Lessons 52 · 1 lessons · Q. Yo‘ldoshev, V. Qodirov, J. Yo‘ldoshbekov. Literature: textbook for Grade 9 of general secondary schools. Revised and expanded 4th edition. “O‘zbekiston” NMIU, Tashkent, 2019
52
About the novel; the pathos of a literary work
Textbook: pp. 356–358
GoalExplain the main idea of the novel “Asrga tatigulik kun” and explain the meaning of the term “pathos” with an example from the work.
New words
pathos (a passionate feeling that gives direction to a work) · pafosepigraph · epigrafself-awareness · o‘zlikni anglashhistorical roots · tarixiy ildiz
Explanation
By the textbook, Aytmatov wrote “Asrga tatigulik kun” in 1980. The novel shows through the fates of concrete people what defines a person’s human face – self-awareness, understanding others, knowing one’s historical roots and taking pride in them – and treats losing them as losing one’s humanity. Lines from the book “Lamentations” by the tenth-century Armenian writer Grigor Narekatsi are used as the epigraph. The textbook judges Edigey as a true person who lives by the customs of his forefathers, and Sobitjon, though educated, as lacking good feelings – a modern copy of the mankurt. The word “pathos” comes from the Greek “pathos” – passion, feeling; as a literary term it means the ardent feeling and elevated spirit that has entered a work and sets the direction of its depiction. In a work with pathos, the writer does not hide his view and urges the reader to be a supporter rather than a neutral observer: in the novel Edigey and Nayman ona are drawn with deep sympathy, and the jungjangs and Sobitjon with rejection.
Worked examples
Example: the pathos in the picture of Nayman ona is affirming: the writer sympathises with her love and courage, and the reader too becomes well-disposed to her. The pathos in the depiction of making a mankurt is rejecting: it is written with strong loathing.
Example: Edigey is a modest railway worker far from politics, yet the textbook notes that his fate is not free of the influence of politics. This is a way of lighting a large question through an ordinary person’s fate.
Class activity
Choose another work you have read (for example, one from this year) and justify with two examples whether its pathos is affirming or rejecting.
Practice
1
When was “Asrga tatigulik kun” written?
In 1980.
2
By the textbook, what does the novel say defines a person’s human face?
Self-awareness, understanding others, knowing the historical roots and taking pride in them.
3
What does the term “pathos” mean and from which language is it taken?
From Greek “pathos” – passion, feeling; an ardent feeling that has entered a work and sets the direction of its depiction.
4
Why does the reader of a work with pathos often become the writer’s supporter?
Because the writer does not hide his view and defends it with strong feeling, urging the reader to be a supporter, not a neutral observer.