Ramiz Abbasli


Ramiz Mohammad oghlu Abbasli is an Azerbaijani author, translator of fiction.

Biography

Ramiz Mohammad oghlu Abbasli was born in the Village of Papravend of the Aghdam District of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Juli 1.1948. His father was a teacher, he taught literary. His mother was a housewife. Ramiz Abbasli went to the eight-year school of the native village and then to the Boyahmedli Village upper school. He was very fond of the exact sciences – mathematics, physics and chemistry. He showed a keen interest in music, painted, read fiction: Azerbaijani tails, dastans, particularly he liked the epos “Koroghlu”. He read the works of M.Twain, J.Verne, V.Hugo, I.Turgenev, L.Boussenard, etc. He obtained higher education in the Baku State University, went to the Department of Chemistry. In the student days he began to read more, wrote verses, and stories. For a long time, he worked as an engineer in the SOCAR oil company. Combining the work of an engineer and a writer, he was quite successfully engaged in creative activities. He is currently retired and is working nowhere.
He is married and has two children.

Oeuvre

Ramiz Abbasli is a bilingual writer, writing in Azerbaijani and Russian. He translates the fiction from English, German and Russian. The story “The School of Seven Villages” made R.Abbasli a celebrity; for this story in 1996, the author received the award “Creative Success”. The connoisseurs of literature highly appreciated this interesting and dramatic tale in a short time, it had become a go-to book for many readers. Later it had been published in the books “Mirage”, “Dark Nights”.
The next book – The name of the Thief – has become a new whole stage in the creative activity of Ramiz Abbasli. The hero of this novel is not a man, but historical truth. Terrible events took place in Azerbaijan in the 20th century. None of other nations has suffered the disaster which Azerbaijan people did. None of other nations babies have been burned to death by their parents eyes, none nations pregnant brides have not been torn their bellies with the bayonets and pushed their infants mudding them the soil. This Armenian bestiality was so widespread that it was brought forward for discussion in Russian State Duma early in the twentieth century. And This went on for exactly one hundred years; hundreds of thousands Azerbaijanis were exterminated. – In the book “The name of the Thief” it is written about it. The Azerbaijan people welcomed this work with love. It is believed that this is the best book written on Karabakh theme. The authors consider that this beautiful work is understandable, every Azerbaijani should read it, this book can even be used as a textbook in the universities and colleges.
R.Abbasli often touches on the issue of the writers relationship to society. His articles “Death of Andrii”, “Criticizm of the Wrong Review”, and the novel “Chimera” devoted to this issue.
İn the penultimate book of R.Abbasli “On an uninhabited peninsula” includes short stories written in Russian. This book is from “Golden Word” series, – the title itself says a lot. Drawing portraits of his compatriots with an experienced pen, R.Abbasli seeks through a short story to display the full gamut of human feelings: jealous and love, friendship and rivalry, grief and joy, despair and hope, The short story holds a special place in his work. Continuing the traditions of the classics of world literary, R.Abbasli achieved significant success in this most difficult genre of prose. Of special note is the structure of these stories, in this respect, the writer seeks to achieve what no one before him has been able to achieve, the ideal form of verbal art. His story “The First Returner” is estimated as the pinnacle of human wisdom.
The story “The Song of the Blind Man” was written in 2019. This story describes, or rather, masterfully draws a real picture of the occupied and completely destroyed Azerbaijani settlement. This story was published in many almanacs and was included in both books of the author, published in Moscow, and as the best example of the modern prose, translated into English, published in the journal “Literary magazine” and distributed through the world. According to the critics, the stories of Ramiz Abbasli are modern, unique and truly majestic in their attention to detail, depth of feelings and unusual plat; this is a new prose, a new view of the world.
The last book “Nizami Gangavi Turkic Poet” of the writer Ramiz Abbasli is dedicated to the 880th anniversary of Azerbaijani Poet Nizami Ganjavi. But this is not fiction, this is scientific research. Unfortunately, today there are attempts to present Nizami Ganjavi as a Persian Poet and classic of Iranian literature. However, this is a completely unfounded opinion; it is not science but pseudoscience: Nizami Ganjavi has nothing to do with Persia or Persian Literature. The book “Nizami Ganjavi Turkic Poet” is dedicated to this topic; R.Abbasli in his characteristic manner based solely on irrefutable facts, proves that Nizami Ganjavi is a Turkic poet.

