Karataev, Mukhamedzhan

Born Dec. 27, 1910, in Kzyl-Orda Oblast; Soviet literary critic; academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR (1975). Became a member of the CPSU in 1956.

Karataev’s literary career began in 1933. His articles of literary criticism analyzed the work of Abai Kunanbaev, S. Seifullin, and M. Auezov. His main works are Born of October (1958), Il’ias Dzhansugurov (1959), the collection of articles Kazakh Literature (1960), Saken Seifullin (1964), The Development of Socialist Realism in Kazakh Prose (1965), and From the Dombra to the Book (1969). He wrote (with K. N. Altaiskii) a novel about the working class, Whistle in the Steppe (1960). He became editor in chief of the Kazakh Soviet Encyclopedia in 1968. He was awarded three orders and several medals.