Jalil Mammadguluzadeh
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Jalil Huseyngulu oghlu Mammadguluzadeh ( az, Cəlil Məmmədquluzadə; 22 February 1869 – 4 January 1932), was an Azerbaijani satirist and writer. He was the founder of ''Molla Nasraddin'', a satirical magazine that would greatly influence the genre in the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
and
Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
. Mammadguluzadeh is considered to be one of the first women's rights activists in Azerbaijan and Middle East and had a big role in founding the first women's magazine in Azerbaijan.


Biography


Early life

Mammadguluzadeh was born in the territory of the modern-day Nakhchivan exclave of
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
. He entered first ecclesiastical school and went to Nakhchivan city school and learned Russian at the age of thirteen. Mammadguluzadeh considered himself to be
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
ian, and was proud of the fact that his ancestors hailed from Iran. In 1882 he enter the Gori Pedagogical Seminary in the georgian city of gori and is here he developed his world view. In 1887, he graduated from the
Gori Pedagogical Seminary The Transcaucasian Teachers Seminary (russian: Закавказская учительская семинария) in Gori (present-day Georgia) was a 4-year specialized secondary school in the Russian Empire in 1876–1917 aimed at professional ...
and for the next ten years was involved in teaching at rural schools in Bashnorashen (
Sharur Sharur ( ) is a city in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan. It is the administrative centre of the Sharur District. The city is located 66 km northwest of Nakhchivan city, on the Sharur plain. History In a manuscript of the 16t ...
), Ulukhanli, Nehram and other towns and villages of the
Erivan Governorate The Erivan Governorate was a province (''guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917), Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its centеr in Erivan (present-day Yerevan). Its area was 27,830 sq. kilometеrs, roughly correspondin ...
. Mammadguluzadeh was a strong activist of the language unification. He condemned many of his contemporaries for what he considered a corruption of the Azeri language by replacing its genuine vocabulary with newly introduced Russian, Persian and Ottoman Turkish loanwords, often alien and confusing to many readers. Later he became deeply involved in the process of
Romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
of the Azeri alphabet.


Career

After completing his education in 1887 he moved to the village in the Irevan province to be a teacher. In 1898, he moved to
Erivan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and in ...
; in 1903, he moved to
Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...
where he became a columnist for the local ''Sharqi-Rus'' newspaper published in the
Azeri Azerbaijanis (; az, Azərbaycanlılar, ), Azeris ( az, Azərilər, ), or Azerbaijani Turks ( az, Azərbaycan Türkləri, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic people living mainly in Azerbaijan (Iran), northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republi ...
language where he published his first short story the Postbox after is read by the writer Muhammad agha Shakhtakhtinski he encouraged him to publish in Sharqi-Rus. In March of 1903, he met one of a close friend and colleague Omar Faig Nemanzade who also becomes a prominent journalist in his own right. however, Sharqi-Rus didn't last long and only after publishing for two years in 1905 it was shut down. In March of 1905 after the closing of Sharqi-Rus and, he requested the government to published newspaper Novruz and were granted in summer of 1905 however he felt that he is limited in the range of content on the newspaper and relinquished the rights to Igbal newspaper owned by M.M. Vakilov. So In 1906, founded a satirical magazine entitled '' Molla Nasraddin''. Frequent military conflicts and overall political instability in the
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
forced him to move to
Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...
,
Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, where he continued his career as a chief-editor and columnist for ''Molla Nasraddin''. In the early days of the Magazine, It was banned in Iran and Turkey and in a satirical article in response to banned in issue of Molla Nasraddin no.36 6 December 1906 "We decided to increase our readership a little by distributing calendars and booklets; but that goddamn devil; everyday he comes to us and insists, for example, that we write that in Tabriz the successor to the throne assembles his ‘humble’ robbers and sends them to ransack Iran’s villages and cities and distributes part of the booty between them, keeping the rest for himself." He eventually settled in Baku in 1921. Mammadguluzadeh is considered to be one of the first feminists in Azerbaijan and Middle East and had a big role in founding the first women's magazine in Azerbaijan.


