Gabdulla Tuqay
Encyclopedia
Ğabdulla Tuqay was a Tatar poet, a classic of the Tatar literature, a critic
and a publisher. Tuqay is often referred as the founder of the modern Tatar literature and the modern Tatar literary language, which replaced Old Tatar language
in literature.
of Quşlawıç, Kazan Governorate
, Russian Empire
(current Tatarstan
, Russia) near the modern town of Arsk
. His father, Möxämmätğärif Möxämmätğälim ulı Tuqayıv, had been a village mandative mullah since 1864. In 1885 his wife died, leaving him a son and a daughter, and Möxämmätğärif married second wife, Mämdüdä, daughter of Öçile village mullah Zinnätulla Zäynepbäşir ulı. On 29 August O.S. Möxämmätğärif died when Ğabdulla was 5 months old. Soon Ğabdulla's grandfather also died and Mämdüdä was forced to return to her father and then to get married to the mullah of the village of Sasna. Little Ğabdulla lived for some time with an old woman in his native village, before his new stepfather agreed to take Tuqay into his family. Tuqay's relatively happy childhood did not last long: on O.S. 18 January 1890 Ğabdulla's mother Mämdüdä also died, and Tuqay was removed to his poor grandfather Zinnätulla. Lacking enough food even for his own children, his grandfather sent Ğabdulla to Kazan with a coachman. There the coachman took Tuqay to a market-place, Peçän Bazaar, hoping to find someone willing to adopt the child. A tanner named Möxämmätwäli and his wife Ğäzizä from the Yaña-Bistä area of Kazan
decided to take care of him. While living in Kazan
, Tuqay was taken ill with walleye
. When 1892, when both of Ğabdulla's adoptive parents became sick they had to send him back to his grandfather. This time, Ğabdulla's grandfather sent the child for further adoption to the village of Qırlay, where Ğabdulla stayed with the family of a peasant Säğdi. During his stay with this family, Ğabdulla was sent to the local madrassah (religious school), for the first time in his life, where, in his own words, his enlightenment began.
In the fall of 1895, the Ğosmanovs, Tatar merchants living in Uralsk, decided to adopt their distant relatives, because their own children had died. Ğäliäsğar Ğosmanov and his wife Ğäzizä, Ğabdulla's aunt, asked a peasant from Quşlawıç to bring them Ğabdulla. The peasant took ten-year-old Tuqay away from Säğdi, threatening him with Russian papers and the village constable. Living in Uralsk, Ğabdulla attended to Motíğía madrassah. Simultaneously, in 1896, he started to attend a Russian school. There, for the first time in his life, he became acquainted with the world of Russian literature and started to write poetry. In 1899 the anniversary of Alexander Pushkin was widely celebrated in Uralsk, an event which inspired Tuqay's interest in Russian poetry, especially works by Pushkin.
Ğosmanov tried to interest Ğabdulla in his work, but Tuqay stayed indifferent to the merchant's lot, preferring to develop his education. On 30 July 1900 Ğäliäsğar Ğosmanov died of "stomach diseases", so Tuqay moved into the madrassah itself, living first in common room, and two years later in a khujra, an individual cell. In the madrassah Tuqay proved himself a diligent shakird
, completing in ten years a program intended for fifteen. However, he continued to live in poverty.
By 1902, Ğabdulla, age 16, had changed his nature. He lost interest in studying the Qur'an
, and showed criticism to all that was taught in madrassah. He didn't shave his hair, he drank beer and even smoked. At the same time, he became more interested in poetry.
during summer vacations, to collect local songs, examples of bäyet, i.e. epic poem and fairy-tales. In madrassah itself he became familiar with Arabic, Persian and Turkish poetry, as well as poetry in the Old Tatar language
of the earlier centuries. In 1900 Motíğía graduate, a Tatar poet Mirxäydär Çulpaní visited the madrassah. Ğabdulla met him and Çulpaní became the first living poet to impress Tuqay. Çulpaní wrote in "elevated style", using aruz, an Oriental poetic system, and mostly in Old Tatar language
, full of Arab, Persian and Turkish words, and rather distant from the Tatar language
itself. In 1902-1903 he met a Turkish poet Abdülveli, concealed himself there from Abdul Hamid II
pursuits. Thus, Tuqay adopted Oriental poetic tradition.
Young teacher, the son of headmaster, Kamil "Motíğí" Töxfätullin, organized wallpaper Mäğärif (The Education) and hand-written journals. The first odes of Tuqay were published there, and he was referred as "the first poet of the madrassah".
In 1904 Motíğí founded his own publishing company, and Tuqay became clerk there. He combined this job with teaching younger shakirds in the madrassah. He introduce new methods
, typical for the Russian school.
After the October Manifesto
of 1905 it became possible to publish newspaper
s in the Tatar language, which was strictly forbidden earlier. However, Motíğí wasn't enough solvent to open his own newspaper, so he bought the Russian language newspaper Uralets with typography, to print also a Tatar newspaper there. Tuqay became a typesetter. The newspaper was named Fiker (The Though). Then Motíğí started to issue Älğasrälcadid (The New Century) magazine. Tuqay sent his first verses there to be published. At the same time he started writing for a newspaper and began participating in the publishing of several Tatar magazines. At day Tuqay worked in typography (he was already a proofreader), but by nights he wrote verses, so every issue of Fiker, Nur and Älğasrälcadid contains his writing. More over, he wrote articles, novels and feuilletons for those periodicals, he translated Krylov
fables for the magazine. It is also known that Tuqay spread social-democratic leaflets and translated social-democratic brochure to the Tatar language.
