ENU hosted a scientific seminar on new books about Abai
The L.N.Gumilyov Eurasian National University hosted a scientific seminar on books published in the series “Abai's Work and the Formation of Modern Kazakh Literature”, “Abai's Legacy and Cultural Values of the Kazakh Society".
The scientific seminar was attended by famous Abai scholars, public figures, writers and students, master’s and doctoral students.
Opening the event, Director of the Scientific Research Institute "Abai Academy" Zhandos Aubakir noted that the institute was established on December 2, 2019 on behalf of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and is designed to fulfill the tasks set out in the strategic articles of the Head of State "Abai and Kazakhstan in the XXI century", "Abai – a Spiritual Reformer", adding that the Academy has so far issued 84 scientific and educational books in special series.
"Since the scientific direction of the academy is to study and promote Abai’s heritage for the spiritual, cultural continuity and intellectual development of new Kazakhstan, our main goal is to become a leading scientific institute of Abai studies," Zhandos Aubakir said.
The authors who participated in the scientific seminar spoke in their speeches about the relevance of Abai's ideas and their consonance with modern issues.
"Abai's work is a mirror of the oral folk language, created over centuries and epochs, the life experience of the people, the treasury of the mind. As Mukhtar Auezov said, "Abai is an ocean, it will never run out," Professor Serik Negimov said.
Then the Doctor of Philology, Professor, author of 6 volumes of the series "Abai's Creativity and Formation of Modern Kazakh Literature" Zhanat Askerbekkyzy, Chairman of the Language Policy Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Candidate of Philological Sciences, author of 10 volumes of the series "Abai's Creativity and Formation of Modern Kazakh Literature" Yerbol Tleshov, a literary critic, Laureate of the International literary award "Alash", the author of 4 volumes of the series "Abai's Legacy and Cultural Values of Kazakh Society" Amangeldy Kenshilikuly spoke about their contributions to the study of Abai's work.
"The reason for my study of Abai was admission to doctoral studies. Then academician Seit Kaskabasov gave me the topic "Universal and National Values in Abai's Work." At first everything seemed easy, I thought we know everything about Abai. But, studying the topic of Abai, I became convinced that Khakim Abai is a very deep personality, a great scientist, a genius. My book tells about Abai's connection with Russian, Western, and Eastern literature and about what religion Abai professed, what path of discipleship he went through, etc., the side of the universal theme is explored. I tried to reveal the state of Kazakh society in early XX century, to cover the arrival of religion and Tatar clergy in our country more deeply, to delve as much as possible into Abai's work, to convey his great ideas to the reader," the literary critic said.
During the scientific seminar, a special video was shown about the work done by the Research Institute "Abai Academy", and students of the Faculty of Philology sang songs and read poems of Abai.