☰ Contents · Literature

Asqad Muxtor and “Chinor”

Lessons 37–38 · 2 lessons · S. Olim, S. Ahmedov, R. Qo‘chqorov. Literature, Grade 8: textbook-collection, Parts 1 and 2. G‘afur G‘ulom publishing-printing creative house, Tashkent, 2014 (revised third edition)
37

Asqad Mukhtor

Textbook: Part 2, pp. 41–43
GoalDescribe Asqad Muxtor’s life path and work: his poetry, prose and translation.
New words
writer · adibtranslator · tarjimoneditor · muharrirnovella · qissa
Explanation

Asqad Muxtor was born on 23 December 1920 in Fergana in a railway worker’s family. When he turned 11 his father died, and he was raised in a children’s home until adulthood. In 1936 he studied at a journalists’ course in Tashkent, in 1938 entered Samarkand university, continued his studies in Tashkent during the war years, and then headed the literature department of the Andijan pedagogical institute for three years. From 1945 he worked in the press in Tashkent, and in 1960–1965 he was editor of the journal “Sharq yulduzi”. He began with poems such as “Tilak”, “Tong edi” and “Totli damlar”, wrote war-time poems such as “G‘alaba ishonchi”, and from the 1950s turned to prose, creating the novels “Opa-singillar”, “Tug‘ilish”, “Chinor” and “Amu”. He translated Sophocles’ tragedy “Shoh Edip” and works of Pushkin, Lermontov, Tagore and others into Uzbek; he died in Tashkent on 17 April 1996.

Worked examples
Example: titles show the stages of his work: “Tilak” (1935–1938) belongs to his youthful poems, “99 miniatura” (1962) to mature lyric poetry, and “Chinor” (1969–1973) is a large novel.
Example: Asqad Muxtor also wrote for children: “Chin yurakdan” (1956) is a book of poems and “Dunyo bolalari” (1962) a book of stories.
Class activity

Write the writer’s life as a table of five dates with matching events (for example 1920, 1936, 1938, 1960, 1996).

Practice
1
When and where was Asqad Muxtor born?
2
Which journal did he edit in 1960–1965?
3
Which of his novels do you know?
4
Why does translation hold an important place in his work?