This study gives a general description of the "literature of the peoples
of the USSR", presents the key features of the creative manner of
Chingiz Aitmatov, an outstanding Kyrgyz Soviet writer, one of the few
representatives of multinational Soviet literature who have earned
international recognition. Special attention is paid to the key literary text
of the prose writer, from which, in fact, his creative biography began —
the story Jamila, published in 1958. The authors of the article focus on
the structure of the central character, a young woman from a distant
Kyrgyz village, who found the strength in the name of love to
overcome the pressure of national tradition, which very rigidly
determined the social role and fate of a woman. The portrait
characteristic of Jamila is analyzed in detail; her psychological features,
which are most clearly manifested in comparison with other heroes of
this story; the logic of her character development, first of all, the
reasons for the break with the traditional way of life. The conclusions
note that Aitmatov's story should be decoded today in the logic of the
study of human character, which was formed in the Russian classics.