In the center of the world, or in the homeland of the Nasreddind-Khoja. Nasreddin Khoja - biography. Nasreddin Khoja - biography Hometown of Khoja Nasreddin Was there really Khoja Nasreddin
O. BULANOVA
There is probably not a single person who has not heard of Khoja Nasreddin, especially in the Muslim East. His name is remembered both in friendly conversations and in political speeches and in scientific disputes. They remember for various reasons, and even for no reason at all, simply because Hodge has been in all conceivable and inconceivable situations in which a person can find himself: he deceived and was deceived, cunning and getting out, was immensely wise and a complete fool.
For so many years he joked and mocked human stupidity, self-interest, complacency, ignorance. And it seems that stories in which reality goes hand in hand with laughter and paradox are almost not conducive to serious conversations. If only because this person is considered a folklore character, fictional, legendary, but in no way historical figure. However, just as seven cities argued for the right to be called the homeland of Homer, so three times as many peoples are ready to call Nasreddin theirs.
Nasreddin was born in the family of the venerable Imam Abdullah in the Turkish village of Khorto in 605 AH (1206) near the city of Sivrihisar in the province of Eskisehir. However, dozens of villages and cities in the Middle East are ready to argue about the nationality and birthplace of the great cunning.
In maktab, an elementary Muslim school, little Nasreddin asked his teacher - domullah - tricky questions. The domulla simply could not answer many of them. Then Nasreddin studied in Konya, the capital of the Seljuk Sultanate, lived and worked in Kastamonu, then in Aksehir, where, in the end, he died.
Turkish history professor Mikayil Bayram conducted an extensive study, the results of which showed that full name the real prototype of Nasreddin is Nasir ud-din Mahmud al-Khoyi, he was born in the city of Khoy, Iranian province of Western Azerbaijan, was educated in Khorasan and became a student of the famous Islamic figure Fakhr ad-din ar-Razi.
The Caliph of Baghdad sent him to Anatolia to organize resistance to the Mongol invasion. He served as a qadi, an Islamic judge, in Kayseri and later became a vizier at the court of Sultan Kay-Kavus II in Konya. He managed to visit a huge number of cities, got acquainted with many cultures and was famous for his wit, so it is quite possible that he was the first hero of funny or instructive stories about Khoja Nasreddin.
True, it seems doubtful that this educated and influential man rode around on a modest donkey and quarreled with his quarrelsome and ugly wife. But what a noble cannot afford is quite accessible to the hero of funny and instructive anecdotes, isn't it?
However, there are other studies that admit that the image of Khoja Nasreddin is a good five centuries older than is commonly believed in modern science.
An interesting hypothesis was put forward by Azerbaijani scientists. A number of comparisons allowed them to assume that the famous Azerbaijani scientist Haji Nasireddin Tusi, who lived in the 13th century, was the prototype of Nasreddin. Among the arguments in favor of this hypothesis is, for example, the fact that in one of the sources Nasreddin is called by this name - Nasireddin Tusi.
In Azerbaijan, Nasreddin's name is Molla - perhaps this name, according to researchers, is a distorted form of the name Movlan, which belonged to Tusi. He had another name - Hassan. This point of view is confirmed by the coincidence of some motifs from the works of Tusi himself and anecdotes about Nasreddin (for example, ridicule of soothsayers and astrologers). The considerations are interesting and not without persuasiveness.
Thus, if you start looking in the past for a person similar to Nasreddin, it will very soon become clear that his historicity borders on legendary. However, many researchers believe that the traces of Khoja Nasreddin should be sought not in historical chronicles and grave crypts, which, judging by his character, he did not want to get into, but in those parables and anecdotes that were told and are still being told by the peoples of the Middle East and Central Asia, and not only them.
Folk tradition draws Nasreddin truly many-sided. Sometimes he appears as an ugly, unsightly man in an old, worn dressing gown, in the pockets of which, alas, there are too many holes for something to be stale. Why, sometimes his dressing gown is simply greasy with dirt: long wanderings and poverty take their toll. At another time, on the contrary, we see a person with a pleasant appearance, not rich, but living in abundance. In his house there is a place for holidays, but there are also black days. And then Nasreddin sincerely rejoices at the thieves in his house, because finding something in empty chests is a real success.
