Literature
Classical literature in Azerbaijani was formed in 14th century based on the various Early Middle Ages dialects of Tabriz and Shirvan (these dialects were used by classical Azerbaijani writers Nasimi, Fuzuli, and Khatai). Modern literature in Azerbaijan is based on the Shirvani dialect mainly, while in Iran it is based on the Tabrizi one. The first newspaper in Azerbaijani, Əkinçi was published in 1875.
In mid-19th century it was taught in the schools of Baku, Ganja, Shaki, Tbilisi, and Yerevan. Since 1845, it has also been taught in the University of St. Petersburg in Russia.
Notable folklore and literary works in Azerbaijani are the Book of Dada Gorgud, Asli and Kerem, the Epic of Köroğlu, and others. Important poets and writers of Azerbaijani include
- Imadaddin Nasimi
- Muhammed Fuzuli
- Jahan Shah
- Khatai
- Molla Panah Vagif
- Khurshidbanu Natavan
- Mirza Fatali Akhundov
- Jalil Mammadguluzadeh
- Mirza Alakbar Sabir
- Huseyn Javid
- Jafar Jabbarly
- Samad Vurghun
- Mikayil Mushfig
- Mammed Said Ordubadi
- Mohammad Hossein Shahriar
- Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli
Read more about this topic: Azerbaijani Language
Famous quotes containing the word literature:
“There are people whom even children’s literature would corrupt. They read with particular enjoyment the piquant passages in the Psalter and in the Wisdom of Solomon.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“The calmest husbands make the stormiest wives.”
—17th-century English proverb, pt. 1, quoted in Isaac d’Israeli, Curiosities of Literature (1834)
“Converse with a mind that is grandly simple, and literature looks like word-catching. The simplest utterances are worthiest to be written, yet are they so cheap, and so things of course, that, in the infinite riches of the soul, it is like gathering a few pebbles off the ground, or bottling a little air in a phial, when the whole earth and the whole atmosphere are ours.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)