Abdulla Kadyri

(pseudonym, Dzhulkunbai). Born 1894; died 1940. Soviet Uzbek author.

Kadyri was born in Tashkent. His first works depict features of the old Uzbek way of life (the short story “The Profligate” and the play The Unfortunate Fiancé; both 1915). In his prerevolutionary work, the influence of the ideas of Jadidism (a bourgeois-liberal, nationalistic movement) was perceptible. After the Great October Socialist Revolution, Kadyri worked for the satirical journal Mushtum (The Fist). His ironic short stories and topical satires enjoyed success. In his novels Days Past (1925) and Scorpion From the Altar (1929), Kadyri wrote about the life of the Uzbek people in the mid-19th century. However, his realism is not always consistent: realistic pictures give way to naturalistic sketches. Kadyri’s last novella, Abid-Ketmen’ (1935), is devoted to the collectivization of agriculture in Uzbekistan.