Khoja travels a lot, but it is not clear where is his home after all: in Akshehir, Samarkand, Bukhara or Baghdad? Uzbekistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Armenia (yes, she too!), Greece, Bulgaria are ready to give him shelter. His name is declined in different languages: Khoja Nasreddin, Jokha Nasr-et-din, Mulla, Molla (Azerbaijani), Afandi (Uzbek), Ependi (Turkmen), Nasyr (Kazakh), Anasratin (Greek). Friends and students are waiting for him everywhere, but there are also enough enemies and ill-wishers.
The name Nasreddin is spelled differently in many languages, but they all go back to the Arabic Muslim personal name Nasr ad-Din, which translates as "Victory of the Faith." Nasreddin is addressed in different ways in the parables of different peoples - it can be the respectful address “Khoja”, and “Molla”, and even the Turkish “efendi”. It is characteristic that these three appeals - khoja, molla and efendi - are in many ways very close concepts.
Compare yourself. “Khoja” in Farsi means “master”. This word exists in almost all Turkic languages and also in Arabic. Initially, it was used as the name of the clan of the descendants of Islamic Sufi missionaries in Central Asia, representatives of the “white bone” estate (Turk. “ak suyuk”). Over time, “Khoja” became an honorary title, in particular, they began to call Islamic spiritual mentors of Ottoman princes or teachers of Arabic letters in a mekteb, as well as noble husbands, merchants or eunuchs in ruling families.
Mulla (molla) has several meanings. For Shiites, a mullah is the leader of a religious community, a theologian, a specialist in interpreting issues of faith and law (for Sunnis, these functions are performed by the ulema). In the rest of the Islamic world, more general meaning, as a respectful title, can have the meanings: “teacher”, “assistant”, “owner”, “protector”.
Efendi (afandi, ependi) (this word has Arabic, Persian, and even ancient Greek roots) means “one who can (in court) defend himself”). This is an honorary title of noble people, a polite treatment with the meanings “master”, “respected”, “master”. Usually followed the name and was given mainly to representatives of scientific professions.
But back to the reconstructed biography. Khoja has a wife, son and two daughters. The wife is a faithful interlocutor and eternal opponent. She is grumpy, but sometimes much wiser and calmer than her husband. His son is completely different from his father, and sometimes he is just as cunning and troublemaker.
Khoja has many professions: he is a farmer, a merchant, a doctor, a healer, he even trades in theft (most often unsuccessfully). He is a very religious person, so his fellow villagers listen to his sermons; he is fair and knows the law well, therefore he becomes a judge; he is majestic and wise - and now the great emir and even Tamerlane himself want to see him as his closest adviser. In other stories, Nasreddin is a stupid, narrow-minded person with many shortcomings and is even sometimes reputed to be an atheist.
One gets the impression that Nasreddin is a manifestation of human life in all its diversity, and everyone can (if he wants) discover his own Nasreddin.
It can be concluded that Khoja Nasreddin is, as it were, a different outlook on life, and if certain circumstances cannot be avoided, no matter how hard you try, then you can always learn something from them, become a little wiser, and therefore much freer from these very circumstances! And maybe, at the same time, it will turn out to teach someone else ... or teach a lesson. Nasreddin will definitely not rust.
For the Arab tradition, Nasreddin is not an accidental character. It's no secret that every fable or anecdote about him is a treasure trove. ancient wisdom, knowledge about the path of man, about his purpose and ways of gaining true existence. And Hoxha is not just an eccentric or an idiot, but someone who, with the help of irony and paradox, tries to convey high religious and ethical truths.
It can be boldly concluded that Nasreddin is a real Sufi! Sufism is an internal mystical trend in Islam that developed along with official religious schools. However, the Sufis themselves say that this trend is not limited to the religion of the prophet, but is the seed of any genuine religious or philosophical teaching. Sufism is the striving for Truth, for the spiritual transformation of man; this is a different way of thinking, a different view of things, free from fears, stereotypes and dogmas. And in this sense, real Sufis can be found not only in the East, but also in Western culture.
The mystery that Sufism is shrouded in, according to its followers, is connected not with some special mysticism and secrecy of the teaching, but with the fact that there were not so many sincere and honest seekers of truth in all ages.
