Turkmen literature

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Turkmen literature (Turkmen: Türkmen edebiýaty) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Old Oghuz Turkic and Turkmen languages. The Turkmens are direct descendants of the Oghuz Turks, who were a western Turkic people, who formed the Oghuz branch of the Turkic language family.

The history of the common Turkic literature spans a period of nearly 1,300 years.^[1] The oldest records of written Turkic are found on runic inscriptions, of which the best known are the Orhon inscriptions dating from the seventh century. Later, between the 9th and 11th centuries, a tradition of oral epics, such as the Book of Dede Korkut of the Oghuz Turks—the linguistic and cultural ancestors of the modern Turkish, Turkmen and Azerbaijani peoples—and the Manas Epic of the Kyrgyz people arose among the nomadic Turkic peoples of Central Asia.

After the Battle of Manzikert, the Oghuz Turks settled in Anatolia beginning in the 11th century. In addition to their earlier oral traditions, a written literary tradition, heavily influenced by Arabic and Persian literature, emerged among these new settlers.^[2]

The earliest development of Turkmen literature is closely associated with the literature of the Oghuz Turks.^[3] Turkmens have joint claims to a number of literary works written in Old Oghuz and Persian (by Seljuks in the 11-12th centuries) languages with other people of the Oghuz Turkic origin, mainly of Azerbaijan and Turkey. These works include, among others, the Book of Dede Korkut, Gorogly, "Layla and Majnun", and "Yusuf Zulaikha".^[4]

There is a consensus, however, that distinctively modern Turkmen literature originated in the 18th century with the poetry of Magtymguly Pyragy. He is considered the father of Turkmen literature.^[5][6] Other prominent Turkmen poets of that era are Döwletmämmet Azady (Magtymguly's father), Nurmuhammet Andalyp, Abdylla Şabende, Şeýdaýy, Mahmyt Gaýyby and Gurbanally Magrupy.^[7]