Licit Magic — GlobalLit Working Papers №8
Rumi’s Drivel, Sayyids’ Chicanery, Poets’ Doggerel. Three Azerbaijani Texts by Akhund-Zade
In celebration of the tenth anniversary of the second centennial of Ākhūndzade’s birth, three Azerbaijani texts in translation by the Molière of Azerbaijan. The texts — one poem, one letter, and one prose text — reflect Ākhūndzāde’s sharp, sometimes vitriolic, take on Rūmī ’s teachings (a dangerous, incomprehensible word jumble), most poetry and poets (mere doggerel and poetasters), and sayyids (a lying and begging contemptible lot).
The opening lines of my personal favourite, Ākhūndzāde’s mathnavi poem (rendered rather freely here):
Sǝlyanda var idi bir Seyyid Əlǝm,
Əlǝmdǝn olmuşdu mǝrdi-möhtǝrǝm.
Yǝni mǝhǝrrǝmdǝ ǝlǝm gǝzdirib,
Hǝr adamın üstǝ onu süzdürüb.
There once was a sayyid in Salyan, called Mister Whiny,
a man all aah and aww, ouch and oww, alas and alack!
With the start of every Muharram month, he’d make a full show,
giving vent to his affliction in front of each and every single man.
Curious about Mister Whiny and what not? Check out the full translations and introduction at LINK.
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