stagnation has set in in Afghanistan. Perhaps they do have some interesting writers but from what I know there is nothing of interest for us. Take, on the other hand, contemporary Turkish literature. The country is situated at the meeting point of Asia and Europe. Turkish writers have turned to the European literary scene and have been influenced by French, English, German and other writers. There are some very great and interesting writers in Turkey today like Yashaar Kemaal. He is a writer of epic dimensions. I and my wife, Maria, consider hi?n to be at the level of Marquez. Nobody knows this, or else, nobody wants to acknowledge it, but he is there. Some of his works, whether in spirit, or at the thematic plane, or even at the depth of creatively capturing events and phenomena, equal those of Marquez. Had Turkey too isolated itself from the rest of the world and vegetated, as did Afghanistan, perhaps there too nothing of interest would have emerged. In other words, what I want to say is that there has always existed, in one part of the world or another, a more advanced trend in literature. One should turn to it in order to equip oneself, not for purposes of imitation, blind imitation, but with the aim of organically and creatively assimilating it on one's own soil. KS : Why are myths and legends dominating literature, film and theatre }n all the Republics I mentioned earlier? Is this in any way linked to the fact that in these regions the folk culture is still alive and integral to the way of l^fe— something we cannot say of the European parts of the USSR where the writers and artists more often revert to biblical themes or to European ones like that of Faust? Or is the incorporation of local myths in the narrative an attempt oti the part of the artist to rediscover his cultural identity ? CA: I must admit that I have not given this a thought It is, however, true that this is a recent trend. After all, there was a time when we did not revert to the past in our literature. Social problems for us were of prime importance and totally dominated the scene. Literature was judged on the basis of how deeply and actively it tackled social problems. This, at times, gave opposite results, for books appeared which were so politicized that they were of no interest as works of art But the experience of the Latin American literature imperceptibly crept into our consciousness and literary practice. This became possible thanks to such journals as Inostrannaya Literatura (Foreign Literature) and such people as Miriam Salganik with a deep insight into the cultures of these areas. It is they who translate them into Russian for us. This small push, so to speak, gave us an opportunity to look back on our own past and see how we had dealt with it. KS: Are these myths still alive ? CA: These myths are not alive in the sense of existing today. What does exist are the epic legends. That is something different Take an epic legend like Manasa. It resembles a historical poem. 6 Numbers 12-13