Abstract
The article examines the history of the formation and artistic development of the Enlik and Kebek theme in Kazakh literature within the context of Abai’s creative milieu and his poetic school. The main focus of the study is the continuity between prose and poetic works created in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries on the basis of the Enlik-Kebek story, as well as their plot, ideological, and artistic features. In particular, the study provides a comparative analysis of the story «Қазақтардың естерінен кетпей жүрген бір сөз» («A Story That Has Remained in the Memory of the Kazakhs»), published in 1892 in the newspaper Dala Ualayaty Gazeti under the pseudonym «Forgotten» («Мұтылған»), the work «Қазақ турасынан хикая», published in 1900, Magauiya Abaiuly’s poem «Enlik-Kebek», Shakarim Kudaiberdiuly’s dastans «Жолсыз жаза яки кез болған іс» («Unjust Punishment or An Incident That Occurred») and «Қалқаман-Мамыр» («Qalqaman-Mamyr»), as well as M. Auezov’s dramatic work devoted to this theme. The study employs comparative-historical, textual, hermeneutic, and historical-functional methods. Particular attention is paid to textual versions of the works, their linguistic and stylistic features, authorial positions, and methods of character representation. The study demonstrates that the Enlik-Kebek story is not confined to a single historical plot but received diverse genre and artistic interpretations within Abai’s creative environment. Different scholarly views concerning the authorship of the 1892 story are compared, and the hypothesis that the story may have originated from a narrative by Khaliolla and subsequently undergone artistic refinement by Abai is substantiated. The study compares the representation of the events, characters, and biys in the works of Magauiya and Shakarim and identifies differences in the authors’ artistic positions. While Magauiya portrays the tragedy of Enlik and Kebek primarily from the perspective of love and morality, Shakarim provides a broader interpretation of the social, historical, and traditional causes underlying the tragedy. At the same time, the study demonstrates that M. Auezov further developed this plot at a new generic and artistic level. The research confirms that the Enlik-Kebek theme constitutes an important scholarly subject for understanding creative continuity and artistic exploration within Abai’s poetic school.