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Abstract:

The magazine “Kazan utlary” (“Lights of Kazan”), which was published during the Great Patriotic War under the name “Soviet adebiyaty” (“Soviet Literature”), is a leading literary, artistic and socio-political periodical in the Tatar language with more than a century of history. During the harsh war years, when many newspapers and magazines ceased publication, this magazine did not cease to exist. It united the literary community of the front and the rear. On the pages of the magazine, in parallel with the works of Tatar writers, speeches of I. Stalin and V. Molotov were published. Often, Soviet and foreign writers acted as authors, whose works were translated into the Tatar language. Much credit for the publication of the magazine during the war years belongs to the literary critic and literary scholar Gazi Kashshaf (1907–1975). During the war, the editorial board experienced a lot: a shortage of paper, difficulties in the printing house, an insufficient amount of material for printing. Nevertheless, the magazine continued to be published and found its readers not only in the rear, but also at the front line, as evidenced by the letters of frontline writers.

Keywords: history of Tatar literature, the magazine “Soviet Literature” magazine, the Great Patriotic War, Tatar writers, Gazi Kashshaf, front-line writers.