The theme of family and historical memory in Ravilya Shaydullina-Murat’s novel “Kart shomyrt khatirәse” (“The Monologue of an Old Bird Cherry Tree”)

Abstract

The article analyzes Ravilya Shaydullina-Murat’s novel “The Monologue of an Old Bird Cherry Tree” in two volumes (2019, 2020) as an example of contemporary Tatar historical prose. The history of the country is shown through the prism of the lives of several generations from a Tatar family – the clan of Gabdrakhman Muratov. The writer correlates the individual fates of members of this clan with the history of the Tatar people and the country as a whole, encompassing the events from the beginning of the 20^th century – the years of the Soviet power establishment, collectivization, the Great Patriotic War and the post-war years. A philosophical understanding of human destiny in the context of historical events allows the author to discuss the lives of several generations of people experiencing emotional pain and trauma. The article reveals the plot-forming function and moral significance of the category of generational and historical memory. The internal conflicts and existential search for meaning in life in tragic circumstances of the main characters from the two-part novel grow into ethnic trauma and an attempt to preserve cultural identity in the terrible conditions of the historical cataclysms that took place in the country in the 20^th century. Tracing the lives and fates of four generations of one large clan, who are the residents of one village, in the context of complex historical events, allows us to draw conclusions about the power of ancestral memory in preserving national identity, spiritual, ethnic, and cultural values.