Colour symbols in the Altai prose in the second half of the 20th century (based on the novels by D. Kainchin and A. Adarov)

Abstract

   The article studies the colour symbolism of the Altaians, based on the literary texts of the Altai prose writers Dibash Kainchin and Arzhan Adarov. The hypothesis for the study of colour symbolism as a cultural code of the Altai ethnos is that white, blue and azure colours prevail in the studied novels (the images and expressions using the epithets “ak” (“white’) and “kӧk” (“blue”), “chaҥkyr” (“azure”), “kӧk-chaҥkyr” (“blue-azure”)). They are images-symbols, signs-codes in the traditional culture of the Altaians and have a sacral meaning, expressing the quintessence of not only the Altai, but also of the entire Turkic worldview. The philosophical interpretation of white in Kainchin’s novel-dilogy makes it possible to understand that the Altaians raised this clour to the level of a symbol, while, among the Altai and all Turkic peoples, the blue colour “kok” (“chankyr” – “azure”) blue-azure or sky-blue (“kok - chaҥkyr “, “kӧgul”) is one of the most revered colours, symbolizing eternity and constancy; it denotes the supreme deity “Tengri”. The article highlights the human world and nature, in which the studied signs-codes acquire a metaphorical meaning, they are present in the life of fictional characters, in descriptions of nature and as an independent system of artistic means.