Despite social-democrats' negative attitude towards the Manifesto, in his verses Tuqay admired with Manifesto, believing in the progressive changes of the Tatar lifestyle. During that period he shared his views with liberals, as the long-standing tradition of the Tatar enlightenment didn't distinguished national-liberation movement from the class struggle and negated the class struggle within Tatar nation. The most prominent writings of that period are Millätä (To the Nation) poem and Bezneñ millät, ülgänme, ällä yoqlağan ğınamı? (Has our nation dead, or just sleeps?) article. Since the satirical magazine Uqlar (The Arrows) appeared in Uralsk, Tuqay renowned himself as satirist. The main target of his jeers was Muslim clergy, who stayed opposed to progress and Europeanization. As for the language of the most of his verses, it still stayed the Old Tatar language and continued the Oriental traditions, such as in Puşkinä (To Pushkin). However, in some of them, directed to the Tatar peasantry a pure Tatar was used, what was newly for the Tatar poetry.
In January 1906 police conducted a search of the typography, as rebellious articles were published in the newspaper. The First State Duma was dismissed, the revolution came to naught. The ultra-right Russian nationalists from the Black Hundred
proposed that Tatars emigrate
to the Ottoman Empire
. That period his most prominent verses devoted to the social themes and patriotism were composed: Gosudarstvennaya Dumağa (To the State Duma), Sorıqortlarğa (To the Parasites) and Kitmibez! (We don’t leave!). Tuqay was disappointed in liberalism and sympathized with socialists, especially Esers. In Kitmibez! he answered to the Black Hundred
that the Tatars are a brother people of the Russians and immigration to Turkey is impossible.
On 6 January 1907 Tuqay left madrassah, as his fee permitted him to live independently, and settled in a hotel room. He became an actual editor of Uqlar, being the lead poet and publicist of all Motíğí's periodicals. That time liberal Fiker and Tuqay himself was in confrontation with Qadimist, i.e. ultraconservative Bayan al-Xaq, which even called for pogrom
of liberal press activists. However, that year he was surprisingly discharged, as the result of the conflict with Kamil Motíğí and instigation of the typography workers for a strike to raise a salary. On 22 February 1907 Motíğí was deprived of publishing rights and his publishers was sold to merchant, who attracted Tuqay to the work again, but sonly dismissed the periodicals.
That time Tuqay departed from the social-democrats and politics generally, preferring to devote himself to poetry. Since mid-1906 to autumn 1907 more than 50 verses were written, as well as 40 articles and feuilletons. That time he turned to a pure Tatar, using a spoken language. Impressed by Pushkin's fairy-tale poem Ruslan and Lyudmila
, Tuqay wrote his first poem, Şüräle
.
It is known, that Motíğí tried to establish another newspaper, Yaña Tormış (The New Life) in Uralsk, with Tuqay as one of constitutors, but that time Ğabdulla was already so popular in the Tatar society, that chief editors from Kazan, the Tatar cultural capital, offered him job. Moreover, Tuqay should be examined by a draft board in his native uyezd
, and he left Uralsk anyway. The admiration with the future trends of his life in Kazan is expressed in Par at (The Pair of Horses), which consequently became the most associated with Kazan Tatar verse.
Just after the arrival to Kazan, Tuqay stayed at Bolğar hotel and met Tatar literature intelligentsia, such as playwright and Yoldız newspaper secretary Ğäliäsğar Kamal and prominent Tatar poet and Tañ yoldızı newspaper chief editor Säğit Rämiev. Several days after he left Kazan to be examined by a draft board, assembly point being in Ätnä village. There he was discarded due his poor health and walleye and freed up of serving in the Russian Imperial Army. He returned to Kazan and renowned his literature and publishing activity.
He was adopted to the editorial staff of democratically oriented Äl-İslax gazette, led by Fatix Ämirxan
and Wafa Bäxtiärev. However, the newspaper had a little budget. Tuqay had got fixed up as a forwarding agent in Kitap publishers, to provide guaranteed wage. Moreover, he refused offer from Äxbar, an organ of Ittifaq al-Muslimin
, a political party, close to Kadets, as well as other offers from rich, but right newspapers. He also continued self-education: read Russian classics, critiques, and studied German language
. He was interested in studying the life of common people by visiting bazaars and pubs.
Tuqay's room in Bolğar hotel was frequently visited by admirers from "gilded youth". As he wrote, their boozing-up impeded him and his creation. Nevertheless, in the end of 1907-1908 he wrote nearby sixty verses and twenty articles in Äl-İslax and satirical journal Yäşen (The Illumination), and also published two books of verses. The most prominent satire of that period was Peçän Bazarı yaxud Yaña Kisekbaş (The Hay Bazaar or New Kişekbaş), deriding problems of the Tatar society of the period, clergy and merchant class.
As for Tuqay's personal life, there is known little about it. As usual he avoided women in his circle. It is known that he was enamored of Zäytünä Mäwlüdova , his 15-years old admirer. Several verses were devoted to Zäytünä and their feelings, such as A Strange Love. However, later Tuqay did not develop their relations, and the possible reason was inferiority complex, attributed to his health and financial position.