Translations

Translations of fiction takes special place in the creative life of Ramiz Abbasli. His translations have appeared since the 1990s. A false method of translating fiction was formed in Azerbaijan in Soviet period. Mostly they did translations not from the original, but from the Russian. R.Abbasli strongly criticized this technique and its supporters in his articles and interviews. He translated: the stories J. Joyce, A. Koppard, K. Mansfield, Galsworthy, Kafka, Hemingway, Sh. Anderson, H. Bell, I. Bachmann, J. Updike, D.K. Oates; the poems of Yeats, Roetke, Snyder; the plays of Yelinek, Pinter; the novels of Golding and Dickens. Ramiz Abbasli is the author of seven translated books, which include novels of English writers A Tale of Two Cities, Lord of the Flies and The Inheritors, the children's book Jip and Janneke of Norwegian writer Anna Schmidt, dozens of stories by European and American writers. All these works have been translated into Azerbaijani for the first time. His translations were published in all newspapers and magazines of Azerbaijan. Each of his translations was accompanied by an article with an unusually beautiful title: “The Bright Star of postmodern literature – John Updike”, “Great writer of the world – James Joyce”, “Master of English Parable William Golding”, etc. For many years, translating fiction from English, German and Russian, R.Abbasli brings the Azerbaijani Reader closer to world literature, and he has done a lot in this imported matter.

Awards

Ramiz Abbasli was awarded with the Order of Saint Anne on 27 November 2021 for his great Achievement in Literature.

Works

Books

  • “School of Seven Villages” – story collection. “Sabah” Publishing House. Baku – 1996;
  • “Mirage” – novel. “Elm” Publishing House, Baku – 2000;
  • “Dark nights” – novel, stories and short stories. “Nargiz” Publishing House, Baku – 2008;
  • “The name of the thief”- novel. “Elm və təhsil” Publishing House, Baku – 2015;
  • – novel. “Qanun” Publishing House, Baku – 2018;
  • “Song of the Blind Man” – short story collection. Moscow – 2021;
  • – scientific research. “Qanun” Publishing House. Baku – 2021;
  • “On an uninhabited peninsula” – short story collection. Moscow – 2021.

Novels

  • Agony,
  • Mirage,
  • The Name of the Thief,
  • Chimera.

Narratives

  • School of Seven Villages,
  • Aras Enamored with Kura,
  • Dark Nights.

Stories

  • Summer Day;
  • Gardens after Harvesting;
  • Cord Wood;
  • Self-justification;
  • Scarlet Rose Petals;
  • Evening Bazaar;
  • Interview;
  • A Woman by the Sea;
  • Thermos with Cold Tea;
  • The ninth place ;
  • The unnamed boy ;
  • Full house ;
  • Temple on Maunt Badri ;
  • Song of the Blind Man ;
  • Poisened coffee ;
  • First returner ;
  • There, in Kremenchug ;
  • Rookie Brigade
  • On an uninhabited peninsula.

