Articles

Mirza Alakbar Sabir and His Contemporaries in the Context of Literary Discussions

ABSTRACT

Between 1906 and 1910, Mirza Alakbar Sabir referred to and quoted his contemporary, Mohammad Ashrafi, in his works. When the newspaper Irshad faced the danger of closure due to financial difficulties, Sabir wrote a special article for the paper, associating the verses written by the Turkish poet in the spirit of farewell with the newspaper’s difficult situation. After Ashrafi’s poem, he also referred to his friend Abbas Sahhat’s poem “O homeland, do not go, lest we perish”.  Sabir remembered Mohammad Ashrafi again in his elegy written in the ghazal genre in 1910, titled “The arena of eloquent discourse is built again”. As A. Jafarzadeh noted, the poem “Gop-gop” is a serious, religiously inspired work. Consisting of six stanzas, it is written along an almost identical narrative line. Sabir’s poem was composed as a sharp parody (satirical response) to “Gop-gop”. M. A. Sabir also responded to M. H. Zeynalov, known by the pen name “Gizdırmali,” with his satire “Since he is enveloped in darkness”. This satire was first published anonymously in issue No. 13 of the “Molla Nasreddin” journal. Except for the fourth edition, the work was included in all editions of Sabir’s writings. In the third edition, it appeared under the title “...Sleep in heedlessness…”.

KEYWORDS

Mirza Alakbar Sabir and contemporaries, naziras, “Molla Nasreddin”