''Molla Nasraddin''

In 1905, Mammadguluzadeh and his companions purchased a printing-house in
Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...
, and in 1906 he became the editor of the new '' Molla Nasraddin'' illustrated satirical magazine. The Name Molla Nasraddin come to form the 13th-century Turkish cleric and a fool and name Nasruddin who stories often have a moral lesson. In Azari, the word Nasraddin it means "to tell it like it is" telling the reader that the magazine's ability is showing the political reality. The magazine accurately portrayed the social and economic realities of the early-20th-century society and backward norms and practices common in the
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
. The Magazine uses illustrations to reach the illiterate audience. Using stock character, simple illustrations, and symbolic language to attack the conservative religious mores and authoritarianism. In 1921 (after ''Molla Nasraddin'' was banned in Russia in 1917), Mammadguluzadeh published eight more issues of the magazine in Tabriz, Persia. After
Sovietization Sovietization (russian: Советизация) is the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets (workers' councils) or the adoption of a way of life, mentality, and culture modelled after the Soviet Union. This often included ...
, the printing-house was moved to
Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...
. After Sovietization, Molla Nasreddin was under increasing pressure to toe the Soviet party line unwilling to comply to the demand'' Molla Nasraddin'' stopped it published in 1931. Mammadguluzadeh's satirical style influenced the development of this genre in the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
. Writers of the first satirical magazines in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were influenced by Jalil Mammadguluzadeh and ''Molla Nasraddin''


Personal life and death

In 1907, the twice-widowed Mammadguluzadeh married Azerbaijani philanthropist and feminist-activist
Hamida Javanshir Hamida Ahmad bey qizi Javanshir ( az, Həmidə Cavanşir) (19 January 1873 – 6 February 1955) – One of the first enlightened women of Azerbaijan, wife of Jalil Mammadguluzadeh, daughter of historian Ahmad Bey Javanshir, philanthropist, transl ...
. He died in
Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...
in 1932, aged 65.


Literature

Mammadguluzadeh wrote in various genres, including short stories,
novels A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...
, essays, and
dramatics Theatre studies (sometimes referred to as theatrology or dramatics) is the study of theatrical performance in relation to its literary, physical, psychobiological, sociological, and historical contexts. It is an interdisciplinary field which also e ...
. His first significant short story, "The Disappearance of the Donkey" (part of his ''Stories from the village of Danabash'' series), written in 1894 and published in 1934, touched upon social inequality. In his later works (''The Postbox'', ''The Iranian Constitution'', ''Gurban Ali bey'', ''The Lamb'', etc.), as well as in his famous comedies ''The Corpses'' and ''The Madmen Gathering'' he ridiculed corruption, snobbery, ignorance, religious fanaticism, etc. He wrote the tragedy namely "Kamança" that was dedicated to Karabakh problem.


Religious views

Mammadguluzadeh's religious views are disputed and while some argue that he was atheist while others view him as modernist and the want Islamic democracy. However, his view criticism of the religious orthodoxy and religious conservativism made him a lot of the enemies in the religious conservative community. Azerbaijani philosopher Agalar Mammedov claimed that Jalil Mammadguluzadeh was atheist, however, no definitive evidence exists supporting the claim that Mammadguluzadeh was either an atheist, or a religious liberal or moderate.


See also

* Aligulu Gamgusar


Notes


References


Sources

*


External links


The Postbox
by Jalil Mammadguluzadeh (a short story, written in 1903 and published in the ''Sharqi-Rus'' in 1904). ''Azerbaijan International'', Vol. 7.1. (Spring 1999), pp. 24–26.

by Jalil Mammadguluzadeh (written in the late 1920s). ''Azerbaijan International,'' Vol. 7.1 (Spring 1999), pp. 30–33.
Selected Works of Jalil Mammadguluzadeh
edited by Isa Habibbayli, in Azeri (includes most of the works of Jalil Mammadguluzade), 2008.

in Azeri {{DEFAULTSORT:Mammadguluzadeh, Jalil Azerbaijani-language writers Azerbaijani satirists 1866 births 1932 deaths People from Khoy People from Nakhchivan Transcaucasian Teachers Seminary alumni