In May 1908 an article, comparing Tuqay's, Rämiev's and Majit Ghafuri's poetries was published in Russian-language Volzhsko-Kamsky Vestnik. In August 1908 Kamal founded satirical journal Yäşen under Tuqay's pressure. The most of published works were written by Tuqay, of course. In August 1908 Kamal and Tuqay visit the Makaryev Fair, placed in Nizhny Novgorod
. There Tuqay temporarily joined the first Tatar theatre troupe, Säyyar, singing national songs and declaiming his verses from scene. On 14 October Ğabdulla Tuqay presented his new satirical poem The Hay Bazaar or New Kisekbaş, based on classical Old Tatar poem Kisekbaş. In own poem he derided nationalism among Tatars, as well as Wäisi sect's
fanatics, associating sect's leader, Ğaynan Wäisev with Diü
, an evil spirit from Kisekbaş.
In those years Tuqay became staunch leftist, despite of his staying with one bourgeois family for some time: Äl-İslax became a leftist political newspaper only, Tuqay criticized all his former friends, turned to the right or liberal newspapers: Zarif Bäşiri from Oremburgean Çükeç and Säğit Rämiev from Bäyänelxaq. He called them bourgeoisie's stooges, in response their stigmatized Tuqay Russophile
. Interestingly, the same time Okhrana reported his poems as Russophobic
. Also Tuqay became closer to the first Tatar Marxist, Xösäyen Yamaşev
.
In June 1909 Yäşen, was closed due to financial problems as well as censorship requirement, as well as Äl-İslax. Being at the top of his crisis, he thinks about suicide, but since March 1910 new satirical magazine, Yal-Yolt (The Lightning) was published in Kazan under Äxmät Urmançiev.
Being interested in Leo Tolstoy
ideas and legacy, Tuqay felt keenly the death of the Russian genius. Pointing out a high role of children's education, he prepared two books for children, and two schoolbooks of Tatar literature. In total, he composed more than fifty verses and seven poems for children.
, but he had to recover his health. He planned a trip to the southern regions to receive kumiss therapy there.
In April he left Kazan and had a voyage by the Volga to Astrakhan
. There he met Rämiev and became reconciled with him. Three weeks later he moved to Kalmyk Bazary village and stayed with schoolteacher Şahit Ğäyfi there. As Ğäyfi was interested in photography, they shot a series of cards, devoted to Tuqay's poems and the Tatar theatre. Returning to Kazan, he published, Miäwbikä (Pussycat), his prominent poem for children. There he applied new poetic methods, and was criticized therefore. He also was interested to publish his prohibited verses in the newspaper of the Russian Muslims, published in Paris, but later he refused of this idea, as the newspaper propagated pan-Islamist ideas.
In autumn 1911 a famine stroke Idel-Ural
. The Autumn Wind was devoted to the famine and hard lot of peasantry. Tuqay felt ill with malaria and unfortunately moved to cold hotel number. So, he abandoned all and moved to Öçile, to his relatives. There he passed winter, writing o recomposing his verses, sometimes sending new feuilletons to the editors. Possible, another reason of his departure was a trial of his book, published as early as in 1907. He returned in February 1912. In March 1912 his friend, Yamaşev dead of infarction and Tuqay devoted a feeling poem (Xörmätle Xösäyen yädkâre, i.e. Of Blessed Memory of Xösäyen) to the first Tatar Marxist.
In April Ğabdulla Tuqay went on a tour again. First he arrived to Ufa
, where he met Majit Ghafuri. Then he left Ufa and moved to Saint-Petersburg. He stayed with Musa Bigiev
. In Petersburg he met with local Tatar diaspora's youth, many of whom were students and left activists. The impression of them is expressed in The Tatar Youth (Tatar yäşläre) verse, full of optimism. However, he didn't know that he has the last stage of tuberculosis: a doctor, examined him in Petersburg, preferred to keep diagnosis back. He was advised to take a course in Switzerland, but he refused and after farewell party moved to Ufa again, and then to Troitsk
. There he lived till July 1912 among the Kazakh
nomads in the steppe, receiving kumiss therapy.
's poetry. More and more verses were banned; some of them were published only after the October Revolution
. However, Tuqay was criticized by Ğälimcan İbrahimov, that now his poetry became poor.
In summer 1912 he published his last book, The Mental Food, where 43 verses and one poem were collected. But then his health has become worse. In spite of this, he found energy to write for the new literature magazine Añ and democratic newspaper Qoyaş (The Sun), edited by Fatix Ämirxan
. As Ämirxan was paralyzed, they both stayed in neighboring numbers of Amur hotel, where the editorial board was situated. In first days of 1913 he wrote The Frost, a wity poem depicting how Kazaners of different social classes behave during frost. The next notable poem was devoted to the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. The poem was rather panegyrical, so the vulgar-sociological critique of the early 1920s, based on this poem, proclaimed Tuqay to be a pan-Islamist and Tsarist. However, the end of the verse is written not about Tsar's dynasty, but about internationalism within Russian and eternal friendship of Tatars and Russians.
