February 16, 2020

The presentation of the first published translation of the Tatar heroic epic “IDEGEI” into the Estonian language in adapted version (prose and runic verse) was held at the large hall of the Tallinn Central Library. Participation in the event was attended by  Permanent Representative of the Republic of Tatarstan in the city of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region Renat Valiullin.

The idea of ​​translating the epos “IDEGEI” was proposed by the famous Turkologist, orientalist Arthur Last. The translation of the text was done by the Estonian poet Peeter Ilus.

Arthur Lust, who lives in Tallinn, is well acquainted with Tatar history and literature, including ancient Tatar works. As the scientist noted, he has experience in translating Turkish-language works into Estonian.

“Despite the fact that we, Estonians, live in the north, we are interested in the history and literature of the eastern, Turkic peoples. The works by  Rumi, Navai, Nizami and other Turkic classics were translated into Estonian. The Academic Center for Oriental Studies operates in Estonia, ”said Arthur Laast.

The orientalist believes that this work will be interesting for Estonians. “In general, Estonia loves to read. In our country up to 2 thousand titles of new books are published per year, ”the scientist says. According to him, we are not talking about the literal translation of the work. He believes that the style of translation should be fluent and attractive to the reader.

The Idel Society of Tatar Culture (Tallinn) throughout the work has been in contact with the authors, organized their visits to Tatarstan, meetings with the World Tatars Congress, the Institute of History and the Ministry of Culture of Tatarstan. The book, with a volume of 56 pages, with illustrations and maps, was published in a limited edition, 300 pieces, for the first time not only in Estonia, but also in Europe and Scandinavia.

“IDEGEI” is a majestic medieval literary monument of the Tatar people, extremely complex in composition and content, there are many heroes, a lot of events, destinies, characters. It affects philosophy, and ethics, and politics, in it both war and peace are almost all aspects of life. In it we find wonderful examples of poetry, descriptions of nature, feelings and experiences of heroes and much more.

tatspb.tatarstan.ru