Ragimov, Suleiman Gusein ogly

Born Mar. 9 (22), 1900, in the village of Ain, now in Kubatly Raion, Azerbaijan SSR. Soviet Azerbaijani writer. People’s Writer of the Azerbaijan SSR (1960). Member of the CPSU since 1926.

In 1931, Ragimov graduated from the department of history of the Azerbaijan Pedagogical Institute and became a teacher. He began publishing in 1930. His novel Shamo (vols. 1–3, 1931–64) deals with the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan, and the novel Sachly (1940–48; Russian translation, 1971), with the achievements of the revolution in the Azerbaijan countryside.

During the Great Patriotic War (1941–45) Ragimov wrote the novellas Voice of the Earth (1941), Medallion (1942), and Common Grave (1943). The novella Mekhman (1944) depicts the fate of a young Soviet lawyer. A strong satirical undercurrent permeates Ragimov’s stories about the prerevolutionary past and vestiges of feudalism; these stories include “The Request for Water” and “The Envious One.” The novel The She-eagle of the Caucasus (vols. 1–2, 1971–73) depicts the friendship between the peoples of Transcaucasia and Russia.

Ragimov was a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR. He has been awarded two Orders of Lenin, two other orders, and several medals.