Jalil Mammadguluzade
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Jalil Huseyngulu oghlu Mammadguluzadeh (, ; 22 February 1869 – 4 January 1932), was an Azerbaijani
satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Early satirical authors *Aes ...
and
writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...
. He was the founder of ''Molla Nasraddin'', a satirical magazine that would greatly influence the genre in the
Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
and
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 ...
. Mammadguluzadeh is considered to be one of the first women's rights activists in
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
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, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
. He first joined 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 (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
ian, and was proud of the fact that his ancestors hailed from Iran. In 1882 he joined the Gori Pedagogical Seminary in the Georgian city of Gori and it was here that he developed his worldview. In 1887, he graduated from the Gori Pedagogical Seminary 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 16th ...
), Ulukhanli, Nehram and other towns and villages of the
Erivan Governorate The Erivan Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its centеr in Erivan (present-day Yerevan). Its area was 27,830 sq. kilometеrs, roughly corresponding to what is now most of central ...
. Mammadguluzadeh was a strong activist of the language unification. He condemned many of his contemporaries for what he considered a corruption of the Azerbaijani 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 In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...
of the
Azerbaijani alphabet The Azerbaijani alphabet (, , ) has three versions which includes the Arabic script, Arabic, Latin script, Latin, and Cyrillic alphabets. Azerbaijani language#North Azerbaijani, North Azerbaijani, the official language of Azerbaijan, Republic ...
.


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 ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...
; in 1903, he moved to
Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...
where he became a columnist for the local ''Sharqi-Rus'' newspaper published in the
Azerbaijani language Azerbaijani ( ; , , ) or Azeri ( ), also referred to as Azerbaijani Turkic or Azerbaijani Turkish (, , ), is a Turkic languages, Turkic language from the Oghuz languages, Oghuz sub-branch. It is spoken primarily by the Azerbaijanis, Azerbaij ...
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. 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 spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
forced him to move to
Tabriz Tabriz (; ) is a city in the Central District (Tabriz County), Central District of Tabriz County, in the East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province of northwestern Iran. It serves as capital of the province, the county, and the distric ...
,
Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
, 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 Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
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 ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...
, 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 Azerbaijani, 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 spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
. The Magazine uses illustrations, mainly by
Josef Rotter Josef Rotter (fl. 1902–14) was a teacher, illustrator, and editorial cartoonist of German or Austrian origin, most noted for his contribution to the '' Molla Nasreddin'' magazine. Early life and education Rotter's date and place of birth are no ...
and
Oskar Schmerling Oskar or Oscar Schmerling (; , Stavropol, 1867 – Tiflis, 1938) was a Russian and Georgian illustrator of ethnic German background. Early life Oskar Schmerling was born into a Lutheran German family in the North Caucasian city of Stavropol o ...
, 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 ( ) 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 modeled after the Soviet Union. A notable wave of Sovietization (in the second me ...
, the printing-house was moved to
Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...
. 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 (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
. 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 (; 19 January 1873 – 6 February 1955) was an Azerbaijani activist and one of the first enlightened women of Azerbaijan, wife of Jalil Mammadguluzadeh, daughter of historian Ahmad Bey Javanshir, philanthropist, ...
. He died in
Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...
in 1932, aged 65.


Literature

Mammadguluzadeh wrote in various genres, including
short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...
,
novels A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of '' ...
,
essays An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...
, and
dramatics Theatre studies (sometimes referred to as theatrology or dramatics) is the study of theatrical performance in relation to its literary, physical, psychological, sociological, and historical contexts. It is an interdisciplinary field which also enco ...
. 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 an atheist, others view him as a modernist and an advocate for Islamic democracy. However, his criticism of the religious orthodoxy and religious conservatism 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 Aligulu Gamgusar or Aligulu Alekper oglu Najafov ( Azerbaijani: ''Əliqulu Məşədi Ələkbər oğlu Nəcəfov''; b. 24 May 1889, Nakhcivan, Russian Empire – d. Tiflis, Georgian Democratic Republic, 14 March 1919) was an Azerbaijani poet, jou ...


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'', AZER.com, Vol. 7:1 (Spring 1999), pp. 24–26.

by Jalil Mammadguluzadeh (written in the late 1920s). ''Azerbaijan International,'' AZER.com, 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 1869 births 1932 deaths People from Khoy People from Nakhchivan Transcaucasian Teachers Seminary alumni Magazine founders Writers from the Russian Empire