On 26 February 1913, Ğabdulla Tuqay was hospitalized due to a severe case of tuberculosis. Even in the Klyachkinskaya hospital he never stopped writing poems for Tatar newspapers and magazines. Those poems were both social and philosophical. In March he wrote his literature testament, The First Deed after the Awakening. In hospital Tuqay became interested in Tolstoy’s legacy again, devoting to him two verses. He read more about Volga Bulgaria
’s history as well as all Kazan periodic.
On 15 April of the same year, Ğabdulla Tuqay died at the age of 27 and was buried in Tatar cemetery. 55.760223°N 49.106168°W
Despite of denial of Tuqay's genius during the early Soviet years, he soon became renowned as the greatest Tatar poet. His name transcended across the arts, with the Tatar State Symphony Orchestra
dedicated to Tuqay's name. During the Soviet rule his most cited were his social poems, whereas now the most popular are poems about Tatarstan
nature, Tatar national culture, music, history and, of course, the Tatar language
. 26 April, his birthday, is celebrated as The Day of tatar Language, and his poem İ, Tuğan tel (Oh My Mother Tongue!) is the unofficial hymn of the Tatar language.
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
and a publisher. Tuqay is often referred as the founder of the modern Tatar literature and the modern Tatar literary language, which replaced Old Tatar language
Old Tatar language
Old Tatar language was a literary language used among the Muslim Tatars from the Middle Ages till the 19th century....
in literature.
Early life
Ğabdulla Tuqay was born in the family of the hereditary village mullahMullah
Mullah is generally used to refer to a Muslim man, educated in Islamic theology and sacred law. The title, given to some Islamic clergy, is derived from the Arabic word مَوْلَى mawlā , meaning "vicar", "master" and "guardian"...
of Quşlawıç, Kazan Governorate
Kazan Governorate
The Kazan Governorate or Government of Kazan was a governorate of Imperial Russia from 1708–1920, with the city of Kazan as its capital.-History:...
, Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(current Tatarstan
Tatarstan
The Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of Russia located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, which is one of Russia's largest and most prosperous cities. The republic borders with Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, and with the Mari El, Udmurt,...
, Russia) near the modern town of Arsk
Arsk
Arsk is a town and the administrative center of Arsky District of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the banks of the Kazanka River, from Kazan, the republic's capital. Arsk is also a station on the Kazan-Agryz railroad. Population:...
. His father, Möxämmätğärif Möxämmätğälim ulı Tuqayıv, had been a village mandative mullah since 1864. In 1885 his wife died, leaving him a son and a daughter, and Möxämmätğärif married second wife, Mämdüdä, daughter of Öçile village mullah Zinnätulla Zäynepbäşir ulı. On 29 August O.S. Möxämmätğärif died when Ğabdulla was 5 months old. Soon Ğabdulla's grandfather also died and Mämdüdä was forced to return to her father and then to get married to the mullah of the village of Sasna. Little Ğabdulla lived for some time with an old woman in his native village, before his new stepfather agreed to take Tuqay into his family. Tuqay's relatively happy childhood did not last long: on O.S. 18 January 1890 Ğabdulla's mother Mämdüdä also died, and Tuqay was removed to his poor grandfather Zinnätulla. Lacking enough food even for his own children, his grandfather sent Ğabdulla to Kazan with a coachman. There the coachman took Tuqay to a market-place, Peçän Bazaar, hoping to find someone willing to adopt the child. A tanner named Möxämmätwäli and his wife Ğäzizä from the Yaña-Bistä area of Kazan
Kazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
decided to take care of him. While living in Kazan
Kazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
, Tuqay was taken ill with walleye
Walleye
Walleye is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European pikeperch...
. When 1892, when both of Ğabdulla's adoptive parents became sick they had to send him back to his grandfather. This time, Ğabdulla's grandfather sent the child for further adoption to the village of Qırlay, where Ğabdulla stayed with the family of a peasant Säğdi. During his stay with this family, Ğabdulla was sent to the local madrassah (religious school), for the first time in his life, where, in his own words, his enlightenment began.
In the fall of 1895, the Ğosmanovs, Tatar merchants living in Uralsk, decided to adopt their distant relatives, because their own children had died. Ğäliäsğar Ğosmanov and his wife Ğäzizä, Ğabdulla's aunt, asked a peasant from Quşlawıç to bring them Ğabdulla. The peasant took ten-year-old Tuqay away from Säğdi, threatening him with Russian papers and the village constable. Living in Uralsk, Ğabdulla attended to Motíğía madrassah. Simultaneously, in 1896, he started to attend a Russian school. There, for the first time in his life, he became acquainted with the world of Russian literature and started to write poetry. In 1899 the anniversary of Alexander Pushkin was widely celebrated in Uralsk, an event which inspired Tuqay's interest in Russian poetry, especially works by Pushkin.
Ğosmanov tried to interest Ğabdulla in his work, but Tuqay stayed indifferent to the merchant's lot, preferring to develop his education. On 30 July 1900 Ğäliäsğar Ğosmanov died of "stomach diseases", so Tuqay moved into the madrassah itself, living first in common room, and two years later in a khujra, an individual cell. In the madrassah Tuqay proved himself a diligent shakird
Shakird
A shakird is a term, meaning a student of madrassah....
, completing in ten years a program intended for fifteen. However, he continued to live in poverty.
By 1902, Ğabdulla, age 16, had changed his nature. He lost interest in studying the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
, and showed criticism to all that was taught in madrassah. He didn't shave his hair, he drank beer and even smoked. At the same time, he became more interested in poetry.
