The 20th century and beyond

The 20th century saw the publication of many new literary works in Mongolia as well as in Buryatiya and Kalmykia in Russia and in China’s Inner Mongolia and Dzungaria (in Xinjiang) regions. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Buryat literati such as Khotsa Namsaraev, Bazar Baradin, Tsydenzhap Dondubon (Ts. Don), and Solbone Tuya (Petr Damdinov), among many others, began to publish new poetry, plays, and short stories and novellas. The Buryat monk Agvan Dorzhiev, who served as a diplomat under the 13th Dalai Lama, described his life and travels in Asia and Europe in Mongol verses (1921). In Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, in 1934 the revolutionary leaders Darijawiin Losol, Gelegdorjiin Demid, and Khorloghiyin Choibalsan (Choyibalsang) published their voluminous Mongol arad-un ündüsün-ü khubiskhal-un angkha egüschü bayigulugdagsan tobchi teüke (“Short History of How the Mongol People’s National Revolution Began and Evolved”), a prose narrative with passages in verse. It describes the formation of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party and its struggle against the Chinese and White Russian forces for Mongolia’s independence in 1921; the party would control the country’s government for much of the 20th century. Later editions altered and abridged the text, and the names of Choibalsan’s coauthors eventually disappeared from the title page—just as the men themselves did, as a result of purges driven by Choibalsan.

Until the middle of the 20th century, the Mongols and Buryats used Mongol script to write a language known as Classical, or Literary, Mongolian. The Kalmyks began to use the Cyrillic alphabet to write their language in 1925. After ephemeral experiments with romanization, separate Cyrillic orthographies were introduced in Buryatiya (1938) and Mongolia (1946). The eastern Mongols in China continued the Classical tradition, with the Oirat of Dzungaria keeping Clear Script with some modifications.

Dashdorjiin Natsagdorj (Nachugdorji), one of the founders of modern literature in Mongolia, introduced new genres and subjects through, for instance, his patriotic poems Minii nutag (“My Motherland”) and Tüükhiin shüleg (“Verses on History”), both on revolution and tradition, as well as through Erkh chölöö khüsekhüi (“Longing for Freedom”), one of the poems he wrote in 1932 while in prison; Uchirtai gurwan tolgoi (1934; “Three Fateful Hills”), a tragedy; Lambugain nulims (“The Lama’s Tears”), a novella about a monk ridiculed by his mistress, who is a courtesan; and Shuwuun saaral (“The Bird-Swift Ash-Grey Horse”), an idyllic prose poem about a boy’s travels to his girlfriend’s camp. In a long poem that is partly alliterative and partly in blank verse, he described his long journey from Ulaanbaatar to Berlin (1926). His poetry advocated the adoption of Western medicine and modern health care in Mongolia. Many of his contemporaries—such as Shirnengiin Ayush (Ayusi), Sonombaljiriin Buyannemekh (Buyannemekü), and Mördendewiin Yadamsüren (Idamsürüng)—died during the purges directed by Choibalsan in the late 1930s. Tsendiin Damdinsüren (Damdinsürüng) wrote poems on nature (e.g., Dzugaatssaar mordson-ni [“Went Out for a Walk”]) and short stories (e.g., “Soliig solison-ni” [“How Mrs. Change Was Changed”] and Gologdson khüükhen [“The Unwanted Girl”]). He also rewrote (1943) Natsagdorj’s Uchirtai gurwan tolgoi, adding to it a happy ending. In a folk-style benediction he exalted Choibalsan, whose prison he survived. During a period when government censorship had slackened somewhat, he also edited a large anthology of traditional Mongolian literature (Monggol uran jokiyal-un degeji jagun bilig [1959; “The Best of Mongol Literature: Hundredfold Wisdom”]). Byambiin Rinchen was a patriotic dissenter best known for poems such as “Ber tsetseg” (“Young Lady Flower”), an antiwar poem, and for short stories such as “Mangaa Doogiin etssiin dzüüd” (“The Last Dream of Monster Do”), about a cruel prison guard. Rinchen was also a screenwriter—he wrote the script for the film Tsogt taij (1944; “Prince Tsogtu”)—and a novelist. He published several volumes of folk poetry and shamanist lore that he had collected.

Modern historical novels began to appear in Mongolia and Buryatiya in the 1950s. Chimit Tsydendambaevich Tsydendambaev’s novel about a 19th-century Buryat scholar (1952) was among the earliest such novels in Buryatiya. Among the most prominent Mongol examples of the genre are Rinchen’s Üüriin tuyaa (1950–55; “Rays of Dawn”), a trilogy about Manchu rule, the theocracy, and revolution; Donrowiin Namdag’s Tsag töriin üimeen (1960; “Revolt of Time and Power”); Chadraawaliin Lodoidamba’s Tungalag Tamir (1962; “The Limpid Tamir River”); Shagdarjawiin Natsagdorj’s Mandukhai, which takes its title from the 15th-century Mongol queen who is its heroine; and Sengiin Erdene’s Dzanabadzar (1985), about the first reincarnate lama of northern Mongolia.

Erdene, Sonomiin Udwal, Dembeegiin Myagmar, Sormuunirshiin Dashdoorow, and others wrote innovative short stories. Jargaliin Baramsai’s satirical prose on the vicissitudes of urban life was met with sharp disapproval. Poetry underwent a renewal that was led by Choijiliin Chimed, Begdziin Yawuukhulan (a versatile author whose lyric oeuvre includes alliterative poems inspired by the Western sonnet form), Mishigiin Tsedendorj, Dendewiin Pürewdorj, Mishigiin Shirchinsüren, the rebellious Renchinii Choinom, Tangadiin Galsan (who was exiled for one of his sharp four-line poems), and Shagdariin Dulmaa. Among dramatists, Choijamtsiin Oidow became best known for Dalan khudalch (“The Trickster of 70 Lies”), a comedy based on a folk tale; it was similar to the play Budamshuu (1954) by Tsyren Galzutovich Shagzhin, Oidow’s Buryat contemporary. Lamjawiin Wangan won his fame with plays dealing with modern life. Namdag and Myagmar also wrote for the theatre.

Throughout the middle decades of the 20th century, Mongolian authorities controlled all spheres of culture, and literature had to serve the ruling party’s interests. But the tides of political repression and censorship gradually withdrew, leaving more and more space for individual expression. Freedom of the press emerged after the resignation of the leadership of the People’s Revolutionary Party in 1990 and the subsequent dismantling of the country’s socialist system. In the 1990s numerous suppressed works were printed, and an array of works across numerous genres made the Mongolian literary palette much more colourful than ever before. At the turn of the 21st century, lengthy multivolume anthologies were being compiled by two writers, Lodongiin Tüdew and Oeled Chahar Ligden, who were attempting to capture the richness of 20th-century Mongolian literature. The latter, working in Inner Mongolia, also published in 1993 a novel on the grim years of the Cultural Revolution.

Among other writers of Inner Mongolia, the Chahar poet and essayist Saichungga (Sainchogtu) began his career while living under Japanese occupation, which ended there in 1945. He then moved to Ulaanbaatar, where he embraced communist ideas, and later returned to Inner Mongolia, where he became a leading author.

The poet Kögltin Dawa (David Kugultinov) is perhaps the most recognized of 20th-century Kalmyk writers. A politician who had previously been a soldier and a labour camp detainee, he wrote lyrics that, late in his career, attained great thoughtfulness. Some of his poems were collected in English translation in Horizons (1977). The novelist Badmin Aleksei (Aleksei Badmaev) related the fate of his people in Altn shorad dargddgo (1964; “The Gold Does Not Perish in Dust”).