THE ROLE OF LITERARY STRUGGLE IN ACHIEVING AZERBAIJAN'S INDEPENDENCE

Abstract

Alongside various factors, Azerbaijani literature also played a significant role in the Azerbaijani people’s struggle for freedom and the attainment of state independence. Although literature was subject to the pressure of official communist ideology during the Soviet era, it played an active role in awakening national consciousness and in the development of ideas of independence in Azerbaijan. Especially in the 1960s–1980s, Azerbaijani literature, while preserving national memory, had a significant impact on the formation of the ideology of Azerbaijanism. As evidenced by literary examples of this period and by polemics in the press, the ideologies of communism and Azerbaijanism came into conflict. While the ideology of communism shaped literature according to the principles of socialist
realism, Azerbaijanism was more strongly reflected in the literature of the “Sixties generation”. The works of Anar, Ilyas Efendiyev, Bakhtiyar Vahabzadeh, Rasul Rza, Movlud Suleymanli, Elchin, Sabir Ahmadov, and other representatives of the “Sixties generation” literature broke away from the constraints of socialist realism and reflected the spiritual world of the Azerbaijani people, their national values, and their opposition to the regime. The triumph of Azerbaijanism over communist ideology in Azerbaijani literature of the 1960s–1980s was a decisive factor in the formation of the idea of independence.