AT THE ORIGINS OF RUSSIAN-LANGUAGE LITERATURE OF THE PEOPLES OF DAGESTAN

Abstract

The article examines and defines reasons for the emergence of Russian-language literature of the peoples of Dagestan, names those who stood at the origins of its appearance, reveals the difficulties and complexities that bilingual pioneers had to face. This process began in the nineteenth century after Dagestan joines Russia and is associated with the name of Abdulla Omarov, the author of ethnographic essays, and in the twentieth century – Effendi Kapiev, a writer, translator, journalist, literary critic and public figure of Dagestan. The article attempts to highlight the heated debate in literary circles of our multinational country, to outline the positions of those who advocated freedom of choice of creative language and those who considered such freedom a threat to native languages and literatures. The article concludes that the Russian-language literature of Dagestani authors has entered a new stage of its spiritual growth, which is determined by the ideological and artistic merits of the work itself, as well as the ability to choose the language of creativity, based on modern realities and the needs of the reading community.