In our age, accustomed to sensations and revelations, these truths pale before stories of mystical miracles and world conspiracies, but it is about them that the sages speak. And with them Nasreddin. The truth is not far away, it is here, hidden behind our habits and attachments, behind our selfishness and stupidity.
The image of Khoja Nasreddin, according to Idris Shah, is an amazing discovery of the Sufis. Khoja does not teach or rant, there is nothing far-fetched in his tricks. Someone will laugh at them, and someone, thanks to them, will learn something and realize something. Stories live their lives, wandering from one nation to another, Hodge travels from anecdote to anecdote, the legend does not die, wisdom lives on.
Khoja Nasreddin constantly reminds us that we are limited in understanding the essence of things, and therefore in their assessment. And if someone is called a fool, there is no point in being offended, because for Khoja Nasreddin such an accusation would be the highest of praises! Nasreddin - greatest teacher, his wisdom has long crossed the boundaries of the Sufi community. But few people know this Hodja.
There is a legend in the East that says that if you tell seven stories about Khoja Nasreddin in a special sequence, then a person will be touched by the light of eternal truth, giving extraordinary wisdom and power. How many were those who from century to century studied the legacy of the great mockingbird, one can only guess.
Generations succeeded generations, fairy tales and anecdotes were passed from mouth to mouth throughout all the tea and caravanserai of Asia, the inexhaustible folk fantasy added to the collection of stories about Khoja Nasreddin all new parables and anecdotes that spread over a vast territory. The themes of these stories have become part of the folklore heritage of several peoples, and the differences between them are explained by the diversity of national cultures. Most of them portray Nasreddin as a poor villager and have absolutely no reference to the time of the story - their hero could live and act in any time and era.
For the first time, the stories about Khoja Nasreddin were subjected to literary processing in 1480 in Turkey, being recorded in a book called “Saltukname”, and a little later, in the 16th century, by the writer and poet Jami Ruma Lamiya (died in 1531), the following manuscript with stories about Nasreddin dates back to 1571. Later, several novels and stories were written about Khoja Nasreddin (“Nasreddin and his wife” by P. Millin, “Rosary from cherry stones” by Gafur Gulyam, etc.).
Well, the 20th century brought the stories about Khoja Nasreddin to the movie screen and the theater stage. Today, the stories about Khoja Nasreddin have been translated into many languages and have long become part of the world's literary heritage. Thus, 1996-1997 was declared by UNESCO the International Year of Khoja Nasreddin.
main feature literary hero Nasreddin - get out of any situation as a winner with the help of a word. Nasreddin, masterfully mastering the word, neutralizes any of his defeats. Hoxha's frequent tricks are feigned ignorance and the logic of the absurd.
The Russian-speaking reader knows the stories about Khoja Nasreddin not only from collections of parables and anecdotes, but also from the wonderful novels by Leonid Solovyov "Troublemaker" and "The Enchanted Prince", combined into "The Tale of Khoja Nasreddin", also translated into dozens of foreign languages.
In Russia, the “official” appearance of Khoja Nasreddin is associated with the publication of the “History of Turkey” by Dmitry Cantemir (the Moldavian ruler who fled to Peter I), which included the first historical anecdotes about Nasreddin (Europe got to know him much earlier).
The subsequent, unofficial existence of the great Hoxha is shrouded in mist. Once, leafing through a collection of fairy tales and fables collected by folklorists in Smolensk, Moscow, Kaluga, Kostroma and other regions in the 60-80s of the last century, researcher Alexei Sukharev found several anecdotes that exactly repeat the stories of Khoja Nasreddin. Judge for yourself. Foma says to Yerema: “I have a headache, what should I do?”. Yerema replies: “When I had a toothache, I pulled it out.”
And here is Nasreddin's version. “Afandi, what should I do, my eye hurts?” a friend asked Nasreddin. “When I had a toothache, I could not calm down until I pulled it out. Probably, you should do the same, and you will get rid of the pain, ”advised Hoxha.
It turns out that this is nothing unusual. Such jokes can be found, for example, in the German and Flemish legends about Thiel Ulenspiegel, in Boccaccio's Decameron, in Cervantes' Don Quixote. Similar characters among other peoples: Sly Peter - among the southern Slavs; in Bulgaria there are stories in which two characters are present at the same time, competing with each other (most often - Khoja Nasreddin and Sly Peter, which is associated with the Turkish yoke in Bulgaria).
