The Emergence and Historical Development of The Letter-Writing Tradition In Uzbekistan

This article examines the emergence and historical development of the letter-writing tradition in the cultural and literary history of present-day Uzbekistan. Particular attention is paid to the formation of epistolary practices in Central Asia, the influence of Persian and Turkic traditions of official and private correspondence, the development of the art of insha and munsha’at, and the role of Alisher Navoi in establishing letter writing as a significant form of literary prose in Chagatai Turkic. The article also considers the continuation of epistolary traditions during the period of Zahiriddin Muhammad Babur, the khanates of Central Asia, the Jadid movement, the Soviet period, and the years of independence. It is argued that correspondence in Uzbek cultural history developed from a practical means of communication into an important literary, historical, documentary, and cultural phenomenon.