ИСТИНА

Afghani literature (in this research the term covers only literature in Pashto) together with Urdu, Kurdish and Turkic is seen as one of the ‘young’ medieval traditions of Iranian World, which took their roots from Persian classics. The development of this literary group in XII-XVII cent. is characterized by orientation towards Arabic-Persian models and creative adaptions of its material and structure. Research on the early stages of such literatures is closely linked to defining which textual etalons from previous tradition were chosen and how they were transformed and translated. Surely, the most suitable research method to meet this target is a comparative one, and this report is aimed at showing the results of its usage. In some cases the above stated processes of the development of a new literary tradition can be tracked within the work of a single author. Thus, in Afghani literature it is an acknowledged founder of a national poetry and prose – Khushkhal-khan Khattak. One of the illustrations of the reception process in Pashto literature is a group of ghazals in which he blamed his sons and, first of all, his successor Bakhram. These ghazals show a wide variety of Khushkhal-khan’s Persian etalons, his way of working with canon and his unique style. Taking classic material from different sources, genres and authors this Afghani poet revived and changed it in the ghazals through inclusion of autobiographic motives, his personal thoughts and beliefs and re-focus to his own literary goals and tasks. The comparative analysis of the poems made it possible to see how the relationship of poet and canon started to change from ‘poet for canon’ to ‘canon for poet’.