The concept of periodization of Azerbaijani literature in Salim Rafig Rafioglu’s creative work

Abstract

Studying the development history of Azerbaijani literature by stages has always been the focus of attention in literary studies. Thoughts about the periodization of history of literature were also reflected in literary histories, textbooks, research works written in different periods, in respect to this different classification have been made. However, the development stages of Azerbaijani literature was scientifically traced by academician Isa Habibbeyli for the first time and classified on the basis of one concept. The thoughts of the scholar about periodization of Azerbaijani literature were reflected in the book “Azerbaijani literature: periodization concept and development stages”.

The thoughts of Salim Rafig Rafioglu (1905-1980), one of the prominent representative of Azerbaijani emigration literary studies, about the periodization of literary history in the introduction of the book “Azerbaijani literature – Selected verses” published in 1941 were also interesting and were relevant for that period. It is clear from this introduction the author wrote by the way of quotation from the book “The history of Azerbaijani literature” that he based his classification on the principle of historicity and researched the development stages of our literary history by centuries. Salim Rafig generally characterized a period from ancient times to the 14th century and divided into periods our literature from the 14th century to the 20th century consistently; and identified the main literary figures and leading directions of the period by examining each century separately with its own characteristics. Possessing a comprehensive and systematic knowledge of Azerbaijani literature as a literary critic, the scholar divided into periods our literary history by centuries and this is noteworthy in that scientific conclusions have not lost their significance today.