Articles

  • Princess of Modern Literature – Magazine “Azerbaican”, 2005, vol.5;
  • About the grossest falsifications in the book “The Black Garden” by Thomas de Vaal”. Almanac “Karabach: yesterday, today and tomorrow”; Baku-2010;
  • Indefference to folk music, disrespect to mother language. Magazine – “Gobustan”, 2010, vol.4;
  • – sayt “azyb.az” – 2015;
  • Master of the English Parabla – in the book “A tale of two Cities” by Charles Dickens. Baku – 2017;
  • The bright star of Postmodernist Literature – Cohn Updike. Newspaper “Ədəbiyyat qəzeti”, August 15, 2015;
  • The patriarch of postmodernism – Cohn Bart. Newspaper “Ədəbiyyat qəzeti”, August 29, 2015;
  • European postmodernism – Great Britain. Muriel Spark; “Ədəbiyyat qəzeti”, November 14, 2015;
  • European postmodernism – Great Britain. William Golding. “Ədəbiyyat qəzeti”, November 21, 2015;
  • – 2017 ;
  • . – 2017 ;
  • . – 2017 ; in the book “Песня слепого”, by Ramiz Abbasli. Moscow – 2019;
  • – 2017 ; in the book “Песня слепого” by Ramiz Abbasli. Moscow – 2019;
  • – 2018 ;
  • Смерть Андрия. In the book “Песня слепого” by R.Abbasli. Moscow – 2019;
  • . Сборник “Вокруг света”. Moscow – 2021, No.1;
  • Азербайджан – жемчужина Кавказа. Сборник “Вокруг света”. Moscow – 2020 No.2;
  • The Great writer of the world. Newspaper “Yeni Azerbaijan”, February 22, 2002;
  • The great masters of the short story. Newspaper “Yeni Azerbaijan”, November 1, 2002;
  • A writer who knew how to write the words of the people. In the book “A Tale of two Cities” by Charles Dickens. Baku – 2017.
  • Iran’s abortive and moonshot attempts to describe Azerbaijani poet Nizami Ganjavi as Persian doomed to failure. “Azeri news” ; March 31, 2023.

