The Words of Edification of Abai Kunanbaiuly will be republished in the Netherlands in conjunction with the 175th anniversary of the great Kazakh poet. The fundamental work was translated from Russian to English and then from English to Dutch several years ago.
However, the book was published in limited copies. This year, the Kazakh Embassy in The Hague decided to republish it with the added content and improved design. A creative team of translators and ambassadors of the two countries had written an extensive introduction that explains the cultural and historical context of the work.
“The book will tell the Dutch readers about Abai and why he remains to be such a great person and a pride of every Kazakh. This will be told in the book through history which the Dutch can relate to and the information about the 19th century. We tried to tell about the relevance of his words, thoughts, and calls about an exemplary person. We explain reasons for why we continue to read his works in the 21st century,” said Zifa-Alua Auezova, Ph.D. Candidate in Philology.
“First of all, I think that Abai is a famous philosopher, author, and poet. He clearly understood the wealth of Kazakh people and the significance of the wealth has for the entire world,” said Dutch Ambassador to Kazakhstan, Andre Carstens.