Jadid literature is the artistic expression of the enlightenment movement that arose in Turkestan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. "Jadid" is Arabic for "new": the Jadids opened "usuli jadid" (new-method) schools and sought to awaken the nation through knowledge, the press and the theatre. In this period Uzbek literature gained its first drama, its first novel, the modern short story and journalism, while poetry moved to a plain language close to ordinary people. The topic is a key to the whole of 20th-century Uzbek literature: almost every writer of the following generations walked the path the Jadids opened. Exams often ask you to match authors with works, to know the "firsts" and the dates, and to recognise characters.
§1. How the Jadid movement arose and what it wanted
Jadidism was a reform movement among the Muslim peoples of the Russian Empire. One of its founders was the Crimean Tatar Ismail Gasprinski (1851–1914), who created the new-method school system and from 1883 published the newspaper «Tarjumon». In Turkestan the movement gained strength at the beginning of the 20th century.
Aim: enlightenment, national awakening, the fight against ignorance and stagnation, the nation’s progress and, later, political autonomy.
Means: new-method schools, newspapers and magazines (Behbudiy’s magazine «Oyina» and newspaper «Samarqand», «Taraqqiy», «Sadoyi Turkiston»), theatre troupes, textbooks, study abroad.
Literary innovations: drama, novel, short story, journalistic article; in poetry the syllabic barmoq metre grew stronger and the language became simpler.
Main themes: schooling, raising children, women’s rights, social justice, freedom of the homeland.
Why drama and the press in particular? Most people could not read: watching events on stage or hearing a newspaper read aloud was the fastest way to spread an idea. That is why Jadid literature is openly didactic, that is, it sets out to teach.
The core idea of Jadid literature: what will save the nation is knowledge and upbringing.
Usuli jadid — the new school that taught reading by the phonetic method; the old school made pupils memorise letter names.
§2. Mahmudxo‘ja Behbudiy (1875–1919) and «Padarkush»
Behbudiy was the leader of the Turkestan Jadids, active in Samarkand as a publisher, editor, textbook author and playwright.
«Padarkush» ("The Parricide") is the first Uzbek drama.
«Padarkush»: written in 1911, published in 1913, first staged in 1914.
Characters: the Boy (rich man), who thinks education is useless; Toshmurod, his uneducated son; the Domla (teacher) and the Ziyoli (intellectual), advocates of learning; Tangriqul and Nor, who lead Toshmurod astray.
Plot: the rich man rejects the Domla’s advice to educate his son; left without upbringing, Toshmurod goes astray and, with his accomplices, kills his father.
Idea: ignorance and lack of upbringing lead to tragedy. The Ziyoli’s long speeches show the play’s journalistic side: the author addresses the audience directly.
Behbudiy was executed in Qarshi in 1919 on the orders of the Emir of Bukhara.
Worked example
What idea do the events of «Padarkush» prove? — step by step.
Complication: the rich man refuses to educate his son.
Rising action: Toshmurod falls in with bad friends, drink and idle amusement.
Climax and resolution: the son causes his father’s death, hence the title "parricide".
Answer: depriving a child of knowledge and upbringing ruins both the family and the nation.
§3. Munavvar qori, Abdulla Avloniy and Abdurauf Fitrat
Munavvar qori Abdurashidxonov (1878–1931) organised new-method schools in Tashkent, wrote a primer and reading books, and worked as a publisher.
Abdulla Avloniy (1878–1934) was a teacher, poet and playwright, one of the founders of the «Turon» theatre troupe.
«Turkiy guliston yoxud axloq» ("The Turkic Rose Garden, or Morals", 1913) is a moral and didactic work that discusses good and bad qualities one by one. Its famous line says that upbringing is for us a matter of life or death, salvation or ruin, happiness or disaster.
Textbooks «Birinchi muallim» and «Ikkinchi muallim» ("The First Teacher", "The Second Teacher"); the collection «Adabiyot yoxud milliy she’rlar».
Abdurauf Fitrat (1886–1938) was a thinker, playwright, poet and scholar.
His journalistic work «Munozara» ("The Debate") is written as an argument about whether Bukhara needs a new-method school.
«Abulfayzxon» is a historical tragedy about the Bukharan ruler Abulfayzxon, palace intrigue and a bloody struggle for power; its conclusion is that tyranny destroys the tyrant himself.
Plays «Hind ixtilolchilari» ("Indian Revolutionaries") and «Shaytonning tangriga isyoni» ("Satan’s Revolt against God"); the prose work «Qiyomat» ("Doomsday"); poems «O‘git» and «Sharq».
