Huseyn Javid

Huseyn Javid (Azeri: Hüseyn Cavid)was a prominent Azerbaijani poet and playwright of the early 20th century. He was one of the founders of progressive romanticism movement in the contemporary Azerbaijani literature.

Huseyn  Javid was born in 1880 to a family of a theologian in Nakhchivan. After completing his elementary education at a religious school in 1898, Javid pursued his mid-school education in the Maktab-i Tarbiya of Mashadi Taghi Sidgi. In 1899–1903, Huseyn Javid studied in the Talibiyya Madrasah in Tabriz. After obtaining a degree in literature at the Istanbul University in 1909, Javid worked as a teacher in Nakhchivan, Ganja and Tiflis, and starting from 1915 in Baku.
Huseynn Javid's first book of lyrical poems titled "Kechmish gunlar" ("The Past Days") was published in 1913. However Javid was known more as a playwright. His philosophical and epic tragedies and family dramas introduce a new line of development in Azerbaijani literature. In his literary tragedy "Sheikh Sanan" (1914), Huseyn Javid philosophized about the idea of a universal religion to lift inter-religious barrier between humans. His most famous creation, "Iblis" ("Devil") published in 1918, exposed all oppressive forces as the supporters of "humans are wolves to each other" philosophy and "the 20th century cultural savages", and summarized them in the character of Devil. In his works, Javid criticized any form of colonialism and oppression.
During the 1920s and 1930s, Huseyn Javid authored a number of historical epics, such as Peyghambar ("The Prophet") in 1922, Topal Teymur in 1925, Sayavush in 1933 and Khayyam in 1935.