Uyghur Poems

Informationen zum Autor AZIZ ISA ELKUN is a poet, writer, and academic on the faculty of SOAS University in London. He was born in Uyghuristan (East Turkistan/Uyghur Autonomous Region, China). He graduated from Urumchi (Xinjiang) University majoring in Russian and language. He has been living in London since 2001. Klappentext "This unprecedented collection of poems spans the rich two-thousand-year cultural legacy of the Uyghur people of Central Asia. The Uyghurs have a long and glorious history of poetry, dating from the oral epics of the second century BCE through the elegant love poetry of the medieval period and up to the present moment -- and much of it has never before been translated into English. Uyghur poetry reflects the magnificent natural landscapes at the heart of the Silk Road region, with its endless steppes, soaring mountain ranges, and vast deserts, as well as its turbulent history. Turkic, Sufi, and Persian influences have shaped the poetic tradition over the centuries, and more recently the modernism of the twentieth century left its mark as well. In the face of the systematic persecution of the Uyghurs in China today, which has driven many of their poets into exile, Uyghur Poems is not only a remarkable one-volume tour of an ancient and vibrant poetic tradition but also a vital witness to a threatened culture." -- Leseprobe FOREWORD   Uyghur poetry is rich and colourful; it reflects the magnificent natural landscape of Central Asia, with its endless steppes, soaring mountain ranges and mysterious deserts where the Uyghurs have lived for the last two millennia at the heart of the famous Silk Road. The frequent political turmoil, oppression, and wars that the Uyghurs have endured over the centuries as they fell under the rule of ruthless empires or were caught up in the feuds of local warlords, have all left their mark on Uyghur poetry, which is typically focused on migration and exile, war and peace, as well as universal themes of nature and love. Uyghur poetry is diverse and multifaceted because it mirrors the complexity of the history of the Uyghur and their shifting politics.   The Uyghurs and their poetry are still too little known to English-speaking audiences. Before I focus on Uyghur poetry, let me briefly explain who the Uyghurs are. The Uyghurs are a Turkic people, and their name appears in the historical records around the second century CE. The word Uyghur means ‘Union’ or ‘Federation’. In ancient times, Uyghurs lived in what are today the southwest Mongolian steppelands which adjoin the Altay and Heavenly Mountains (Tengritagh) and stretch further south to the oases of the Taklimakan desert and the Turpan Basin. These are largely the lands they continue to inhabit today. In their commonly shared cultural geography, the Uyghurs are one of Central Asia's earliest settled Turkic people. Over the last two millennia, they have followed many different religions, including Tengrism (sky worship), Shamanism and Manichaeism, Nestorian Christianity and Buddhism. From the tenth century onwards, they began to adopt Islam, which remains the predominant religion today.   In the mid-eighteenth century their last independent rulers, the Khojas, were overthrown by the Chinese Qing dynasty as it expanded into Central Asia. In the nineteenth century the Chinese government officially named the Uyghur homeland ‘Xinjiang’, which means ‘new frontier’ in Chinese. Uyghurs prefer to call their homeland East Turkistan or Uyghuristan. After the collapse of the Manchu Chinese Empire in 1911 the Uyghurs twice established short-lived independent states, once in 1933 and again in 1944. The latter ended in October 1949 when the Chinese Red Army occupied the region – with some military assistance from the Soviet Union – and it was incorporated into the People’s Republic of China. Today, according to the Chinese government census, twelve million Uyghurs live in East Turkistan...

Product details

• Authors: Aziz Isa Elkun
• Publisher: Everyman s Library PRH USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 07.11.2023
• EAN: 9781101908341
• ISBN: 978-1-101-90834-1
• No. of pages: 272
• Dimensions: 112 mm x 165 mm x 22 mm
• Series: Everyman's Library Pocket Poets Series
• Subject: Fiction > Mixed anthologies