27-04-2022
On April 27, at the National Library, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the National Library jointly organized the presentation ceremony of the first edition in 4 languages of "Romanticism in Literature" from the series "From the Golden Fund of the National Library", the first literary and critical experience of Mir Jalal Pashayev, a prominent representative of the 20th century Azerbaijani literature.
Director of the National Library Professor Karim Tahirov opened the event and greeted the participants. He said that yesterday a number of events were held in connection with the birthday of Mir Jalal Pashayev, a prominent literary critic. Today, we gathered at the National Library for the presentation ceremony of the first edition in 4 languages of the "Romanticism in Literature" from the series "From the Golden Fund of the National Library", which is the first literary-critical experience of Mir Jalal Pashayev. The director emphasized that the work "Romanticism in Literature", which was the first literary-critical experiment written by Mir Jalal Pashayev, a prominent representative of the 20th century Azerbaijani literature, in 1928, can be considered as a "literary phenomenon" in Azerbaijani literary studies at the beginning of the 20th century due to its deep meaning. It is a great event in our literature that a 20-year-old young man wrote such a profound work. However, as a result of the "quiet disappearance" of this work from archives and libraries of Azerbaijan, this valuable literary-critical work remained out of scientific-literary circulation for a century. During a century, many books authored by Mir Jalal were published, but unfortunately this work has not been published until now. The director said that in 2018, the National Library published a collection of literary and critical articles of teacher Mir Jalal. However, unfortunately, we could not find that work even though we consulted many archives at that time. Only two years ago, we acquired that work in the Russian State Library with great difficulty, and in order to bring it to the general public, we considered it necessary to print it in book form for the first time in four languages - Azerbaijani, Russian, English and Arabic.
Minister of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan Anar Kerimov, who made an opening speech, said that today we have gathered to present another project implemented by the National Library in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan - the project "From the Golden Fund of the National Library". It is especially significant that the first presentation of this project opens with the work "Romanticism in Literature", which is the first literary criticism experiment of Professor Mir Jalal Pashayev, a prominent representative of Azerbaijani literature, who has a special place in the history of literature of Azerbaijan with his artistic and scientific-journalistic works. The minister emphasized that it is very gratifying that on the eve of Mir Jalal teacher's birthday, the work "Romanticism in Literature" was translated into 4 languages and published. Mir Jalal Pashayev's services in the development of 20th century science of Azerbaijan, literature, and education are irreplaceable. The works written by Mir Jalal Pashayev are written in golden letters in Azerbaijani literature. His works are very important for society as a whole. At the end of his speech, Anar Karimov said that this is a beginning, from now on, new works unknown to our literature will be identified and brought to the general public.
People's writer Elchin Efendiyev made a speech and said that the theory of romanticism is a branch of literary studies. The fact that a young village teacher wrote such a work at the age of 20 indicated his great future. Mir Jalal teacher is a great writer who directly serves literature and literary studies. Elchin Efendiyev emphasized that today when we talk about prominent writers such as Nizami, Fuzuli, M.A. Sabir, Mirza Jalil, the services of teacher Mir Jalal are remembered. Despite the fact that we had many talented writers in the Soviet era, their works do not resonate with today in terms of subject matter. However, the subject of Mir Jalal's works is always relevant. Finally, Mr. Elchin emphasized that I am proud that such scholars have grown up in Azerbaijani literature.
Director of the Atatürk Center in Azerbaijan, member of the Milli Majlis, academician Nizami Jafarov made a speech and expressed his gratitude to everyone who contributed to this work, the management of the National Library and the Ministry of Culture. He emphasized that this work, written by Mir Jalal at the age of 20, is an encyclopedic article. It is a very commendable step that this work was found in the archives of other countries and brought to Azerbaijan after almost a century, and that it was published in 4 languages and delivered to experts and readers.
Head of the Culture Committee of the Milli Majlis, professor Ganira khanum Pashayeva spoke and first of all expressed her gratitude to the bookstore, the National Library and the Ministry of Culture for starting such a project. She emphasized that Mir Jalal teacher's works had an impact on all of our lives. The work presented today seems to have been written not in 1928, but in our modern times. And at the end, she expressed her gratitude to the entire team that worked on the compilation of the book.
During the event, Deputy Minister of Education Firidun Gurbanov; Head of Department of the Higher Attestation Commission under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Professor Asif Rustamli; Head of Literary Criticism Department of Nizami Ganjavi Institute of Literature of ANAS, Honored Culture Worker Vagif Yusifli; Secretary of the Azerbaijan Writers' Union Ilgar Fahmi, Editor-in-Chief of "Adabiyyat" newspaper Azer Turan and others spoke.
At the end, the guests got acquainted with a wide book exhibition covering the life and work of Mir Jalal Pashayev.