Literary life
Uralsk period
Beginning in his madrassah years, Tuqay was interested in folklore and popular poetry, and he asked shakirds, coming for different jobs all over Idel-UralIdel-Ural
Idel-Ural is a historical region in Eastern Europe, in what is today Russia. The name literally means Volga-Urals in the Tatar language. The frequently used Russian variant is Volgo-Uralye...
during summer vacations, to collect local songs, examples of bäyet, i.e. epic poem and fairy-tales. In madrassah itself he became familiar with Arabic, Persian and Turkish poetry, as well as poetry in the Old Tatar language
Old Tatar language
Old Tatar language was a literary language used among the Muslim Tatars from the Middle Ages till the 19th century....
of the earlier centuries. In 1900 Motíğía graduate, a Tatar poet Mirxäydär Çulpaní visited the madrassah. Ğabdulla met him and Çulpaní became the first living poet to impress Tuqay. Çulpaní wrote in "elevated style", using aruz, an Oriental poetic system, and mostly in Old Tatar language
Old Tatar language
Old Tatar language was a literary language used among the Muslim Tatars from the Middle Ages till the 19th century....
, full of Arab, Persian and Turkish words, and rather distant from the Tatar language
Tatar language
The Tatar language , or more specifically Kazan Tatar, is a Turkic language spoken by the Tatars of historical Kazan Khanate, including modern Tatarstan and Bashkiria...
itself. In 1902-1903 he met a Turkish poet Abdülveli, concealed himself there from Abdul Hamid II
Abdul Hamid II
His Imperial Majesty, The Sultan Abdülhamid II, Emperor of the Ottomans, Caliph of the Faithful was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire...
pursuits. Thus, Tuqay adopted Oriental poetic tradition.
Young teacher, the son of headmaster, Kamil "Motíğí" Töxfätullin, organized wallpaper Mäğärif (The Education) and hand-written journals. The first odes of Tuqay were published there, and he was referred as "the first poet of the madrassah".
In 1904 Motíğí founded his own publishing company, and Tuqay became clerk there. He combined this job with teaching younger shakirds in the madrassah. He introduce new methods
Jadid
The Jadids were Muslim modernist reformers within the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th century. They normally referred to themselves by the Turkic terms Taraqqiparvarlar , Ziyalilar , or simply Yäşlär/Yoshlar...
, typical for the Russian school.
After the October Manifesto
October Manifesto
The October Manifesto was issued on 17 October, 1905 by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia under the influence of Count Sergei Witte as a response to the Russian Revolution of 1905....
of 1905 it became possible to publish newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s in the Tatar language, which was strictly forbidden earlier. However, Motíğí wasn't enough solvent to open his own newspaper, so he bought the Russian language newspaper Uralets with typography, to print also a Tatar newspaper there. Tuqay became a typesetter. The newspaper was named Fiker (The Though). Then Motíğí started to issue Älğasrälcadid (The New Century) magazine. Tuqay sent his first verses there to be published. At the same time he started writing for a newspaper and began participating in the publishing of several Tatar magazines. At day Tuqay worked in typography (he was already a proofreader), but by nights he wrote verses, so every issue of Fiker, Nur and Älğasrälcadid contains his writing. More over, he wrote articles, novels and feuilletons for those periodicals, he translated Krylov
Krylov
Krylov Krylov Krylov (masculine or Krylova (feminine) is a common Russian last name, derived from a word literally meaning a wing (крыло́). Alternative spellings are Krilov, Kryloff, Kriloff (masculine) and Krilova (feminine; Крылова)....
fables for the magazine. It is also known that Tuqay spread social-democratic leaflets and translated social-democratic brochure to the Tatar language.
Despite social-democrats' negative attitude towards the Manifesto, in his verses Tuqay admired with Manifesto, believing in the progressive changes of the Tatar lifestyle. During that period he shared his views with liberals, as the long-standing tradition of the Tatar enlightenment didn't distinguished national-liberation movement from the class struggle and negated the class struggle within Tatar nation. The most prominent writings of that period are Millätä (To the Nation) poem and Bezneñ millät, ülgänme, ällä yoqlağan ğınamı? (Has our nation dead, or just sleeps?) article. Since the satirical magazine Uqlar (The Arrows) appeared in Uralsk, Tuqay renowned himself as satirist. The main target of his jeers was Muslim clergy, who stayed opposed to progress and Europeanization. As for the language of the most of his verses, it still stayed the Old Tatar language and continued the Oriental traditions, such as in Puşkinä (To Pushkin). However, in some of them, directed to the Tatar peasantry a pure Tatar was used, what was newly for the Tatar poetry.
In January 1906 police conducted a search of the typography, as rebellious articles were published in the newspaper. The First State Duma was dismissed, the revolution came to naught. The ultra-right Russian nationalists from the Black Hundred
Black Hundred
The Black Hundreds , also known as the black-hundredists was an ultra-nationalist movement in Russia in the early 20th century. They were a supporter of the House of Romanov and opposed any retreat from the autocracy of the reigning monarch...
proposed that Tatars emigrate
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
to the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. That period his most prominent verses devoted to the social themes and patriotism were composed: Gosudarstvennaya Dumağa (To the State Duma), Sorıqortlarğa (To the Parasites) and Kitmibez! (We don’t leave!). Tuqay was disappointed in liberalism and sympathized with socialists, especially Esers. In Kitmibez! he answered to the Black Hundred
Black Hundred
The Black Hundreds , also known as the black-hundredists was an ultra-nationalist movement in Russia in the early 20th century. They were a supporter of the House of Romanov and opposed any retreat from the autocracy of the reigning monarch...
that the Tatars are a brother people of the Russians and immigration to Turkey is impossible.
