Oral Literature of the Turkic Peoples of Central Asia: The Heroic Epos

3 credits

Representative heroic poems of Central Asian Turkic peoples now living in the Central Asian Republics and China. Origin of the heroic epos, its relation to the romantic epos and other oral literary genres. Art of the singer and his role in nomadic Turkic society. Emphasis on Manas, the monumental epos of Kirghiz.