The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years by Chingiz Aitmatov (Indiana University Press)

Chingiz Aitmotov’s debut novel, The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years was originally published in an 1980 issue of Novy Mir, a Russian literary magazine. It was subsequently published in book form in 1981 with the title The Railway Siding Burannyi. This English language edition was published by Indiana University Press in 1988

The story is set in the early years of the Cold War at a remote railway station called Boranly-Burannyi in Soviet-era Kazakhstan. “On either side of the railway lines lay the great wide spaces of the desert - Sary-Ozeki, the Middle lands of the yellow steppes.”

“In these parts any distance was measured in relation to the railway, as if from the Greenwich Meridian”. 

“Trains in these parts went from East to West, and from West to East…”

Only two families have actually settled in this lonely place. The main character Burrannyi Yedigei, “so-called because he had worked at the Boranly-Burannyi junction ever since he returned from the war” and his wife Ukubala and their long-time friend Kazangap.

On a cold, winter night, Ukubala has come to inform her husband that their friend Kazangap has died. Although Kazakhstan is a part of the communist Soviet Union, most of the people who live in the region are Muslims. Yedigei makes it his responsibility to pray over the body and to inform Kazangap’s son about his father’s death. He also needs to inform his two daughters and their husbands to come to Boranly-Burannyi as well. The daughters may not be blood relatives of Kazangap, but they were born in Boranly-Burannyi and knew Kazangap well and cherished him. 

The rest of the story takes place in a single day as Yedigei makes arrangements to have his friend Kazangap buried at the cemetery of Ana-Beiit which is located about thirty-kilometers away from the Boranly-Burannyi junction. Yedigei is the only one of the current residents at the railway station that knows how to get there although everybody has heard about the cemetery as there were many legends surrounding the place and the person it was named after. 

Yedigei leads the way to the cemetery sitting astride his camel, Karanar, that Kazangap had given to him as a gift many years ago. Kazangap’s son Sabitzhan and his sister Aizada, along with her alcoholic husband have also come to Boranly-Burannyi to make the trip to the Ana-Beiit cemetery. 

As the entourage makes their way to the cemetery, Yedigei reminisces about his early life before the war when he lived as a fisherman along the Aral Sea. He talks about his own history and the history of his people, mostly to himself, always thinking about Kazangap, who was the person to convince him to move to Boranly-Burannyi. 

Aitmatov includes a subplot about two cosmonauts, one Soviet and one American who have made contact with intelligent extraterrestrial beings and have gone to visit them on their home planet of Lesnaya Grud without informing their superiors. After Ukubala informs Yedigei about the death of his friend, Yedigei witnesses a rocket launching into the air. Although rocket launches are infrequent they are usually announced beforehand and a great celebration is held. This launch was unannounced. At the same time, a rocket from the desert of Nevada has also taken off to meet with its Soviet partner at the Soviet-American space station called Parity. 

The two concurrent stories deal with the questions of tradition and progress. The central character recalls legends from the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, published at a time when the nation was still a part of the Soviet Union and challenges the status quo as the hero is an ordinary worker who wants to bury his friend in the Muslim tradition of the Kazakhs.

The subplot of making contact with an intelligent alien species and how the governments of the U.S. and Soviet handle the situation leads one to believe that the two countries aren’t working in the name of progress but are focused on thinking of ways to keep themselves in power. It’s a reminder that even governments are afraid of what they don’t understand.

The book is a great introduction to the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan. The land may be barren but the book brings to life the culture and traditions of a country most people could not find on a map. ~Ernie Hoyt