I am in the middle of (actually on the second volume!) going through Great Turkmenbashi's Magnum Opus. It is called
Ruhnama or "Book of the Spirit" and I have to admit it is the best book ever written by a crazed dictator. I have read them all - I went through Das Capital (abridged), and Little Red Book by Mao, and (in my youth) through Che's Diaries. I read Qaddafi's Green Book too. But they are all dwarfed by Asiatic splendor of this one. Most of those other books are full practical advice of how to run a dictatorship or start a revolution. Not so Niyazov, who claimed divinity - a rare thing in our day and age. Without breaking away from Islam - he send himself (by a jumbled and incoherent style of the book I assume it was him who wrote, or at least dictated it) on an interesting spiritual journey through mysticism and Islamic heterodoxy. His poetry is childish but sincere in its attempts to deify Turkmen nation and its spirit. Good thing it did not work.
It starts most strongly in the prophetic vein:
This book, written with the help of inspiration sent to my heart by the God who created this wonderful universe I wrote this book containing the nation spirit,
its morality and historical immortality. My dear Turkmen nation, in order to urge your soul and mind to fulfill these duties an to raise a strong faith in your heart for self-confidence, and to be a support to you, I have written this book, Ruhnama. You are the meaning of my life and source of my strength.
4 comments:
Ye gods, Hazar, you have a superhuman fortitude. Das Capital, the Little Red Book, Che's Diaries and Qaddafi's Green Book! I'm not impressed; I'm overwhelmed. There can't be more than three people in the world (not on 24-hour watch against self-harm) who have read all those books. (I realised many years ago that I was not man enough.) And I know one of those three! I'm going to have to boast about it. I can't not boast about it.
Listen to you two! It's a bit sinister that book collection. What do they talk about Nazim? And what attracts you to this sort of literature. I too am impressed that you seem to have managed to get through them unscathed.
Riri - I dont know why. I think if I were given an absolute grip over a country or two, I would have made some things like this, definetly would have written the book of poetry. Like forcing all to learn how to dance well, or force-feed them history and philosophy. Something like - quote from Seneca or go to jail. I can only envy those people who had all these power to do stuff, like pharaohs of the old. If you go to Turkmenistan you'd understand what I mean.
Dude - am sick and tired of this book of the bloody spirit nonsense. UPDATE this fecking blog NOW! *blush + mischivious smile*
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