Azerbaijani literature

However, the decision to adopt these poetic forms wholesale led to two important further consequences:[4] the poetic meters (Azerbaijani: aruz) of Persian poetry were adopted; Azerbaijani folk literature is an oral tradition deeply rooted, in its form, in Central Asian nomadic traditions.

However, in its themes, Azerbaijani folk literature reflects the problems peculiar to a settling (or settled) people who have abandoned the nomadic lifestyle.One example of this is the series of folktales surrounding the figure of Keloğlan, a young boy beset with the difficulties of finding a wife, helping his mother to keep the family house intact, and dealing with the problems caused by his neighbors.

The development of folk poetry in Turkic —which began to emerge in the 13th century with such important writers as Yunus Emre, Sultan Veled, and Şeyyâd Hamza—was given a great boost when, on 13 May 1277, Karamanoğlu Mehmet Bey declared Turkic the official state language of Anatolia's powerful Karamanid state;[8] subsequently, many of the tradition's greatest poets would continue to emerge from this region.

The aşıqs were essentially minstrels who travelled through Anatolia performing their songs on the bağlama, a mandolin-like instrument whose paired strings are considered to have a symbolic religious significance in Alevi/Bektashi culture.

This was because they were produced by revered religious figures in the literate environment of the təkyə, as opposed to the milieu of the aşıq/ozan tradition, where the majority could not read or write.

Moreover, until the 19th century, Safavid prose did not contain any examples of fiction; that is, there were no counterparts to, for instance, the European romance, short story, or novel (though analogous genres did, to some extent, exist in both the Turkish folk tradition and in Divan poetry).

From the Persian poetry that largely inspired it, it inherited a wealth of symbols whose meanings and interrelationships—both of similitude (مراعات نظير müraat-i nəzir / تناسب tənasüb) and opposition (تضاد təzad)—were more or less prescribed.

As for the development of Divan poetry over the more than 500 years of its existence, that is—as the Ottomanist Walter G. Andrews points out—a study still in its infancy;[9] clearly defined movements and periods have not yet been decided upon.

Azerbaijani poets although they had been inspired and influenced by classical Persian poetry, it would be a superficial judgment to consider the former as blind imitators of the latter, as is often done.

There were, however, other common genres, most particularly the məsnəvi, a kind of verse romance and thus a variety of narrative poetry; the two most notable examples of this form are the Leyli və Məcnun (ليلى و مجنون) of Füzuli and the Hüsn ü eşq (حسن و عشق; "Beauty and Love") of Şeyx Qalib.

Among the poets of this period were Kadi Burhan al-Din, Haqiqi (pen-name of Jahan-shah Qara Qoyunlu), Habibi,[15] and Kishvari.

[23] Geoffery Lewis believes an older substratum of these oral traditions dates to conflicts between the ancient Oghuz and their Turkish rivals in Central Asia (the Pechenegs and the Kipchaks), however this substratum has been clothed in references to the 14th-century campaigns of the Aq Qoyunlu Confederation of Turkic tribes against the Georgians, the Abkhaz, and the Greeks in Trabzon.

During the same period, under the pen-name of Khatāī (Arabic: خطائی for sinner) Shah Ismail I wrote about 1400 verses in Azerbaijani,[25] which were later published as his Divan.

[26] In the span of the 17th century and 18th century, Fizuli's unique genres as well Ashik poetry were taken up by prominent poets and writers such as Qovsi of Tabriz, Shah Abbas Sani, Agha Mesih Shirvani, Nishat, Molla Vali Vidadi, Molla Panah Vagif, Amani, Zafar and others.

The fascination with language is seen in the work of Mirzə Cəlil Məmmədquluzadə who was an influential figure in the development of Azerbaijani nationalism in Soviet Azerbaijan.

Məmmədqulzadə, who was also the founder of the satirical journal Molla Nasraddin, wrote the play Anamın kitabı (My Mother's Book) in 1920 in Karabakh.

Among them were Mahammad Hadi, Abbas Sahhat, Huseyn Javid, Abdulla Shaig, Jafar Jabbarly, and Mikayil Mushfig, who in their search for a means of resistance,[29] turned to the clandestine methodologies of Sufism, which taught spiritual discipline as a way to combat temptation.

From writers of modern Azerbaijan, the most famous were the screenwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov and the author of the detective novels Chingiz Abdullayev, who wrote exclusively in Russian.

Poetry is represented by famous poets Nariman Hasanzade, Khalil Rza, Sabir Novruz, Vagif Samadoghlu, Nusrat Kesemenli, Ramiz Rovshan, Hamlet Isakhanli, Zalimkhan Yagub, etc.

Among modern Azerbaijani playwrights, F. Goja, Elchin, K. Abdullah, A. Masud, G. Miralamov, E. Huseynbeyli, A. Ragimov, R. Akber, A. Amirley, and others.

The framework of the new Azerbaijani prose is expanded by elements of the detective, fiction, anti-utopia, Turkic mythology, eastern surrealism.

After gaining independence in Azerbaijan, an important role was played by the liberation of the occupied territories, love of the Motherland and justice.

The Karabakh war left its misprint in the modern Azerbaijani literature: such writers as G. Anargizy, M. Suleymanly, A. Rahimov, S. Ahmedli, V. Babally, K. Nezirli, A. Kuliev, A. Abbas, M. Bekirli turned to the themes of the fate of refugees, longing for the lost Shusha, Khojaly massacre, cruelty of war, etc.

Persons who have exceptional services in the development of Azerbaijani culture are awarded with orders and medals in accordance with Article 109.2 of the Constitution of Azerbaijan.

On November 10, 2008 Mehriban Aliyeva, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, spoke at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of M.Pashayev.

[35][33] Hundreds of books have been published based on the decree of the President, dated 12 January 2004, on “The implementation of mass editions in the Azerbaijani language (Latin)".

The president signed an order on June 1, 2012, to allocate from the Presidential Reserve Fund AZN 5 million to construct this museum.