Sultan Majid Ganizade

(1866-1937)

Educator, teacher, writer, translator, journalist, author of several dictionaries, textbooks, literature works, satirical articles.

Sultan Majid Ganizade was born in April 1866 in the family of merchant Haji Murtuza -Ali.

A number of dictionaries prepared by him can be considered one of the first steps in this field.  

“Russian-Turkic Dictionary” (1902), “Self-Teach Book of the Tatar Language” and other books testify to his scientific thinking, attitude to languages, hard work, creative activity, serving the nation and caring for the people.

Sultan Majid Ganizade was a prominent writer and playwright. The name of his first play was “Goncha Khanum”. Unfortunately, this play missed. Along with translations of Russian writers, Sultan Majid wrote stories for children based on folk tales. The most complex works in literature is called as “Sheyda Bey Shirvani Correspondence”. In fact, this is a biographical work.

Sultan Majid Ganizade was a great journalist. He, being a regular speaker at the Gori Seminary, was published in the journal “Dabistan”.

Sultan Majid Ganizade was a great Azerbaijani. From the very beginning of his activity as a teacher, he linked his life and work with revival, prosperity, education, and a future for the people.

His “Reading Book”, “Dictionary of the Azerbaijani language”, “Russian-Azerbaijani (Muslim) dictionary” and other books written with Ali Isgender Jabbarov, served to partially fill the gaps in schools. By his work “Evening patience will lead to good”, he laid the foundations of “tebdil” (tebdil - a litreature with a borrowed plot and theme) in the history of our literature. His most original work is the story “The Pride of the Teacher” and the novel “The Necklace of Brides”, written under the general title “Sheyda Bey Shirvani’s Correspondence”. This work is considered the first dilogy in the history of our literature. The story “Fear of God”, published in the “Dabistan” journal in 1906, takes a special place in his work. S.Ganizade also tried himself in the field of literary translation. His first translation work is “The First Winemaker” of Tolstoy.

In 1887, he and his associates – Habib bey Makhmudbekov and Najafgulu Veliyev created a theatrical group and, thanks to the tremendous efforts of these dedicated tutors, this group became a professional theatrical troupe. He played an important role in the formation and development of the Azerbaijani theatre. S. Ganizade also served as director.

S. Ganizade was killed in 1937 at the age of 72 years in the period of mass repression.