On 6 January 1907 Tuqay left madrassah, as his fee permitted him to live independently, and settled in a hotel room. He became an actual editor of Uqlar, being the lead poet and publicist of all Motíğí's periodicals. That time liberal Fiker and Tuqay himself was in confrontation with Qadimist, i.e. ultraconservative Bayan al-Xaq, which even called for pogrom
Pogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
of liberal press activists. However, that year he was surprisingly discharged, as the result of the conflict with Kamil Motíğí and instigation of the typography workers for a strike to raise a salary. On 22 February 1907 Motíğí was deprived of publishing rights and his publishers was sold to merchant, who attracted Tuqay to the work again, but sonly dismissed the periodicals.
That time Tuqay departed from the social-democrats and politics generally, preferring to devote himself to poetry. Since mid-1906 to autumn 1907 more than 50 verses were written, as well as 40 articles and feuilletons. That time he turned to a pure Tatar, using a spoken language. Impressed by Pushkin's fairy-tale poem Ruslan and Lyudmila
Ruslan and Lyudmila
Ruslan and Lyudmila is an opera in five acts composed by Mikhail Glinka between 1837 and 1842. The opera is based on the 1820 poem of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. The Russian libretto was written by Valerian Shirkov, Nestor Kukolnik and N. A. Markevich, among others...
, Tuqay wrote his first poem, Şüräle
Süräle
Şüräle , is a male monster in Bashkir and Tatar mythology. According to legends, Şüräle lives in forests. He has long fingers, a horn on its forehead, and a woolly body...
.
It is known, that Motíğí tried to establish another newspaper, Yaña Tormış (The New Life) in Uralsk, with Tuqay as one of constitutors, but that time Ğabdulla was already so popular in the Tatar society, that chief editors from Kazan, the Tatar cultural capital, offered him job. Moreover, Tuqay should be examined by a draft board in his native uyezd
Uyezd
Uyezd or uezd was an administrative subdivision of Rus', Muscovy, Russian Empire, and the early Russian SFSR which was in use from the 13th century. Uyezds for most of the history in Russia were a secondary-level of administrative division...
, and he left Uralsk anyway. The admiration with the future trends of his life in Kazan is expressed in Par at (The Pair of Horses), which consequently became the most associated with Kazan Tatar verse.
Kazan period
He was adopted to the editorial staff of democratically oriented Äl-İslax gazette, led by Fatix Ämirxan
Fatix Ämirxan
Ämirxanov Möxämmätfatix Zarif ulı Фатих Зариф улы; , Amirkhan Fatikh Zarifovich, , Fatikh Amirkhan; 1886–1926) was a Tatar classic writer, editor and publicist.Ämirxan was born in 1886 in Kazan, Russian Empire...
and Wafa Bäxtiärev. However, the newspaper had a little budget. Tuqay had got fixed up as a forwarding agent in Kitap publishers, to provide guaranteed wage. Moreover, he refused offer from Äxbar, an organ of Ittifaq al-Muslimin
Ittifaq al-Muslimin
Ittifaq al-Muslimin was a liberal-democratic party of Muslims in Russian Empire. The party was formed after The First Congress of Muslims of Russia and the party line was similar to Kadets...
, a political party, close to Kadets, as well as other offers from rich, but right newspapers. He also continued self-education: read Russian classics, critiques, and studied German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. He was interested in studying the life of common people by visiting bazaars and pubs.
Tuqay's room in Bolğar hotel was frequently visited by admirers from "gilded youth". As he wrote, their boozing-up impeded him and his creation. Nevertheless, in the end of 1907-1908 he wrote nearby sixty verses and twenty articles in Äl-İslax and satirical journal Yäşen (The Illumination), and also published two books of verses. The most prominent satire of that period was Peçän Bazarı yaxud Yaña Kisekbaş (The Hay Bazaar or New Kişekbaş), deriding problems of the Tatar society of the period, clergy and merchant class.
As for Tuqay's personal life, there is known little about it. As usual he avoided women in his circle. It is known that he was enamored of Zäytünä Mäwlüdova , his 15-years old admirer. Several verses were devoted to Zäytünä and their feelings, such as A Strange Love. However, later Tuqay did not develop their relations, and the possible reason was inferiority complex, attributed to his health and financial position.
In May 1908 an article, comparing Tuqay's, Rämiev's and Majit Ghafuri's poetries was published in Russian-language Volzhsko-Kamsky Vestnik. In August 1908 Kamal founded satirical journal Yäşen under Tuqay's pressure. The most of published works were written by Tuqay, of course. In August 1908 Kamal and Tuqay visit the Makaryev Fair, placed in Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...
