Aigerim Tazhi. БОГ-О-СЛОВ (pronounced BOG-O-SLOV, translated to THEO-LOG-IAN, which could also be read as GOD O’WORDS). Poems. Musaget Publishing House, Almaty, 2004, 100 pp.

БОГ--О-СЛОВ

The debut book of poems by Aigerim Tazhi БОГ-О-СЛОВ (pronounced BOG-O-SLOV, translated to THEO-LOG-IAN, which could also be read as GOD O’WORDS) was published by Musaget Publishing House (Almaty) in 2004. The book received a number of positive reviews and became a waymark for Kazakhstani writers and readers. The poems published in the poetry collection БОГ-О-СЛОВ (THEO-LOG-IAN) brought Aigerim Tazhi international and Kazakhstani awards.

 

Here are some quotes from the book’s critical reviews:

"Published by Musagetes Publishing House, it [the book] became perhaps one of the most quoted Kazakhstani books of the time. Even now, ten years after the book's publication, I continue to discover new meanings in it... Being on the provisional border between Europe and Asia, between Russian and Kazakh languages, the author seems to be taking us to a world where there are no borders, where languages and mentalities are merged, where the word is our only guide".

Oksana Trutneva, literary critic, Noviy Mir magazine, №12, 2015 (translated)

 

"...A wonderful example of merging word into word, image into image, which seems intrinsic to Tazhi the poet. Behind it, I’m sensing an echo of the two languages and cultures hallooing".

Victor Badikov, literary critic, Knigolyub magazine, 2006 (translated)

 

"For Aigerim Tazhi the poet, existing words are no longer enough, so she goes on to create her own. It is for a good reason that her book of poems is called THEO-LOG-IAN (GOD O’WORDS). The title suggests so many meanings, including a dictionary used by God, God's statements about the word, a word-prayer addressed to the world... This is a poetry of gradually unwinding the spiral of the word from genetic origins to borderline meanings. From the center to the periphery. The word is the thread that connects Heaven and Earth, man and God".

Galina Yermoshina, poet, literary critic, Znamya magazine, No. 1, 2007 (translated)