced as such a victim of the system, who had to flee his country under constant threats of the regime which vehemently rejects and bans the pen of its countryman. Being a poet, a novelist as well as a journalist Hamid now lives in UK breaking barriers and addressing the world with his words.
Hamid Ismailov, born on May 5 1954 at Tokmok, Kirgizstan describes himself as a Nomadic in Central Asia and the modern world. Once during an interview, he illuminated his background with vivid pictures of the life of Central Asia in the fifties. ‘From the very beginning my life was nomadic. I was conceived in the Fergana valley but my mum decided to visit her relatives in Kyrgyzstan. She gave birth to me there. We, moved back and forth, and finally back to Fergana valley. My mother died when I was twelve years old so I moved to my Granny’s house. All my life I have been travelling. All my life I have been nomadic. Funny enough London has been the place I have lived the longest.’
Hamid Ismailov, who opened his eyes to the world during the Soviet era, witnessed the collapse of the giant of socialism and the emergence of the new independent states in Central Asia. The rapid changes took place all over the Soviet Union and the other republics enriched the horizons of Hamid while Uzbekistan, where different ethnicities mixed, gave new ideas to this man of letters, plots for his future works. After graduating from the Bagrationov Military Institute and later from Tashkent University, Hamid started his career as a journalist and a writer. In the meantime, he made his contribution to the field of literature of Uzbekistan by way of translating Russian and Western classics into Uzbek and Uzbek and Persian classics into Russian. During the Soviet Era he represented the Uzbek Union of Writers and worked to promote Uzbek literature. Mikael Gorbochev’s Perestroika played an important role in his life and he, along with other colleagues, tried to find avenues for the establishment of a foundation to support democracy in Central Asia. However, their efforts were treated by the Uzbek Authorities as subversive activities and the members of the foundations arrested and subjected to torture.
Hamid first published several books in Uzbek, his native language and among them were books of poetry: Garden (1987), Desert (1988) Post Faustum (1990). However, his first novel written in Uzbek language (Railway) made the turn for him to select Russian as the language for future works. When he showed his novel to the Uzbek writer, Sayid Ahmad, who was a victim of Stalin’s suppression and spent his terms in prison camps, Saiyd advised him to stop writing in Uzbek with the warning that it would lead him to be a subject of censorship as Hamid laughs at everything, by his books.
Set mainly in Uzbekistan between 1900 and 1980, this compelling novel introduces to us the inhabitants of the small town of Gilas on the ancient Silk Route. Among those whose stories we hear are Mefody-Jurisprudence, the town’s alcoholic intellectual; Father Ioann, a Russian priest; Kara-Musayev the Younger, the chief of police; and Umarali-Moneybags, the old moneylender. Their colourful lives offer a unique and comic picture of a little-known land populated by outgoing Mullahs, incoming Bolsheviks, and a plethora of Uzbeks, Russians, Persians, Jews, Koreans, Tatars, and Gypsies. At the heart of both, the town and the novel stands the railway station - a source of income and influence, and a connection to the greater world beyond the town. Rich and picaresque, The Railway is highly sophisticated, yet contains a naive delight in its storytelling, chronicling the dramatic changes felt throughout Central Asia in the early 20th century. The Railway is the first work of Hamid, translated into English by prominent translator Robert Chandler.
As predicted by Sayid, Hamid was banned by the authorities and since then he had to live under a constant threat of imminent arrest. He is severely rejected by the authorities, especially, on the accusation that he writes in Russian and for Russia. When his house in Uzbekistan was attacked Hamid decided to leave the country seeing the situation become too dangerous. After hiding in Moscow for some time he left for France with his wife and then on appointment as a journalist of BBC he selected UK as his residence. His works are still banned in Uzbek and the mere mentioning of his name is considered as a crime by the authorities.
Since then he has written several novels in Russian and almost all have been translated into other languages, including, English, French, Turkish, German etc. He published ‘A poet and Bin Laden’ in 2012, The Underground in 2013, Dead Lake in 2014 and his new novel, Feast of the Devil, which has been written on the life of the writer Abdulla Qodiriy, who was arrested by Stalin’s men and thrown into a prison in Tashkent in 1938 will be launched in November. The Underground, widely acclaimed by critics as well as readers reveals the life of a boy in Moscow. The Underground depicts the brutal separation between the hopes and realities of social integration on the threshold of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the irony of Hamid is found all over the book. A Poet and Bin Laden, set in Central Asia at the turn of the 21st century presents a first-hand account of the militants and Taliban’s internal life.
Dead Lake, which is called by critics as a nuclear folktale, presents the life of two families living in a remote railway station in the middle of the Steppes where the nuclear testing sites of Soviet Union were located. The story is told through the eye of a boy, Yershan, who is a victim of the power play among powerful states. It tells us the fate of men who become victims of the world which depends not on humanity but on weapons. As Yershan reveals his tale in a train that runs through the vast Steppes, Hamid brilliantly paints a love story and a remarkable period of the history, by brush strokes.
This representative of Russian-Uzbek literature arrived here on September 2 to mark the launch of the Sinhala translation of Dead Lake under the Sinhala title, ‘Miyedunu Wila’ by Subhavi Publishers. He expects to meet readers at the Subhavi book stall on September 23 from 9.a.m to 12 noon, when the Colombo International Book fair is held at the BMICH.
A ceremony will also be held on September 25 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Russian Cultural Center Auditorium, Colombo 7 with the participation of The Director of the Russian Cultural Center and President of Russian Literary Circle, Dr. W. A. Abeysingha. It is open to all interested parties.
- Chulananda Samaranayake