Dzhalil, Rakhim

Born June 3, 1909, in Khodzhent (present-day Leninabad). Soviet Tadzhik writer. Member of the CPSU from 1943. Son of an artisan.

The basic themes of Dzhalil’s early verses and short stories are the denunciation of vestiges of the old order and the struggle for equal rights for women. His early works include the verse collection Waves of Victory (1933), the collection of stories Dream (1936), Verses and Stories (1939), and A Fragment of a Novella (1940). During the Great Patriotic War his drama Two Meetings (1943) and his collection Wartime Stones (1944) enjoyed success. His works Second Life (1949), Spring (1950), and Stories (1954) deal with postwar reconstruction. Dzhalil is the author of novels about the establishment of Soviet power in Tadzhikistan; these include The Immortals (Russian translation 1949), Pulat and Gul’ru, and Shurab (book 1, 1959). Dzhalil is also a translator and author of stories for children.