The Death and Rebirth of Qozı Körpeş – Bayan Sulu: Socialist Realism and Genre Transposition in the Social History of a Kazakh Oral Epic

Abstract

This thesis examines Ğabït Müsirepov’s 1940 theatrical adaptation of the Kazakh epic Qozı Körpeş – Bayan Sulu as a case study of how literary forms change under new historical and ideological conditions. It attempts to approach Müsirepov’s play not as an isolated adaptation, but as the product of a broader intellectual process in which the epic on which it was based first had to be reclassified, historicized, and made legible within Stalinist cultural frameworks. Drawing on Galin Tihanov’s concept of “regimes of relevance,” it shows how the epic was repositioned as both a national cultural treasure and a proto-Socialist narrative of social oppression. The thesis combines an analysis of 19th- and early 20th-century variants of the epic, specifically those transcribed by Şoqan Wälïxanov and Mäşhür-Jüsip Köpeyulı, with a close reading of Müsirepov’s play to demonstrate how inherited narrative was reshaped into tragedy. Using theoretical frameworks from Mikhail Bakhtin and Caryl Emerson, I argue that the adaptation functions as a dialogic transposition, more specifically as a revoicing of the epic that compresses its narrative scope, omits restorative motifs, and intensifies conflict in accordance with the internal logic of tragedy. I also examine the play’s reception through archival letters from the public and contemporary commentary from critics and drama practitioners, and analyze how audiences engaged with the play’s tragic form. Ultimately, I argue that Müsirepov’s adaptation is a hybrid work that mediates between Kazakh oral tradition and Soviet cultural politics and preserves the epic’s stable skeleton and recognizability even as it reshapes it. By tracing how Qozı Körpeş – Bayan Sulu moved from a pluriform oral tradition into a Stalinist-stage tragedy, this case study contributes to a deeper understanding of how Central Asian literary traditions interacted with Soviet cultural politics.