The fate of Mukhtar Auezov, the author of the world-famous trilogy about Abai, is the tragedy of a triumphant. An outstanding representative of the first generation of Kazakh intellectuals, a man who amazingly connected different eras of national existence in his life, Mukhtar Auezov experienced with his compatriots the happiness of awakening to historical creativity, the charm of revolutionary romance, and the sobering tragedy of the Gulag. The artist and totalitarian power, the formation of the language of an original national culture, the creative dialogue of the great Steppe and Europe, which unfolds so organically on the pages of Auezov’s books—these are the intersecting themes of the book by N. A. Anastasyev, known for his works on the work of the greatest writers of the West and who has now turned to one one of the most striking figures of the East.[Adapted for AlReader]