. There Tuqay temporarily joined the first Tatar theatre troupe, Säyyar, singing national songs and declaiming his verses from scene. On 14 October Ğabdulla Tuqay presented his new satirical poem The Hay Bazaar or New Kisekbaş, based on classical Old Tatar poem Kisekbaş. In own poem he derided nationalism among Tatars, as well as Wäisi sect's
Wäisi movement
The Wäisi movement was a religious, social and political movement in Tatarstan and other Tatar-populated parts of Russia which took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It also incorporated elements of class struggle and nationalism...
fanatics, associating sect's leader, Ğaynan Wäisev with Diü
Diu
Diu or DIU may refer to:* Diu, India, a city in Diu district in the union territory of Daman and Diu, India** Diu district, part of the union territory of Daman and Diu*** Diu Island, an island and part of Diu district**Diu Head...
, an evil spirit from Kisekbaş.
1909-1910 crisis
In 1909-1910 all freedoms, gained by 1905 revolution came to naught under Stolypin's policy. As a result, leftist sympathized Ğabdulla Tuqay was nearly disappointed in his activity and was in depression. Another reason was in his friends, moved to rightist newspapers, like Kamal and Rämiev. The most of his verses were depressive, however, Tuqay stayed productive, he published nearby hundred verses, two fairy tale poems, autobiography, and an article about Tatar folklore (Xalıq ädäbiäte, i.e. Folk Literature), wrote thirty feuilletons and printed twenty books, not only with own poems, but also compiled of folk songs.In those years Tuqay became staunch leftist, despite of his staying with one bourgeois family for some time: Äl-İslax became a leftist political newspaper only, Tuqay criticized all his former friends, turned to the right or liberal newspapers: Zarif Bäşiri from Oremburgean Çükeç and Säğit Rämiev from Bäyänelxaq. He called them bourgeoisie's stooges, in response their stigmatized Tuqay Russophile
Russophile
Russophile may refer to:* Russophilia, the love of Russia or Russians* Ukrainian Russophiles, a Ukrainian cultural faction in nineteenth and early twentieth century Galicia who espoused Ruthenian autonomy...
. Interestingly, the same time Okhrana reported his poems as Russophobic
Russophobia
Russophobia refers to a diverse spectrum of prejudices, dislikes or fears of Russia, Russians, or Russian culture. Its opposite is Russophilia....
. Also Tuqay became closer to the first Tatar Marxist, Xösäyen Yamaşev
Xösäyen Yamasev
Yamaşev Xösäyen Minhacetdin ulı was a Tatar social democrat revolutionary and publicist. In the Soviet Tatarstan he was known as "The First Tatar Bolshevik"....
.
In June 1909 Yäşen, was closed due to financial problems as well as censorship requirement, as well as Äl-İslax. Being at the top of his crisis, he thinks about suicide, but since March 1910 new satirical magazine, Yal-Yolt (The Lightning) was published in Kazan under Äxmät Urmançiev.
Being interested in Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
ideas and legacy, Tuqay felt keenly the death of the Russian genius. Pointing out a high role of children's education, he prepared two books for children, and two schoolbooks of Tatar literature. In total, he composed more than fifty verses and seven poems for children.
Ufa - Saint-Petersburg - Troitsk
In 1911 Qadimist forces allied with Okhrana fulminated İj-Bubí, the most progressive Tatar madrassah. This fact filled with indignation all Tatar intelligentsia. But it was only a beginning of campaign drive against Tatar democracy, which became Tuqay's tragedy again. However, as it known from Tuqay's letters to his friend Säğit Sönçäläy, he decided to write the Tatar Eugene OneginEugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin is a novel in verse written by Alexander Pushkin.It is a classic of Russian literature, and its eponymous protagonist has served as the model for a number of Russian literary heroes . It was published in serial form between 1825 and 1832...
, but he had to recover his health. He planned a trip to the southern regions to receive kumiss therapy there.
In April he left Kazan and had a voyage by the Volga to Astrakhan
Astrakhan
Astrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...
. There he met Rämiev and became reconciled with him. Three weeks later he moved to Kalmyk Bazary village and stayed with schoolteacher Şahit Ğäyfi there. As Ğäyfi was interested in photography, they shot a series of cards, devoted to Tuqay's poems and the Tatar theatre. Returning to Kazan, he published, Miäwbikä (Pussycat), his prominent poem for children. There he applied new poetic methods, and was criticized therefore. He also was interested to publish his prohibited verses in the newspaper of the Russian Muslims, published in Paris, but later he refused of this idea, as the newspaper propagated pan-Islamist ideas.
In autumn 1911 a famine stroke Idel-Ural
Idel-Ural
Idel-Ural is a historical region in Eastern Europe, in what is today Russia. The name literally means Volga-Urals in the Tatar language. The frequently used Russian variant is Volgo-Uralye...
. The Autumn Wind was devoted to the famine and hard lot of peasantry. Tuqay felt ill with malaria and unfortunately moved to cold hotel number. So, he abandoned all and moved to Öçile, to his relatives. There he passed winter, writing o recomposing his verses, sometimes sending new feuilletons to the editors. Possible, another reason of his departure was a trial of his book, published as early as in 1907. He returned in February 1912. In March 1912 his friend, Yamaşev dead of infarction and Tuqay devoted a feeling poem (Xörmätle Xösäyen yädkâre, i.e. Of Blessed Memory of Xösäyen) to the first Tatar Marxist.
In April Ğabdulla Tuqay went on a tour again. First he arrived to Ufa
Ufa
-Demographics:Nationally, dominated by Russian , Bashkirs and Tatars . In addition, numerous are Ukrainians , Chuvash , Mari , Belarusians , Mordovians , Armenian , Germans , Jews , Azeris .-Government and administration:Local...
