Abdulla Shaig

Abdulla Shaig (Azeri: Abdulla Şaiq) (25 February 1881, Tbilisi – 24 July 1959, Baku), born Abdulla Talibzadeh, was an Azerbaijani writer.

Early life and Education

Shaig was born to Azeri parents, Mustafa and Mehri Talibzadeh. His father, a Marneuli-native, was a cleric (akhoond), who taught Islamic law, Persian and Arabic at a secondary school in Tbilisi (then Tiflis). In 1883, due to a strained relationship with her husband, Mehri Talibzadeh moved with her two sons to Khorasan (Iran), where Abdulla Shaig later attended a school. As a teenager, he wrote ghazals and translated a number of pieces from the Russian literature into Persian. In 1901, at the age of 20, he permanently settled in Baku and passed an examination at the First Alexandrian Gymnasium becoming a certified teacher. He worked in the field of public education for the next 33 years.

Works

Shaig was a romanticist and a children's author. His plays and folklore-oriented tales first started being published in local newspapers and magazines in 1906. Later he was also known for writing short stories that illustrated bitter consequences of poverty and economic ordeals faced by the working class in pre-Soviet Russia. This made Shaig's works particularly popular in the Soviet Union. His celebration of internationalism and pacifism earned him great success as a writer. Despite his academic work aimed at promoting Azeri culture and somewhat open anti-Stalinist views, he is not believed to have been persecuted by the state.

Shaig managed literature with his teaching career. He was the author of many language and literature textbooks, published from 1909 through 1920. During Azerbaijan's brief independence in 1918–1920 he showed strong idealogical support for the ruling party of Musavat.

He also translated numerous works by Shakespeare, Defoe, Pushkin, Lermontov, Krylov, Gorky, Nekrasov, Nizami, and Firdowsi into Azeri.

Some of Shaig's famous works include:

• Undelivered Letter
• Lady Tigtig
• We're all Rays from the Same Sun
• Heroes of Our Century

External links

• Undelivered Letter by Abdulla Shaig (online version) at Azer.com