Abdulla Qodiriy (April 10, 1894 – October 4, 1938) was an Uzbek playwright, poet, writer, and literary translator. Qodiriy was one of the most influential Uzbek writers of the 20th century. He introduced

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *American Realism *Classical Realism *Liter ...

into Uzbek literature through his historical novels and influenced many other

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

n novelists.. Qodiriy wrote under various pen names, the most renowned being Julqunboy. His early works were influenced by the

Jadid The Jadid movement or Jadidism was an Turco-Islamic modernist political, religious, and cultural movement in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th century. They normally referred to themselves by the Tatar terms ''Taraqqiparvarlar ...

movement. Qodiriy was executed during the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

under the leadership of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

Life

Abdulla Qodiriy was born on April 10, 1894, in

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

, then

Russian Turkestan Russian Turkestan () was a colony of the Russian Empire, located in the western portion of the Central Asian region of Turkestan. Administered as a Krai or Governor-Generalship, it comprised the oasis region to the south of the Kazakh Steppe, b ...

. His father, Qodirbobo, was 74 years old when Qodiriy was born. Qodiriy did a variety of menial jobs before a merchant hired him as a book copier. He became interested in writing in the middle of the 1910s. Qodiriy was briefly arrested in 1926 for his article "Yigʻindi gaplar" ("A Collection of Rumors") that was published in ''

Mushtum ''Mushtum'' (fist in Uzbek) is an Uzbek satire and humor magazine published since 1923. It was founded by Abdulla Qodiriy. In 1927, the magazine began to cooperate with the ''Krokodil'', a similar Russian magazine. ''Mushtum'' has been a startin ...

''. Later, he enjoyed the protection and patronage of the Uzbek communist party leader,

Akmal Ikramov Akmal Ikramovich Ikramov (Russia: Акмаль Икрамович Икрамов; Uzbek: Akmal Ikromovich Ikromov; 1898 – 13 March 1938) was an Uzbek politician active in Uzbek SSR politics and served as the First Secretary of the Central Com ...

, but was left exposed by Ikramov's arrest in 1937. He was arrested again on December 31, 1937, as "

enemy of the people The terms enemy of the people and enemy of the nation are designations for the political opponents and the social class, social-class opponents of the Power (social and political), power group within a larger social unit, who, thus identified, ...

". He was executed on October 4, 1938, in Tashkent.

Work

Qodiriy's most famous works are the historical novels '' Oʻtgan kunlar'' (''Bygone Days'') (1922) and '' Mehrobdan chayon'' (''Scorpion in the Pulpit'') (1929). ''Oʻtgan kunlar'' is the first full-length novel by an Uzbek author. Qodiriy's stories ''Kalvak Mahzumning xotira daftaridan'' (''From Mahzum the Simpleton's Diary'') and ''Toshpoʻlat tajang nima deydir?'' (''What Does Irritate Toshpoʻlat Say?'') are considered to be some of the best

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

stories in Uzbek. Qodiriy also wrote many plays and numerous newspaper articles. He was fluent in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

. Qodiriy translated into the

Uzbek language Uzbek is a Karluk Turkic language spoken by Uzbeks. It is the official and national language of Uzbekistan and formally succeeded Chagatai, an earlier Karluk language endonymically called or , as the literary language of Uzbekistan in the 19 ...

the works of many

writers, such as

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...

and

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

. In particular, he translated Gogol's ''

Marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

'' (1842) into Uzbek. He is rumoured to have written another novel, ''Emir Umar's Slave Girl,'' set in the early nineteenth century during the reigns of Emir Umar, khan of

Kokand Kokand ( ) is a city in Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan, at the southwestern edge of the Fergana Valley. Administratively, Kokand is a district-level city, that includes the urban-type settlement Muqimiy. The population of Kokand was ap ...

, and his son, Matali. This novel (if it existed) is assumed to have been destroyed by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

after Qodiriy's arrest. Oybek's 1935 pamphlet criticizing his novels was used as evidence in his prosecution before he was executed.

In literature

Qodiriy is the central character in the novel ''Jinlar bazmi yoxud katta o'yin'' (''The Devils' Dance'') by

Hamid Ismailov Hamid Ismailov () () born May 5, 1954, in Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan, is an Uzbek journalist and writer who was forced to flee Uzbekistan in 1992 and came to the United Kingdom, where he took a job with the BBC World Service. He left the BBC on 30 April ...

, published in Tashkent in 2016, and translated into English in 2018. This is a fictionalised account of Qodiriy's arrest, interrogation and execution, containing within it Ismailov's version of Qodiriy's last, lost novel, which the author imagines him composing in his head while he is in prison.

Legacy

The Tashkent State Institute of Culture in Tashkent was named after Qodiriy (spelt Kadiri); in 2012 this institute merged with the Uzbekistan Institute of Arts to become the

Uzbekistan State Institute of Arts and Culture Uzbekistan State Institute of Arts and Culture (UzSIAC), based on the original Ostrovsky Institute and created by merging the Uzbekistan Institute of Arts and Tashkent State Institute of Culture in 2012, is a state-run higher education institut ...

. Children : Khabibulla Qodiriy, Adiba Abdullaeva, Anisa Abdullaeva, Nazifa Abdullaeva, Masud Abdullaev.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qodiriy, Abdulla 1894 births 1938 deaths Uzbekistani translators Uzbekistani novelists Uzbekistani male poets Uzbekistani male short story writers Writers from Tashkent Translators from Russian Translators from Tatar Translators to Uzbek Soviet male poets Soviet poets 20th-century translators 20th-century Uzbekistani poets Male novelists 20th-century short story writers Soviet novelists Soviet dramatists and playwrights Great Purge victims from Uzbekistan 20th-century Uzbekistani writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers