Jamila (russian: link=no, Джамиля , ky, Жамийла, ''Jamila'', ) is the first major novel by

Chingiz Aytmatov Chinghiz Torekulovich Aitmatov (as transliterated from Russian; ky, Чыңгыз Төрөкулович Айтматов, translit=Chynggyz Törökulovich Aytmatov; 12 December 1928 – 10 June 2008) was a Kyrgyz author who wrote mainly in Russi ...

, published originally in Russian in 1958. The novel is told from the point of view of a fictional Kyrgyz artist, Seit, who tells the story by looking back on his childhood. The story recounts the love between his new sister-in-law Jamilya and a local crippled young man, Daniyar, while Jamilya's husband, Sadyk, is "away at the front" (as a Soviet soldier during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

). Based on clues in the story, it takes place in northwestern

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

, presumably

Talas Province Talas Region ( ky, Талас облусу, Talas oblusu; russian: Таласская область, Talasskaya oblast) is a region (''oblast'') of Kyrgyzstan. Its capital is Talas. It is bordered on the west and north by Jambyl Region of Kazak ...

. The story is backdropped against the

collective farming Collective farming and communal farming are various types of, "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member- ...

culture which was early in its peak in that period.

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He ...

lauded the novelette as the "world's most beautiful love story".Erich Follath and Christian Neef,
Kyrgyzstan Has Become an Ungovernable Country
, ''

SPIEGEL ONLINE International ''Der Spiegel (online)'' is a German news website. Before the renaming in January 2020, the website's name was ''Spiegel Online'' (short ''SPON''). It was founded in 1994 as the online offshoot of the German news magazine, ''Der Spiegel'', wit ...

'', 8 October 2010.

Versions of the story available online

Jamila
— A translation of Jamilia into English by Fainna Glagoleva

— Download of the 1968 movie production of the story

English translation of the story available in print

''Jamilia'', translated James Riordan, Telegram Books, London, 2007

References

1958 in the Soviet Union Soviet novels Kyrgyzstani novels Books by Chinghiz Aitmatov 1958 novels Novels set during World War II {{1950s-WWII-novel-stub