The Postnuclear Ecosystem of Central Asia: Hamid Ismailov’s Vunderkind Erzhan

Abstract

The core of this article consists in an ecocritical reading of a Russian language work from Central Asia: Vunderkind Yerzhan (2011) by Hamid Ismailov (b.1954). Based on the recognition that the Anthropocene calls for an emphasis on the complex interrelationships of ecological systems, the article underscores the urgency of an ecocritical reading in understanding the impact of human agency on the environment, particularly in relation to the history of Central Asia. The article traces the origins of environmental problems in Central Asia, including the Aral Sea crisis and nuclear testing in Semipalatinsk, illustrating the contradictions in Soviet ecological policies that simultaneously advanced and degraded the environment. Vunderkind Erzhan unfolds in a post-nuclear wasteland, where the protagonist, Erzhan, encapsulates the ecological legacy of Stalinist times. The article focuses on the interconnectedness of Erzhan’s life with the environmental abuses perpetrated during the implementation of nuclear power. Ismailov conveys the environmental sadness provoked by the region’s ecological degradation; his povest’ is an outcry against the Soviet myth of progress and sheds light on the environmental consequences that developmentalist policies had in Kazakhstan.  Ismailov’s work becomes a lens through which the article examines the environmental challenges in the region, providing a nuanced understanding of the intersections between literature, culture, and the environment. Vunderkind Erzhan emerges as an exemplary ecological tale, illustrating the profound interconnection between all earthly beings, all affected by the far-reaching consequences of human agency.