Uzbekistan’s Embassy in Washington D.C. has held a presentation of the first English translation of Abdulhamid Cholpon’s ‘Kecha va kunduz’ (‘Night and day’) novel by American scientist Christopher Fort, Dunyo reports.
The event saw descendants of Abdulhamid Cholpon from Tashkent and Andijan and representatives of the academic and humanitarian circles of the USA, who partook in the fair both physically and virtually.
In his welcoming speech, Uzbek Ambassador Javlon Vakhabov emphasized that the government takes active measures to explore the life and creative path of the Jadids, young reformers of the late XIX and early XX centuries, by involving scholars and writers from around the world, including the United States. Abdulhamid Cholpon was one of the many Uzbek compatriots fighting for the freedom of the land, many of whom were slandered and cruelly executed, the agency notes.
August 31 is marked as the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Political Repressions in Uzbekistan. In 2021, Uzbekistan reconstructed its Museum of Memory of Repression Victims. The same year, the country’s Supreme Court acquitted 235 of the victims of repression.
In his turn, Christopher Fort noted that he first discovered Uzbek literature in his university years. In 2015, he aced the Fullbright program, which granted him an opportunity to complete one year of his literature studies in Uzbekistan. This inspired him to learn more about Jadid's philosophy and later translate the first novel of the prominent Uzbek writer. It took him three years to complete the translation of the novel. As part of his journey to the Central Asian republic, Christopher Fort established personal contacts with the descendants of Abdulhamid Cholpon and studied the Andijan dialect. This helped him work deeper on the translation. Leading world universities are now using his book to teach the literature and history of Central Asia.
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