Tajik literature and its history are bound up with the standardisation of the

Tajik language Tajik, Tajik Persian, Tajiki Persian, also called Tajiki, is the variety of Persian spoken in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan by ethnic Tajiks. It is closely related to neighbouring Dari of Afghanistan with which it forms a continuum of mutually inte ...

. Tajik literary centres include the cities of

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

and

Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...

, currently in present-day

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

but with a majority Tajik population and

Balkh Balkh is a town in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan. It is located approximately to the northwest of the provincial capital city Mazar-i-Sharif and approximately to the south of the Amu Darya and the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan border. In 2021 ...

and

Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

in Afghanistan. During the

Soviet era The history of the Soviet Union (USSR) (1922–91) began with the ideals of the Russian Bolshevik Revolution and ended in dissolution amidst economic collapse and political disintegration. Established in 1922 following the Russian Civil War, ...

, the principal literary output was socialist realism in nature. Three writers dominated the first generation of Soviet Tajik literature. Sadriddin Aini (1878–1954), a Jadidist writer and educator who turned communist, began as a poet but wrote primarily prose in the Soviet era. His works include three major novels dealing with social issues in the region and memoirs that depict life in the Bukhoro Khanate. Aini became the first president of Tajikistan's Academy of Sciences. Abu'l-Qasem Lahuti (1887–1957; in Tajik, Abdulqosim Lohuti) was an Iranian poet who immigrated to the Soviet Union for political reasons and eventually settled in Tajikistan. He wrote both lyric poetry and "socialist realist" verse. Another poet, Mirzo Tursunzoda (1911–1977), collected Tajik oral literature, wrote poetry of his own about social change in Tajikistan, and turned out various works on popular political themes of the moment. Since the generation that included those three writers, Tajikistan has produced numerous poets, novelists, short story writers, and playwrights. Other writers of note during the Soviet period include Satim Ulugzade (1911–1997),

Karim Hakim Hakim Karim (1905–1942) was a Tajiks, Tajik Soviet writer. He was born in Khujand and was educated in a Russian school. He lived in Aktyubinsk for a while, before moving to the capital Dushanbe in 1925 to head the agitprop department of the Tajik ...

(1905–1942), Pairov Sulaimoni (1899–1933), Rozia Ozod (1893–1957), Aminjan Shokuhi (1923–??), Mohammad Jan Rahimi (1901–??), Bobo Yunas (1885–1945), Habibulo Nazarov (1907–??), Abdul Salem Dehati (1911–??), Baki Rahim Zadeh (1910–??), Rahim Jalil (1909–??), Jalal Ekrami (1909–??), Aminzadeh Mohiedin (1904–??), Juhari Zadeh Sohayli (1900–??), Faizollah Ansari (1931–??), Mirzo Ghafar (1929–??), Mir Shakar (1912–??), Mohiadin Farhat (1924–??) and Ahmad Danesh.

Notable writers

* Sadriddin Aini * Mirzo Abdulvohid Munzim * Pairav Sulaimoni * Abulqosim Lohuti * Sadri Ziyo * Sotym Ulughzoda * Mirzo Tursunzoda *

Laiq Sher-Ali Layeq Sherali (1941–2000, in Tajik alphabet, Tajiki/Persian alphabet, Persian: Лоиқ Шералӣ/لائق شیرعلی, sometimes also Romanised as Laeq or Laiq or Loiq) was a Tājik people, Tajik poet, Iranology, Iranologist and one of th ...

* Bozor Sobir * Muhammadjon Shukurov * Sattor Tursun * Бободжон Гафуров

References

* Perry, J. R. (1996) "Tajik literature: Seventy years is longer than the millennium" in ''World Literature Today'', Vol. 70 Issue 3, p. 571 * Library of Congress - Country Studies - Tajikistan Iranic literature Tajik language {{Tajikistan-stub

Notable writers

See also

References