Transculturality in Colonial and Postcolonial Kazakhstani Literature as a Result of Cultural Transfer

This article explores cultural transfer based on the material of Kazakh Russian-language literature. It is a result of the colonial and postcolonial influence of Russian culture on the culture of Kazakhstan. Based on the periodization of G. Brandt and U. Bitterli, various stages of cultural transfer are analyzed through the works of the Kazakh Russian-language poet Bakhytzhan Kanapyanov. His poetry reveals the outcomes of several cultural transfer processes: cultural penetration, confrontation, and integration. In the confrontation between the donor culture and the recipient culture, the poet’s work generates hybrid texts written in Russian while preserving the imagery, poetic traditions, and aesthetics of Kazakh culture. At the stage of integration, the core structures of the recipient culture undergo erosion and, ultimately, destruction. Kanapyanov’s works from this period are monocultural, primarily conveying elements of the donor culture. Some of Kanapyanov’s works represent hybrid texts of a transcultural nature, meaning they are generated by the poet’s syncretic Kazakh-Russian worldview. Another part of Kanapyanov’s works results from mimicry of the donor culture, reflecting the Russian worldview as perceived by the poet’s artistic consciousness. The article also examines the works of other Kazakhstani writers from the colonial and postcolonial periods who experienced cultural transfer processes