The directory «Plots»

Mammadguluzadeh (Məmmədquluzadə) Jalil Huseyngulu oglu
(1866—1932)

Jalil Huseyngulu oglu Mammadguluzadeh was an Azerbaijani satirist and writer of Iranian descent.

Mammadguluzadeh was born in Nakhchivan into an Iranian merchant family from Khoy.[1] In 1887, he graduated from the Gori Pedagogical Seminary and for the next 10 years was involved in teaching at rural schools in Bash-Norashen, Ulukhanli, Nehram and other towns and villages of the Erivan Governorate. Mammadguluzadeh was a strong activist of the language unification movement. He condemned many of his contemporaries for corrupting the Azeri language replacing its genuine vocabulary with the 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 of the Azeri alphabet. In 1898, he moved to Erivan and in 1903, – to Tiflis where he became a columnist for the local «Sharqi-Rus» newspaper published in the Azeri language. In 1906, he founded the «Molla Nasraddin» satirical magazine. Frequent military conflicts and overall political instability in the Caucasus forced him to move to Tabriz, Iran, where he continued his career as a chief-editor and columnist for «Molla Nasraddin». He eventually settled in Baku in 1921.

In 1907, Jalil Mammadguluzadeh married Azerbaijani philantropist and feminist Hamida Javanshir. He died in Baku, in 1932. A drama theatre in Nakhchivan, a street in Baku, the city of Jalilabad (former Astrakhan-Bazaar) and the town of Jalilkand (former Bash-Norashen) were named after him.

In 1905, Mammadguluzadeh and his companions purchased a printing-house in Tiflis, and in 1906 he became the editor of the new «Molla Nasraddin» illustrated satirical magazine. The magazine was Mammadguluzadeh's greatest contribution to Azeri culture, further pursuing the development of critical realism among the Azeri literati. The magazine accurately portrayed social and economic realities of the early-20th century society and backward norms and practices common in the Caucasus. In 1921 (after «Molla Nasraddin» was banned in Russia in 1917), Mammadguluzadeh published 8 more issues of the magazine in Tabriz, Iran. After Sovietization, the printing-house was moved to Baku, where «Molla Nasraddin» was published until 1931. Mammadguluzadeh's satirical style influenced the development of this genre in Iran.

Jalil Mammadguluzadeh wrote in various genres, including short stories, novels, essays, and dramatics. His first significant short story entitled «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.

In addition to his native Azeri, he was also proficient in Persian and Russian languages. After «Molla Nasreddin», Mammadguluzadeh published several other stories including "Freedom in Iran".

Azerbaijan, 2012, Museum of Literature

USSR, 1966, Djalil Mamedkulizade

USSR, 1967.06.05, Baku. Birth centenary of Mammadguluzadeh

USSR, 1966, Djalil Mamedkulizade

USSR, 1978.11.02, Museum of Azerbaijan literature in Baku