The Arabs have a very similar character Jokha, the Armenians have Pulu-Pugi, the Kazakhs (along with Nasreddin himself) have Aldar Kose, the Karakalpaks have Omirbek, Crimean Tatars- Akhmet-akai, Tajiks have Mushfiks, Uyghurs have Salai Chakkan and Molla Zaydin, Turkmens have Kemine, Ashkenazi Jews have Hershele Ostropoler (Hershele from Ostropol), Romanians have Pekale, Azerbaijanis have Molla Nasreddin. In Azerbaijan, the satirical magazine Molla Nasreddin, published by Jalil Mammadguluzade, was named after Nasreddin.
Of course, it is difficult to say that the stories about Khoja Nasreddin influenced the appearance of similar stories in other cultures. Somewhere for researchers this is obvious, but somewhere it is not possible to find visible connections. But it is difficult not to agree that there is something unusually important and attractive in this.
Of course, there will definitely be someone who will say that Nasreddin is incomprehensible or simply outdated. Well, if Hodge happened to be our contemporary, he would not be upset: you can’t please everyone. Yes, Nasreddin did not like to get upset at all. The mood is like a cloud: it ran and flew away. We get upset only because we lose what we had. Now, if you lost them, then there is something to be upset about. As for the rest, Khoja Nasreddin has nothing to lose, and this, perhaps, is his most important lesson.
The article uses materials from the Bolshoi Soviet Encyclopedia(article “Khodja Nasreddin”), from the book “Good Jokes of Khoja Nasreddin” by Alexei Sukharev, from the book “Twenty-Four Nasreddins” (Compiled by M.S. Kharitonov)
favorite of Nasreddin
Alternative descriptionsPet
Donkey, hinny or mule
The person who does the minimum work for the maximum reward
Beast of burden
long-eared transport
Transport Nasreddin
Asian "horse"
Donkey with Central Asian ornament
Stubborn Stubborn
hard-working donkey
donkey hard worker
industrious animal
cargo cattle
Cattle with a bale on their back
Living "truck" Asian
Resigned hard worker
Same donkey
Skotina Nasreddin
Shurik's eared transport
Donkey with an Asian bias
Workaholic Donkey
Donkey plowed
. Asian "truck"
. "motor" arba
Horse_Nasred-_din
Nasredin taught him to speak
Donkey harnessed to a cart
Domesticated African donkey
Stubborn
Horse Nasreddin
Animal Nasreddin
Central Asian version of Winnie the Pooh's friend
pet in the middle east
Same as donkey
Donkey from Central Asia
Asian Donkey
Donkey in the expanses of Central Asia
hoofed pet
Donkey in Asia
. “Looking for porridge from the mother-in-law” (palindrome)
Donkey who moved to Central Asia
working donkey
Transport of cunning Khoja Nasreddin
Central Asian donkey
donkey workaholic
Donkey of Central Asian nationality
Horse Khoja Nasreddin
Eared stubborn workaholic
Donkey hard worker
Asian cattle
Central Asian pet
Arba engine
industrious donkey
laborious donkey
eared hard worker
Stubborn Beast
He is a donkey
Four-legged cart tractor
Donkey that drags a cart
hardworking donkey
working animal
working donkey
What animal can stubbornly?
. "tractor" for arba
What animal can kick?
What animal is harnessed to the cart?
Horse plus donkey
diligent donkey
Eastern name for donkey
. "tractor" arba
Donkey or mule
Horse and donkey mix
Pet, donkey or mule
The man who does the hardest work without a murmur
Donkey and Regio hinny or mule
Stubborn Stubborn
. "Looking for porridge from the mother-in-law" (palind.)
