The magtal genre in the Kalmyk poetry of the twentieth century. Article two

The folklore tradition of magtal - the glorification of the horse from the epic “Dzhangar” - in the Kalmyk periodicals of the 1930s and 1940s was transformed into Kalmyk poets' poems and poems-songs, addressed to the images of the horse itself (the heroic magic aranzal), the iron horse (the tractor), later the steel horse (the train). Elements of magtal are present in verses mentioning machines / cars, combines, but they are less often designated as iron horses (K. Erendzhenov, B. Bukhankov, B. Dordzhiev). Magtal to a horse (usually aranzal, with the same name) within the framework of a poem / song does not preserve all the structural features of common places from the epic (description, saddling, movement), but conveys a fragmentary description of the beauty, color, running of the animal, his labor or fighting qualities (P. Dzhidleev, S. Erdyushev, L. Khoninov). The magtal to the tractor as an iron horse (“tѳmr kulg”) and to the tractor driver as a rider reflects the power, strength, efficiency, unpretentiousness, endurance, less often the color of the mechanism (red, black) and the professionalism of the hero driver / hero maiden (M. Khoninov, M. Erdniev). The steel horse (“bold kulg”) - a passenger train - is addressed to the magtal in the postwar poems by L. Indzhiev and M. Khoninov. The superiority of the steel horse over a living brother is emphasized, including in the story (the race). The parallelism of the mechanical and the living is conveyed without hyperbolization through juxtaposition, comparison, assimilation, epithet (metal, movement, speed, power, sounds). As in folklore, the function of a living and mechanical horse is preserved: a human assistant in the labors and battles of building socialism and defending the motherland. Such author's magtals are distinguished by their plot, the juxtaposition of the past and the present in the Kalmyk steppe, their connection with modernity, and the observance of folklore tradition, including in versification.