“FRENCH LETTERS” BY ISMAIL GASPRYNSKIY AS TRAVEL SKETCHES

Abstract

The author of the article, considering poly-genre basis of the “French Letters” by Crimean Tatar educator, public figure and writer Ismail Gasprynskiy, is focused on the analysis of genologic features of travel sketches in a text. A hero of the “French Letters”, Molla Abbas, is a protagonist of the author and represents the author’s own experience in his impressions from western life. In order to keep the reader’s interest at a high level, the author uses the principles of belle-lettres in descriptive material, and often uses such artistic technique as defamiliarization. The “French Letters” is a first book of travel sketches, in which the Turk Muslim’s view to a Christian-atheist Europe, especially France, is presented. A constant desire to compare the living conditions of the “native” East and civilized West as a need to separate among “alien” those things, which I. Gasprynskiy considers as absolutely necessary ones to introduce in motherland, is pointed out. First of all, it is an extensive system of education and researches, powerful industrial and financial development, social protection, competitive judicial system, wide participation of women in public life etc. In turn, the rationalistic West is opposed to the high moral values of Islam and the justice of the relationship between Muslims. Molla Abbas (and therefore I. Gasprynskiy) comes to the conclusion that the most promising way of development of Turk peoples and whole mankind is a synthesis of achievements of the West based on ethical and moral postulates of Islam.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.28925/2412-2475.2019.1314