Hamza Hakimzade Niyazi
Encyclopedia
Hamza Hakimzade Niyazi, modern Uzbek
: Hamza Hakimzoda Niyoziy, Russian
: Хамза Хакимзаде Ниязи, ' onMouseout='HidePop("53835")' href="/topics/Kokand">Kokand
– March 18, 1929, Shohimardon
) was a Soviet
and Uzbek
poet
and author. He is widely seen as one of the leading figures in the early development of the modern literary tradition of Uzbekistan.
, then in a madrassah. Having organized a free school for the children of the poor, Niyazi devoted himself to the project in the capacity of a teacher. Hisn early writings exhibit strong social-democratic leanings and sharp condemnations of social injustice.
Niyazi ardently supported the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. He joined the All-Russian Communist Party (The Bolsheviks) in 1920 (after 1952 the organization was known as the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
) and, among other things, organized a theater troop for the entertainment of Red Army soldiers.
The author's works generally dealt wish social issues, such as women's rights, social inequality, and the prevalence of superstition.
An ardent supporter of the revolution, Niyazi was stoned to death in the town of Shohimardon
by Islamic fundamentalists
for his anti-religious activities.
In his first novel, Saodat Yangi, Niyazi extols the benefits of education. The book was written to showcase the author's belief in the power of modern education to end "all superstitious nonsense, so detrimental to morale and purpose", and to allow a human being to reach his full potential and improve not only his own life, but also the lives of those around him. Niyazi tells the story of a poorly educated young man who marries and has two children before becoming a drunk and a gambler and eventually leaving the family. His wife takes care of her son, who, in contrast to his father, completes his education. The son then finds his now destitute father and reunites the family.
In Hayot Zaharli Niyazi portrays a young couple, the 18 year-old son of a well-to-do family and the 17-year-old daughter of a craftsman, who's love is thwarted by the inflexible attitudes of the boy's parents, who stick closely to their rigid ideas about social structure. The two young people eventually commit suicide - victims of the feudal class system
Niyazi also wrote "The Bey and The Servant", published from 1917 to 1922, which deals primarily with the revolutionary upheaval in Western Turkestan and with the institution of arranged marriage - the young heroine of the story commits suicide after being forced to marry a man she does not love
One of the author's final works is "Paranji sirlari" ("Secrets of the Veil", 1922) which describes the problems faced by Uzbek women.
In addition to his explicitly political novels, Niyazi is also known for his anthologies of folk songs and melodies. In his anthologies Niyazi collected about 40 songs, mostly from Uzbekistan, but also Kashgar
and Tatar melodies set to music. Niyazi himself was a master of several traditional Uzbek instruments: the dotar and the tanbur
.
Niyazi also wrote two comedies - Tuhmatchilar jazosi ("Punishment of a Slanderer," 1918) and Burungi qozilar yoki Maysaraning ishi (1926).
. His writings were also significant for being "ideologically valuable" in the early years of Soviet power in Uzbekistan; although socialist realism became the "official" style of Uzbek literature only in 1932, Niyazi is generally credited as the founder of the movement. Adeeb Khalid writes in "The Politics of Muslim Cultural Reform", it is difficult to imagine the history of modern Central Asian literature without Niyoziys.
Niyazi's political legacy is complex, although he undoubtedly helped develop the national literature of Uzbekistan, Jadidist (nationalist) writers saw Niyazi pro-Soviet position as inherently un-Uzbek because of its non-national, and political themes. Niyazi also participated in the controversial Uzbek language reforms of the 1920s, which were meant to codify a literary Uzbek language in place of the older, fading Chagatai
, which had been the dominant written form for several centuries. The reforms eventually resulted in a significant shift in spelling and pronunciation.
Uzbek language
Uzbek is a Turkic language and the official language of Uzbekistan. It has about 25.5 million native speakers, and it is spoken by the Uzbeks in Uzbekistan and elsewhere in Central Asia...
: Hamza Hakimzoda Niyoziy, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
: Хамза Хакимзаде Ниязи, ' onMouseout='HidePop("53835")' href="/topics/Kokand">Kokand
Kokand
Kokand is a city in Fergana Province in eastern Uzbekistan, at the southwestern edge of the Fergana Valley. It has a population of 192,500 . Kokand is 228 km southeast of Tashkent, 115 km west of Andijan, and 88 km west of Fergana...
– March 18, 1929, Shohimardon
Shohimardon
Shohimardon is a small town in Fergana Province in eastern Uzbekistan. It is an exclave of Uzbekistan, completely surrounded by Kyrgyzstan, in a valley in the Pamiro-Alai mountains. According to legend, the Caliph Ali was buried in Shohimardon...
) was a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Uzbek
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and author. He is widely seen as one of the leading figures in the early development of the modern literary tradition of Uzbekistan.
Life
Hamza Niyazi was first educated in a maktabMaktab
Maktab , also called kuttab , is an Arabic word meaning elementary schools...
