The infl uence of Russian satire on Dungan satirical prose in Central Asia

The Dungans are descendants of Hui immigrants from northwestern China during the late Qing Dynasty. Their number has grown to 100,000 people, they are located on the territory of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. In Russia they were called “Dungans”. After penetrating Central Asia, they adopted the local culture and the culture of the home country – Russia. Dungan satirical prose was also strongly influenced by the Russian tradition and absorbed certain themes and artistic techniques (poetics) of Russian satirical prose. The influence of the theme of Russian satirical prose on the theme of Dungan satirical prose is reflected in two aspects: political satire and social satire. The fi rst was dominated by the criticism of the authoritarian system and bureaucracy, the second by denunciation of social and moral vices. The political satire plays an important role in the expression of a huge social confl ict and can use it to combat social evil. Social satire reveals social vices. Compared to political satirical prose, social satire pays more attention to thoughts about human nature and culture. As for the artistic techniques of Dungan satirical prose under the influence of Russian satirical prose, three main techniques can be distinguished: self-exposure of the hero, contrast and “uncultured” speech of the hero. The flourishing of Dungan satirical prose is associated not only with the influence of the Russian literary tradition, but also with the national cultural identity of Dungan writers. The influence of traditional culture is reflected in three aspects: the tradition of Russian satirical prose contributes to the development of Dungan satirical prose; the Thaw in the USSR in the 1950s created the ground for Dungan satirical prose; the internal motivation for the thriving of Dungan satirical prose is the cultural consciousness of the Dungan writers.

Dungan prose, Russian prose, satire, infl uence