Translations

  • John Galsworthy, Acme. Magazine “Ulduz”, vol.1;
  • James Joyce. The Dead, Eveline. Magazine “Dünya ədəbiyyatı”, 2005, Vol. 1, pp. 3–38.
  • James Joyce. İvy Day in the Committee Room. Newspaper “Yeni Azərbaycan”, February 22, 2002, April 5, 2002.
  • James Joyce. Araby. Magazine “Ulduz”, 2006, Vol. 5, pp. 58–61.
  • Ingeborg Bachmann. Your word ; Shadows, Roses Shadows, Magazine “Ulduz”, 2006, Vol. 1, p. 68.
  • Ingeborg Bachmann. Death will come. Magazine “Ulduz”, 2006, Vol. 1, pp. 58–61.
  • Donald Bisset. Magic dream tree ; River of words. Magazine “Ulduz”, 2000, Vol. 2, p. 51.
  • Kathrine Mansfield. The wind blows. Magazine “Ulduz”, 2008, Vol. 8, pp. 75–77.
  • Kathrine Mansfield. A cup of tea. Newspaper “Yeni Azərbaycan”, 02.03.2003.
  • Muriel Spark. The very fine clock. Magazine “Ulduz”, 1998, Vol. 10, pp. 62–63.
  • Muriel Spark. If you were see what's happening there. Newspaper “Ədəbiyyat qəzeti”, October 14, 2015.
  • Alfred Coppard. Debt. Magazine “Ulduz”, 1998, Vol. 10, pp. 64–68.
  • Joyce Carol Oats. Where have you been, where are you going?. Newspaper “Ədəbiyyat qəzeti”, October 17, 24, 31, and November 7, 2015.
  • John Updike. Walter Briggs. Newspaper “Ədəbiyyat qəzeti”, August 15, 2015.
  • Cristopher Rid and others. The literature of feebleness. Newspaper “Ədəbiyyat qəzeti”, August 29, 2015.
  • Gary Snyder. Riprap. Newspaper “Ədəbiyyat qəzeti”, October 10, 2015.
  • Svetlana Alexievich. We'll shoot at who cry ; I'm crying ; I was firing ; Mother cried: It wasn't my daughter. Newspaper “Ədəbiyyat qəzeti”, October 24, 2015.
  • Franz Kafka. I was a Guest of the Dead. Newspaper “Yeni Azərbaycan”, October 25, 2002.
  • Franz Kafka. A Fratricide. Newspaper “Yeni Azərbaycan”, February 9, 2003.
  • Franz Kafka. Coal-miner. Newspaper “Ədalət”, April 25, 2003.
  • Franz Kafka. Dreaming. Newspaper “Kaspi”, August 13, 2003.
  • Friedrich Nietzsche. A Madman. Newspaper “Ədalət”, September 25, 2003.
  • Heinrich Böll. My expensive leg. Newspaper “Yeni Azərbaycan”, August 27, 2002.
  • Heinrich Böll. The deads disobey the order. Newspaper “Yeni Azərbaycan”, October 4, 2002.
  • Heinrich Böll. Street show. Newspaper “Kaspi”, January 22, 2003.
  • Elfriede Jelinek. Paula. Magazine “Ulduz”, 2005, Vol. 2, pp. 42–45.
  • Elfriede Jelinek. My dears. Magazine “Azərbaycan”, 2005, Vol. 6, pp. 141–142.
  • Elfriede Jelinek. Girl and death. Magazine “Dünya ədəbiyyatı”, 2005, Vol. 2, pp. 66–72.
  • Sherwood Anderson. Departure. Newspaper “Yeni Azərbaycan”, October 1, 2002.
  • Helmut Haysenbuttel. Water painter. Newspaper “Ədalət”, October 31, 2003.
  • Harold Pinter. Poems: God blesses America; Democracy; Weather forecast; Death. Magazine “Ulduz”, 2006, Vol. 4, pp. 76–77.
  • Harold Pinter. Uncommunicative waiter. Magazine “Ulduz”, 2006, Vol. 4, pp. 77–87.
  • Rachel Hutmacher. Escape. Mewspaper “Yeni Azərbaycan”, April 13, 2003.
  • Ludwig Pels. Home. Newspaper “Yeni Azərbaycan”, October 18, 2002.
  • Katheline Foyle. My fife-player elephant. Newspaper “Yeni Azərbaycan”, 24. 09. 2003.
  • James Barry. Peter Pen. Newspaper “Ədalət”, June 13, 2003.
  • Helen Simpson. Tree. Magazine “Ulduz”, 2004, Vol. 11, pp. 43–46.
  • Ernest Hemingway. Indian Camp. Magazine “Ulduz”, 1999, Vol. 7/8, pp. 64–66.
  • Ernest Hemingway. Cat in the rain. Magazine “Ulduz”, 1999, Vol. 7/8, pp. 67–68.
  • Ernest Hemingway. Old man on the bridge. Newspaper “İki sahil”, August 18, 1999.
  • Gram Green. Special duties. Newspaper “Yeni Azərbaycan”, September 24, 2001.
  • William Butler Yeats. Poems: The Dolls; Wild Swans at Coole; To Ann Gregory; website “azyb.az”.
  • John Steinbeck. “Chrysanthemum”. Magazine “Azərbaycan”, 2008, Vol. 2, pp. 103–109.
  • Maron Monica. Animal passion. Magazine “Ulduz”, 2005, Vol. 11, pp. 75–77.
  • Hew Lofting. Tale of Doctor Dulitll. Magazine “Ulduz”, 2002, Vol. 2, pp. 52–54.
  • Theodor Roethke, Poems, Magazine “Ulduz”, 2005, Vol. 9, pp. 86–88.
  • William Golding. Selected works: William Golding's Nobel Speech, pp. 13–27; Lord of the flies, pp. 30–262; The İnheritors, pp. 266–468. “Sharg-Garb” Publishing House, Baku – 2010.
  • James Joyce “The Dubliners” – stories, “Ganun” Publishing House, Baku – 2011.
  • Gary Snyder – poems; Magazine “Ulduz”, No. 3, 2017
  • Charles Dickens “A Tale of two cities”, “Ganun” Publishing House, Baku – 2018;
  • William Golding “Lord of the flies”, “Ganun” Publishing House, Baku – 2017;
  • Anna Schmidt “Jip and Janneke”, “Ganun” Publishing, Baku – 2018.

Works in English translation

  • The book “Nizami Ganjavi Turkic Poet”, Baku – 2021;
  • Song of the Blind Man – Literary magazine “Russian Bell”, vol.4, Moscow – 2020;
  • The scientific study or history reüritinf, – Ramiz Abbasli answered Jost Gipert. Internet Archive.