Story about the Botanist-Doctor Monsieur Jordan and the Famous Sorcerer Dervish Mastali Shah
M.F.Akhundzadeh stands on the row of the best Azerbaijani writers, poets and playwrights. Especially his plays are master-piece of Azerbaijani literature and art. In these plays he deals with actual problems of his time. He criticizes the contrasts of feudal society, illiteracy and naivity of the people.
“A Story about the Botanist-Doctor Monsieur Jordan and the Famous Sorcerer Mastali Shah” is one of the best satirical comedies written by the great playwright M.F.Akhundzadeh.
Seyran Aghabeyli was quite right in his choice. He translated the comedy into English on the eve of M.F.Akhundzadeh`s 200th jubilee. The translation is quite successful. As an editor of the translation, I approve and appreciate it. I found great dedication and enthusiasm in this service for both English and Azerbaijani literature and art. I hope S.Aghabeyli will not spare himself to translate new Azerbaijani literary and scientific works into foreign languages though he is 75.
I wish the younger generation to follow S.Aghabeyli to add to our rich literature, art and science more and more translations.
I sincerely thank, and congratulate him for great effort to translate such a valuable masterpiece into English!
I heartily wish the author success in his further creative activity!
The author of this translation and I – the editor express our sincere thanks to the founder of “Khazar University” professor Hamlet İsakhanli for rendering close assistance in publishing of this play by M.F.Akhundzadeh. We also express our gratitude to the collaborators of The Kitab Klubu (The Book Club), especially to its director Elkhan Rzayev for assisting in publishing of this brilliant play!
MIRZA FATALI AKHUNDZADEH
(1812-1878)
Biography and Creative Activity
Mirza Fatali Akhundzadeh was a talented poet and the founder of Azerbaijan drama genre. He was one of outstanding representatives of progressive Azerbaijani culture, philosophy and literary criticism.
M.F.Akhundzadeh was born in 1812 (the exact date is unknown) in Nukha (it’s called Sheki now). His father Mirza Mammad Taghi came to Nukha from Khamna, Southern Azerbaijan. The same year he married Nana Khanum. In 1814 Mirza Mammad Taghi again moved to Khamna with his family. But by some reasons Fatali’s parents divorced. Nana Khanum and little Fatali moved to Horrand in Southern Azerbaijan to live under the protection of her uncle Akhund Haji Alaskar. In 1825 H. Alaskar’s family moved to Ganja. The same year they returned to Nukha. Haji Alaskar paid a great deal of attention to Fatali’s education. In 1832 he sent Fatali to madrasa in Ganja. He got his education from the famous Azerbaijani poet Mirza Shafi Vazeh. Seeing Fatali’s rare talent M.Sh.Vazeh taught him the secrets of different sciences. He also learned the Russian language. In 1834 Akhund Haji Alaskar took young Fatali to Tiflis and asked the head of the Caucasian Government Baron Rosen to give Fatali a job in his office. Fatali worked as an assistant of interpreter in the department of oriental languages, further till the end of his life he worked as an interpreter in the civil department, afterwards in the military one. He also took part in Iran-Russia, Russia-Turkey important official negotiations. And soon in state service M.F.Akhundzadeh achieved great success. He got such military titles as sergeant in 1842, second lieutenant in 1846, lieutenant in 1850, junior captain in 1852, lieutenant colonel in1854 and colonel in 1873. He was awarded several orders and medals by Russian, Persian and Turkish governments. In Tiflis he got acquainted with outstanding public figures and writers, as A.Bakukhanov, I.Gutgashinli, G.B.Zakir, the founder of Georgian drama G.Eristavi, decembrist-writer A.A.Bestujev-Marlinski the polish revolutionarist Tedeush Lado Zablotski and so on. These acquaintances played great role in extension of his outlook, interests, knowledge, development of his literary activity.
M.F.Akhundzadeh also got acquainted with the works of Russian thinkers and scientists such as Lomonosov, Derjavin, Karamzin, Griboyedov, Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Belinskiy, Chernyshevskiy, Dobrolyubov and so on. Having read those writers’, critics’ and thinkers’ works M.F.Akhundzadeh owned the progressive ideas of Russian culture civilization and art.
1850-1855 was the prosperous period in M.F.Akhundzadeh’s creative activity. During those years, he wrote six brilliant comedies and put the foundation of drama genre not only in Azerbaijan, but in the Near East as well. Those comedies were the followings: “Mullah Ibrahim Khalil – the Chemist ’’ written in 1850; “The Botanist-Doctor Monsieur Jordan and the Famous Sorcerer Mastali Shah” written in 1850; “Khirs Guldurbasan” written in 1851; “The Adventure of Mardi-Khasis” or “Haji Kara” written in 1852; “The Story of Murafia – lawyers” written in 1855. With those comedies he brought a fundamental changes in Azerbaijan literature and put it on new rails of development.
In 1842 M. Fatali married Akhund Haji Alasgar’s daughter Tubu Khanum. But his family life was not so lucky. 13 children were born in the family. Only two of them lived a long life. They were Rashid and Nisa. M.F.Akhundzadeh paid special attention to the education and behaviour of his children.
Rashid finished the classic gymnasium and studied in Belgium University, became a highway engineer. Mirza Fatali himself taught his daughter Nisa Khanum Persian and Russian languages and brought her up in the spirit of quite modern style.
As M. F. Akhundzadeh couldn’t achieve his high and sacred ideas and the death of his children terribly influenced on him, he grew older than his age, his health became poor day by day. As a result he got heart disease and his health became worse and worse. On the 27th of February 1878 the great writer’s heart stopped beating. In accordance with his testament he was buried in Tiflis Muslim cemetery near his teacher and friend M. Shafi Vazeh’s grave.
M.F. Akhundzadeh’s poetry had an important place in his literary activity. As a poet his pen name was “Sabuhi”. His first artistic poem was “The Complaint on Modern Time”. This poem can be divided into two periods. The first part is full of pessimism. But the second part is written quite in the spirit of optimism. In the first part the poet deals with his hard life, his surroundings and friends. But in the second, optimistic part M.F.Akhundzadeh describes Tiflis and its beautiful environment.
M.F. Akhundzadeh’s second poem was written in 1837. It was dedicated to the great Russian poet Pushkin’s death and was called “The Oriental Poem”. The death of the great poet in duel brought for Fatali deep depression and grief. He decided to write a poem dedicated to Pushkin in the classic Persian language.
Dramas take the most important place in M.F. Akhundzadeh’s creative activity. M.F. Akhundzadeh’s comedies are written in realistic principles. They describe real life and welfare of the people. In his plays M.F.Akhundzadeh deals with actual problems, criticizes the conflicts and contrasts of the feudal society. The comedy “The Botanist-Doctor Monsieur Jordan and the Famous Sorcerer Mastali Shah” is one of the best comedies written by M.F.Akhundzadeh. The dramatist wrote his comedy on the basis of real facts. In 1840-ies the french scientist Aleksis Jordan came to learn and explore flora of Karabakh, and in his scientific argue with other world botanist-doctors he proved his scientific rightness. In his comedy M.F.Akhundzadeh in the image of Monsieur Jordan described just the great French botanist-doctor Alexis Jordan. In the image of dervish Mastali Shah the writer exposes the swindlers, cunning men who deceive and rob the illiterate people. Monsieur Jordan is the representative of the world of science, enlightenment and progress who contradicts dervish Mastali Shah. Dervish Mastali Shah has come from a kept up feudal country, but Monsieur Jordan is