, where he met Majit Ghafuri. Then he left Ufa and moved to Saint-Petersburg. He stayed with Musa Bigiev
Musa Bigiev
Musa Yarulla ulı Bigiev was a Volga Tatar Jadid who translated the Qur'an to the Tatar language....
. In Petersburg he met with local Tatar diaspora's youth, many of whom were students and left activists. The impression of them is expressed in The Tatar Youth (Tatar yäşläre) verse, full of optimism. However, he didn't know that he has the last stage of tuberculosis: a doctor, examined him in Petersburg, preferred to keep diagnosis back. He was advised to take a course in Switzerland, but he refused and after farewell party moved to Ufa again, and then to Troitsk
Troitsk
Troitsk may refer to:*Troitsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, a town in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia*Troitsk, Moscow Oblast, a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia*Troitsk, Republic of Mordovia, a village in the Republic of Mordovia, Russia...
. There he lived till July 1912 among the Kazakh
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....
nomads in the steppe, receiving kumiss therapy.
The End
His last year he began full of optimism: the revolutionary tendencies rose, and social theme appeared in his poetry again. In Añ (The Consciousness) and Dahigä (To the Genius) he wrote that his struggle was not vain, as well as 1905 revolution. Many verses were devoted to the peasantry's problems, resembling NekrasovNekrasov
Nekrasov, also Nekrassov , or Nekrasova , is a Russian last name and may refer to:-People:*Aleksandr Nekrasov , Russian mathematician and academician...
's poetry. More and more verses were banned; some of them were published only after the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
. However, Tuqay was criticized by Ğälimcan İbrahimov, that now his poetry became poor.
In summer 1912 he published his last book, The Mental Food, where 43 verses and one poem were collected. But then his health has become worse. In spite of this, he found energy to write for the new literature magazine Añ and democratic newspaper Qoyaş (The Sun), edited by Fatix Ämirxan
Fatix Ämirxan
Ämirxanov Möxämmätfatix Zarif ulı Фатих Зариф улы; , Amirkhan Fatikh Zarifovich, , Fatikh Amirkhan; 1886–1926) was a Tatar classic writer, editor and publicist.Ämirxan was born in 1886 in Kazan, Russian Empire...
. As Ämirxan was paralyzed, they both stayed in neighboring numbers of Amur hotel, where the editorial board was situated. In first days of 1913 he wrote The Frost, a wity poem depicting how Kazaners of different social classes behave during frost. The next notable poem was devoted to the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. The poem was rather panegyrical, so the vulgar-sociological critique of the early 1920s, based on this poem, proclaimed Tuqay to be a pan-Islamist and Tsarist. However, the end of the verse is written not about Tsar's dynasty, but about internationalism within Russian and eternal friendship of Tatars and Russians.
On 26 February 1913, Ğabdulla Tuqay was hospitalized due to a severe case of tuberculosis. Even in the Klyachkinskaya hospital he never stopped writing poems for Tatar newspapers and magazines. Those poems were both social and philosophical. In March he wrote his literature testament, The First Deed after the Awakening. In hospital Tuqay became interested in Tolstoy’s legacy again, devoting to him two verses. He read more about Volga Bulgaria
Volga Bulgaria
Volga Bulgaria, or Volga–Kama Bolghar, is a historic Bulgar state that existed between the seventh and thirteenth centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama rivers in what is now Russia.-Origin:...
’s history as well as all Kazan periodic.
On 15 April of the same year, Ğabdulla Tuqay died at the age of 27 and was buried in Tatar cemetery. 55.760223°N 49.106168°W
Legacy
Tatar State Symphony Orchestra
The Tatar State Symphony Orchestra or National Tatarstan Orchestra is the state orchestra of Tatarstan, Russia.The Tatar State Symphony Orchestra, dedicated to the great Tatar poet Ğabdulla Tuqay, was founded in 1966 on the initiative of Näcip Cihanov, a prominent composer, founder and the first...
dedicated to Tuqay's name. During the Soviet rule his most cited were his social poems, whereas now the most popular are poems about Tatarstan
Tatarstan
The Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of Russia located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, which is one of Russia's largest and most prosperous cities. The republic borders with Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, and with the Mari El, Udmurt,...
nature, Tatar national culture, music, history and, of course, the Tatar language
Tatar language
The Tatar language , or more specifically Kazan Tatar, is a Turkic language spoken by the Tatars of historical Kazan Khanate, including modern Tatarstan and Bashkiria...
. 26 April, his birthday, is celebrated as The Day of tatar Language, and his poem İ, Tuğan tel (Oh My Mother Tongue!) is the unofficial hymn of the Tatar language.
Excerpt, "Oh My Mother Tongue!"
- Oh, beloved native language
- Oh, enchanting mother tongue!
- You enabled my search for knowledge
- Of the world, since I was young
- As a child, when I was sleepless
- Mother sung me lullabies
- And my grandma told me stories
- Through the night, to shut my eyes
- Oh, my tongue! You have been always
- My support in grief and joy
- Understood and cherished fondly
- Since I was a little boy
- In my tongue, I learned with patience
- To express my faith and say:
- "Oh, Creator! Bless my parents
- Take, Allah, my sins away!"