The Motif of Orphancy in the Story of Kyugei Telesov "Кайда ол јол?" (‘Where Is That Road?’)

Abstract

The article explores the motif of orphancy in the works of the famous Altai writer Kyugei Telesov. The article proves the idea that the writer’s works are based on autobiographical details using the analysis of this motif in writer’s prose as well as in his journalistic essays, sketches, and memoirs. The author’s personal orphanage complex had a significant impact on the conceptual system of his works, and the image of an orphaned child is constantly used in his works. The article examines this motif in detail by the example of one of his stories, Кайда ол јол? (‘Where Is That Road?’). Written in the early period of his creative career, it became the key work for understanding the artistic world of the author. The writer interprets the topic of fate, and at the center of his philosophical worldview is the idea of the inevitability of the individual choice of his life path and responsibility for it. The theme of childhood and orphanhood in the works of the writer is analyzed with the involvement of ethnographic, pedagogical, and psychological research works concerning the traditions, beliefs, and customs of the Altai people.