Literature of Azerbaijan |
Azerb.com
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During Stalin's reign, like elsewhere in the Soviet Union, many of the country's writers and artists were victims of the great purge, either exiled or executed.
Historically the poet Nizami Ganjavi dominates Azeri literature (born in Ganca, although the Iranians claim him as being a Persian author). Among his works one should mention: the didactic poem "The Treasure house of Mysteries" written in 1173 and containing twenty chapters and "talks," with preaching and parables woven into the fabric of the narrative; his historico-philosophical poem "Iskandar-Nama" (Alexander the Great), his lyric poems that glorify the purifying and ennobling love of "Khosrow and Shirin" (1181) "Seven Beauties" (1197), and "Layla and Majnun" (1188).
The story of "Layla and Majnun" is one of the best known legends of the Orient, both a touching love story and a profound spiritual allegory. The two lovers of this classic tale are remembered to this day in the poems and songs from the Caucasus to the interior of Africa, and from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.
Nizami collected a number of folk versions and shaped them into a single narrative poem of some 4,000 stanzas near the end of the twelfth century. Compared for its beauty and genius to Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", the Sufis consider Nizami's "Layla and Majnun" an important parable of religious experience. Majnun, through his great love for Layla, is able to transcend individual identity and becomes the Beloved.
"Ali and Nino": is the quintessential Baku historical love story, is an adventure romance published under the pseudonym Kurban Said, the pen name of Baku-born Jewish author Lev Nussimbaum. The novel is set shortly before and after the Russian revolution. Ali Khan Shirvanshir, descendant of a noble Muslim family, is educated in a Russian boy's college. While his father is still completely a part of Asia, Ali is exposed to Western values in school and through his love for Georgian Christian girl, Nino, who belongs to the European world. The book describes the love of Ali for Nino, as well as the Ali Khan Shirvanshir's travels to Daghestan, Karabakh, Georgia and Iran.
Should you become interested in deepening
your knowledge of Azeri literature, only the classic works are available
in Western European languages, e.g.:
Chosrou und Schirin;
(German)
Ganjavi, Nizami; DTV, Munich, 1993 ISBN: 3423240296 Die Abenteuer des Königs
Bahram und seiner sieben Prinzessinnen. (German)
Die sieben Geschichten
der sieben Prinzessinnen; (German)
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Haft Paykar; (English)
Ganjavi, Nizami; Oxford Paperbacks, 1995 ISBN: 0192831844 Layla and Majnun; (English)
Leila und Madschnun; (German)
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Books about Azerbaijan |
Armenia, Azerbaijan,
and Georgia
Curtis, Glenn; Claitors Pub Div., 1995 ISBN: 9996317617 Azerbaijan Diary: A Rogue
Reporter's Adventures in an Oil-rich, War-torn Post-Soviet Republic;
Azerbaijan - Land of Fire;
(pictorial
book)
Azerbaijan - Then and
Now;
Azerbaijan with Georgia;
Baku - A Guide;
Doing Business with Azerbaijan
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Georgia, Armenia, and
Azerbaijan - Former Soviet States;
Roberts, Elizabeth and Akiner, Sharon; Millbrook Press, 1992 ISBN: 156294309X History of Azerbaijan
Oil and Azerbaijan;
Russia and Azerbaijan;
(historical
and political)
The Azerbaijani Turks:
Power and Identity Under Russian Rule
The Investor's Guidebook:
Armenia, Azerbaijan;
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Bookshops in Baku |
Akademkniga
51 Istiglaliyat Tel: 922 230 Azerkitab
Chiraq Bookstore
Dalga
Dom Kinigi
Dom Kinigi
Bookshop nr. 1
Bookshop nr. 2
Bookshop nr. 9
Bookshop nr. 12
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Bookshop nr. 14
29 N. Refibeyli Tel: 947 516 Bookshop nr. 17
Bookshop nr. 34
Bookshop nr. 35
Bookshop nr. 51
Bookshop nr. 54
Bookshop nr. 64
Bookshop nr. 71
Bookshop nr. 122
Nizami Bookshop
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