Kh.D. Zhirov's novel «The father's son». Problems and main images

This article represents the first attempt at a literary interpretation of the novel "Father's Son" (1970) by the Abaza writer Kh.D. Zhirov. Specific examples are used to reveal the professional and personal qualities of two central figures: Amerbi, the collective farm chairman, and Zurab, the party bureau secretary. Amerbi exhibits an authoritarian leadership style, rudeness bordering on tyranny. In his interactions with his subordinates, he primarily uses accusations and threats. The chairman is uninterested in the workers' social and living conditions, tolerates no objections, and is hostile to any initiative. He ships agricultural produce to distant regions and sells it at market prices, but at the same time does not seek personal gain; he remains an experienced manager and a dedicated worker. The central idea of ​​the work is connected with this character: under the influence of the ongoing social transformations, Amerbi manages to suppress his former anti-Party tendencies and recognizes himself not only as the leader but also as part of the collective.The chairman's antithesis is the party secretary, Zurab, a principled and strong-willed young man who champions the interests of ordinary village workers. He uncovers numerous problems: meager wages for overtime work, non-payment of bonuses to milkmaids, non-payment of extra wages to livestock breeders who spend the summer with their herds in the mountains, inadequate living conditions for collective farmers on the farm and in the tractor brigade, and inadequate animal feed rationing. Zurab is the originator of the idea to establish a kindergarten and the first to embrace the women's council's proposal to build a bathhouse in the village. While implementing these plans, the secretary is forced to confront the chairman, arguing and convincing him of the necessity of these initiatives. Zurab is a person of integrity and strong character, for whom caring for people is a top priority. But despite all its positive qualities, as an artistic image it appears paler than the relief figure of the chairman, who embodied the features and contradictions of the era of the 1950s and 60s.