, then in a madrassah. Having organized a free school for the children of the poor, Niyazi devoted himself to the project in the capacity of a teacher. Hisn early writings exhibit strong social-democratic leanings and sharp condemnations of social injustice.
Niyazi ardently supported the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. He joined the All-Russian Communist Party (The Bolsheviks) in 1920 (after 1952 the organization was known as the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
) and, among other things, organized a theater troop for the entertainment of Red Army soldiers.
The author's works generally dealt wish social issues, such as women's rights, social inequality, and the prevalence of superstition.
An ardent supporter of the revolution, Niyazi was stoned to death in the town of Shohimardon
Shohimardon
Shohimardon is a small town in Fergana Province in eastern Uzbekistan. It is an exclave of Uzbekistan, completely surrounded by Kyrgyzstan, in a valley in the Pamiro-Alai mountains. According to legend, the Caliph Ali was buried in Shohimardon...
by Islamic fundamentalists
Islamism
Islamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...
for his anti-religious activities.
Works
His work Niyoziys extolled the revolution and was directly connected with the struggle for social justice and liberation in Uzbekistan . Many of Niyazi's other works, including his poems, dramas and other writings were likewise often written in the turmoil of revolution and describe Niyazi's view of the awakening of Uzbek class consciousness. Niyzai's novels are generally moralistic and focus on showcasing and condemning those aspects of Uzbek society the author considered backward and detrimental to both individual and national development.In his first novel, Saodat Yangi, Niyazi extols the benefits of education. The book was written to showcase the author's belief in the power of modern education to end "all superstitious nonsense, so detrimental to morale and purpose", and to allow a human being to reach his full potential and improve not only his own life, but also the lives of those around him. Niyazi tells the story of a poorly educated young man who marries and has two children before becoming a drunk and a gambler and eventually leaving the family. His wife takes care of her son, who, in contrast to his father, completes his education. The son then finds his now destitute father and reunites the family.
In Hayot Zaharli Niyazi portrays a young couple, the 18 year-old son of a well-to-do family and the 17-year-old daughter of a craftsman, who's love is thwarted by the inflexible attitudes of the boy's parents, who stick closely to their rigid ideas about social structure. The two young people eventually commit suicide - victims of the feudal class system
Niyazi also wrote "The Bey and The Servant", published from 1917 to 1922, which deals primarily with the revolutionary upheaval in Western Turkestan and with the institution of arranged marriage - the young heroine of the story commits suicide after being forced to marry a man she does not love
One of the author's final works is "Paranji sirlari" ("Secrets of the Veil", 1922) which describes the problems faced by Uzbek women.
In addition to his explicitly political novels, Niyazi is also known for his anthologies of folk songs and melodies. In his anthologies Niyazi collected about 40 songs, mostly from Uzbekistan, but also Kashgar
Kashgar
Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
and Tatar melodies set to music. Niyazi himself was a master of several traditional Uzbek instruments: the dotar and the tanbur
Tanbur
The term tanbūr can refer to various long-necked, fretted lutes originating in the Middle East or Central Asia. According to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "terminology presents a complicated situation. Nowadays the term tanbur is applied to a variety of distinct and related...
.
Niyazi also wrote two comedies - Tuhmatchilar jazosi ("Punishment of a Slanderer," 1918) and Burungi qozilar yoki Maysaraning ishi (1926).
Legacy
Niyazi is one of the most important early representatives of a distinctive Uzbek literature. He is generally considered the first Uzbek playwright, the founder of modern Uzbek musical forms, as well as the founder of Uzbek social realismSocial realism
Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic...
. His writings were also significant for being "ideologically valuable" in the early years of Soviet power in Uzbekistan; although socialist realism became the "official" style of Uzbek literature only in 1932, Niyazi is generally credited as the founder of the movement. Adeeb Khalid writes in "The Politics of Muslim Cultural Reform", it is difficult to imagine the history of modern Central Asian literature without Niyoziys.
Niyazi's political legacy is complex, although he undoubtedly helped develop the national literature of Uzbekistan, Jadidist (nationalist) writers saw Niyazi pro-Soviet position as inherently un-Uzbek because of its non-national, and political themes. Niyazi also participated in the controversial Uzbek language reforms of the 1920s, which were meant to codify a literary Uzbek language in place of the older, fading Chagatai
Chagatai language
The Chagatai language is an extinct Turkic language which was once widely spoken in Central Asia, and remained the shared literary language there until the early twentieth century...
, which had been the dominant written form for several centuries. The reforms eventually resulted in a significant shift in spelling and pronunciation.
See Also
- Furqat
- Uzbek languageUzbek languageUzbek is a Turkic language and the official language of Uzbekistan. It has about 25.5 million native speakers, and it is spoken by the Uzbeks in Uzbekistan and elsewhere in Central Asia...
- Alisher Navoi
- Chagatai languageChagatai languageThe Chagatai language is an extinct Turkic language which was once widely spoken in Central Asia, and remained the shared literary language there until the early twentieth century...