Book 151: Mongolia (English) – The Blue Sky (Galsan TSCHINAG)

I felt as if the joy that had filled me when I saw Grandma for the first time had stayed inside me like some wave or like a breeze of light burning so intensely and radiantly that it blazed a bright trail through the time since I had last seen her. By now the river had become impassable since the cool of the night could no longer weld together for even a few hours the shards of ice that were breaking apart. The icy mass was like softened clay that sank beneath a horse’s hoof.

This is the story of a Mongolian shepherd boy (who shares the author’s name, Dschurukuwaa, along with much of the story) of the Tuvan nationality at the cusp of a changing world – in fact a very similar world to that of Abai, my Kazakh novel; both the traditional nomadic lifestyles and the creeping appearance of Communism are very similar. Most people don’t realise that Mongolia was the second country to become Communist (apart from the short-lived Béla Kun regime in Huntary); Marx and Engels surely never planned for Communism to be imposed on nomads, and collectivising and imposing quotas on those in thrall to the vagaries of the weather is crazy.

The Blue Sky is written through the eyes of a child, but unlike most stories like that, where the child’s adult self remembers more than is believable or has too much adult understanding in retrospect, this one worked for me.

Although his becoming a shaman (like the author) comes after this first volume, his feeling of closeness with nature is obvious here.

His relationship with his grandmother is lovely. During her tragic life, her wicked sister had stolen almost all her property. She finds consolation and happiness in looking after Dschurukuwaa.

As we follow him growing up, little Dschurukuwaa has a frightening accident, falling into simmering kettle of milk. The close relationship with his dog Arsylang, who can communicate with him, is lovely.

The most touching moment was the time of Dschut (violent weather), with its heartbreaking deaths of the animals.

The author is of the Tuvan ethnicity, a minority in Mongolia (though they have their own Tyva Republic in the Russian

Federation – it was briefly independent to 1921 to 1944 and some its unusual stamps are among my most treasured!)

This novel was first published in Germany in German, as were the two subsequent volumes, and the English translation uses German spellings which I think really should have been changed for the English translation; a less misleading English transliteration for dshele (rope tether in Tuvan) might be jele; for the Turkic title baj, we would use bai (or bay), and jolka (ёлка, Russian for Christmas tree) would be yolka.

In all, this is a beautiful little story of a boy growing up in a world which is also changing, even though not a great deal happens. The description of traditional life in the legendary Altai Mountains is wonderful.

Galsan Tschinag (in Tuvan: Irgit Schynykbajoglu Dshhurukuwaa) (early 1940s – ), The Blue Sky: a novel, translated from German by Katharina Rout, Minneapolis, Milkweed, 2006, ISBN 978-1-57131-064-4

(first published in German, 1994)