This edition is Mukhtar Shahanov’s authorized reprint of Walter May translation of The Plaint of the Hunter Above the Abyss book initially published by Atamura in 1998. This is a book-dialogue between two famous pundits, the renowned Kirghizian novelist Chingiz Aitmatov and the legendary Kazakh poet Mukhtar Shakhanov - defending their fundamental faith in the spiritual resources of each and every human being. As such, they explore the moral significance of endlessly recurrent existential dislocations characterising everyone’s sense of Personalist encounter with the world around them. A discussion taking them through the riddles posed by ancient philosophies, Turkic histories, African priest-magicians, two-fanged poisonous fish, modern zombism, and Genghis Khan’s Golden Hoard: all the way to power politics in the Kremlin, the risks taken by Premier Mikhail Gorbachev as well as the duties, not to mention the obligations, of writers serving in the sphere of international public affairs.