He wrote scholarly works on literary theory and the aruz metre and was one of the founders of Uzbek literary studies.
§4. Abdulla Qodiriy (1894–1938) — the first Uzbek novel
«O‘tkan kunlar» ("Days Gone By") is the first Uzbek novel, published in instalments in 1922–1925. It is set in the mid-19th century in Tashkent and Margilan, in the era of the Kokand Khanate.
Characters: Otabek, an honest, forward-thinking young man; Kumush, his beloved and wife; Yusufbek hoji, Otabek’s wise father; O‘zbek oyim, his mother, who clings to old customs; Mirzakarim qutidor, Kumush’s father; Zaynab, Otabek’s second wife, who poisons Kumush out of jealousy; Homid, a villainous rival.
Idea: the tragedy of outdated customs, internal strife and ignorance; the unity of the homeland and pure love.
«Mehrobdan chayon» ("The Scorpion from the Altar", 1929) is set in the Kokand Khanate; its heroes are Anvar and Ra’no; it criticises the khan’s court and hypocritical clergy.
The novella «Obid ketmon», the stories «Juvonboz» and «Uloqda», and the satirical sketches «Toshpo‘lat tajang nima deydir?».
Qodiriy showed Jadid ideas not through speeches but through living characters and events, and so raised Uzbek prose to a new level.
Worked example
What is the social cause of the tragedy in «O‘tkan kunlar»?
Otabek marries Kumush for love, but his family does not accept a marriage made without the parents’ consent.
O‘zbek oyim also marries her son to a Tashkent girl, Zaynab — the custom of polygamy.
Jealousy between the wives drives Zaynab to crime: she poisons Kumush.
Answer: the root of the tragedy is outdated custom and ignorance; through a personal drama the author exposes a social illness.
§5. Cho‘lpon and Hamza
Abdulhamid Cho‘lpon (1897–1938) was a poet, novelist, playwright and translator.
Poetry collections: «Uyg‘onish» ("Awakening"), «Buloqlar» ("Springs"), «Tong sirlari» ("Secrets of the Dawn"), «Soz». His main motif is freedom, national awakening and longing for liberty; images of nature are often symbolic (dawn means awakening, fetters mean captivity).
Novel «Kecha va kunduz» ("Night and Day"): Zebi, an innocent girl; Razzoq so‘fi, her fanatical father; Akbarali mingboshi; Miryoqub. It depicts life in the colonial era and the fate of women.
He translated Shakespeare’s «Hamlet» into Uzbek; drama «Yorqinoy».
Hamza Hakimzoda Niyoziy (1889–1929) was a poet and playwright; his drama «Zaharli hayot» ("Poisoned Life", 1916) shows the tragedy of a forced marriage. Hamza also opened new-method schools.
Worked example
Whose collections are «Uyg‘onish», «Buloqlar» and «Tong sirlari», and what unites them?
All three belong to Cho‘lpon: if a title mentions dawn or awakening, think of him first.
The titles are symbolic: awakening is the nation rising from slumber, a spring is the source of new life, dawn is the hope of freedom.
Answer: Cho‘lpon; the collections are united by the idea of freedom and national awakening.
§6. The fate and legacy of the Jadids
At the end of 1917 the Jadids took an active part in proclaiming the Turkestan Autonomy, which was crushed by force early in 1918. In Soviet times the Jadids were first attacked as "nationalists" and then repressed.
Behbudiy was executed in 1919; Fitrat, Qodiriy and Cho‘lpon were shot in 1938.
Their works were banned for many years and fully returned to readers only after independence. Today the Jadid legacy is studied as the foundation of the history of national awakening, education and the press.
Check yourself
Which play is the first Uzbek drama?
Who poisons Kumush in «O‘tkan kunlar»?
Who wrote the tragedy «Abulfayzxon»?
Whose collections are «Uyg‘onish», «Buloqlar» and «Tong sirlari»?
Which work contains the idea that upbringing is "a matter of life or death"?
What is the name of the young hero of «Mehrobdan chayon»?
In which year was «Padarkush» first staged?
Who wrote the drama «Zaharli hayot»?
Common mistakes
Attributing «Kecha va kunduz» to Qodiriy (the author is Cho‘lpon).
Calling «Abulfayzxon» a work by Behbudiy (it is Fitrat’s).
Mixing up the dates of «Padarkush»: written 1911, published 1913, staged 1914.
Confusing Zaynab with Kumush.
Attributing Hamza’s «Zaharli hayot» to Behbudiy.
Treating Jadid works as mere "love stories": their main purpose is enlightenment and social reform.