About the Work

by elena koroleva

brontoy bedyurov (1947– ) is the son of Janga Todosh Bedyurov. He was born in the village of Kulady in the Ongudai district of the Gorno-Altai Autonomous Region of the USSR (currently the Altai Republic of the Russian Federation). He graduated from the Literary Institute named after Maxim Gorky and finished postgraduate studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1981. His first poems were published in a newspaper in the Altai language in 1962, when the young poet was only fifteen. In 1969, his first collection of poems, The Colors of the Mountains, was published. It was followed by the collections The Month of Rebirth  and The Heaven Tether. Folk life, customs, rituals, and Altai history play an important role in Brontoy Bedyurov's work, through to his later collections The Return of the Will  and The Strongholds of Altai, published in 1983. He is the winner of numerous Russian and international literary awards. Brontoy Bedyurov's poetic heritage is diverse and polysyllabic; he is fluent in traditional Turkic-Mongolian rhythmic forms, as well as forms popular in the Russian classical and European literary traditions. 

The poem included here is written in the form of a vers libre. It is a programmatic work for the author, who works with the goal of reviving the Altai language and its centuries-old history within the framework of contemporary world literature. The poet addresses his song to Tengeri. The open sky is the gateway to the centuries-old history of the Altai people, which Brontoy Bedyurov has made the central theme of his work. The modern Altai language, in its lexical and grammatical structure, is closest to the ancient Turkic language, in which maktals (poetic praises) were created in honor of Kül-Tegin and Tonyukuk, historical heroes of the 8th century. The author has devoted his work to historical folklore and has shown how historical heroes became part of the Altai landscape, such as the Baatr-Cliffs that represent heroes of the past who fought to defend their homeland.

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elena koroleva (1979– ) is a historian, folklorist, and poet. She graduated from the history department of Novosibirsk State University in 2001. From 2001 to 2013 she worked as a field researcher in the Altai region, and thereafter worked as a professional translator of historical texts from the Altai language into Russian and other European languages. She is currently working on a dissertation on Altai folk legends as historical sources.

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