. "Transport" Nasreddin
. "Tractor" carts
. "Tractor" for arba
. asian truck
. "Looking for porridge from his mother-in-law" (palindrome)
. "motor" arba
Asian "horse"
Live "truck" Asian
What animal is harnessed to the cart
What animal can kick
What animal can stubbornly
M. tatarsk. sib. orenb. kavk. donkey; donkey, donkey donkey; donkey, donkey m. donkey foal; in some places, the donkey is called both the hinny and the mule, even the mashtak, a small horse. Either a donkey, or an ishan, that is, not all the same: either a donkey, or a Muslim clergyman. donkey, donkey, belonging to the donkey., related
Donkey middle-az. nationality
Wed-az. donkey
Another name for donkey
. "Skakun" in a cart cart
Donkey harnessed to a cart
The Tale of Khoja Nasreddin is one of my favorite books. One of those that can be called ageless. That's great rarity! I never cling to the past - if I have “outgrown” a book, I will not return to it, I just remember the feelings that it gave in its time, and for this I am grateful to the author. But "Nasreddin" can be re-read at 10, and at 20, at 30, and at 60 years old - and there will be no feeling that he has outgrown.
In addition to all the joys that the Tale brings, it also contributed to the desire to go to Uzbekistan - a trip to Bukhara in 2007. was not just a trip to the old and beautiful city, I was going to the homeland of Khoja Nasreddin. It was possible to look at the city in two ways: directly and through the prism of the book. And it is obvious that it makes sense to come to Bukhara again.
In the light of everything written above, it is all the more strange that no matter how many editions of the Tale fell into the hands, practically nothing was written in them about the author - Leonid Solovyov. A very meager biography - a maximum of a couple of small paragraphs. Attempts to find more information were fruitless. Up to this day. I could not imagine, for example, that the second part of The Tale (like R. Shtilmark's The Heir from Calcutta) was written in the Stalinist camp, and that thanks to this Solovyov was not exiled to Kolyma ...
It so happened that Leonid Solovyov did not get into the memoirs of his contemporaries. There are only brief notes of the mother, sisters, wife, preserved in the archives, and even a sketch in the papers of Yuri Olesha. Even a normal, solid photo portrait cannot be found. There are only a few small home photographs. Random, amateur. Solovyov's biography is full of sharp turns, strong upheavals, which by no means always coincide with general historical ones.
He was born on August 19, 1906, in Tripoli (Lebanon). The fact is that the parents were educated in Russia at public expense. So they weren't rich. They had to work for a certain period of time where they were sent. They sent them to Palestine. Each separately. There they met and got married. The Russian Palestine Society set itself missionary goals. In particular, he opened schools in Russian for Arabs.
Vasily Andreevich and Anna Alekseevna taught at one of these schools. In the year of his son's birth, his father was a collegiate adviser, assistant inspector of the North Syrian schools of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (as it was fully called). Having served the prescribed term in a distant land, the Solovyovs returned to Russia in 1909. According to the official movements of the father until 1918, their place of residence was Buguruslan, then nearby was the Pokhvistnevo station of Samara-Zlatoust railway. Since 1921 - Uzbekistan, the city of Kokand.
There, Leonid studied at school and a mechanical college, without finishing it. Started working there. At one time he taught various subjects at the school of the FZU of the oil industry. Started writing. Began to be published in newspapers. He rose to Pravda Vostoka, which was published in Tashkent. He distinguished himself at the competition, which was announced by the Moscow magazine "World of Adventures". The story "On the Syr-Darya Shore" appeared in this magazine in 1927.
1930 Solovyov leaves for Moscow. He enters the literary and scriptwriting department of the Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). Finished it in June 1932. The dates found in Solovyov's biography are sometimes surprising. But the document on graduation from the institute has been preserved in the archive. Yes, Solovyov studied from the thirtieth to the thirty-second!
His first stories and stories about today's life, new buildings, people's daily work, about Central Asia did not go unnoticed. In 1935-1936, special articles were devoted to Solovyov by the magazines Krasnaya Nov and Literary Studies. Suppose, in Krasnaya Nov, A. Lezhnev admitted: “His stories are built up each time around one simple idea, like the pulp of a cherry around a bone”, “... his stories retain an intermediate form between everyday feuilleton and a story” and so on. Nevertheless, the article was called "About L. Solovyov", and this meant that he was recognized, introduced into the series.
After the publication of "Troublemaker" Leonid Vasilyevich became completely famous. In the February issue of "Literary Studies" for 1941, following the greetings to Kliment Voroshilov on his sixtieth birthday, there was a heading "Writers about their work." She was taken to Solovyov. He talked about his latest book. In a word, he moved forward firmly and steadily.
When the war began, Solovyov became a war correspondent for the Krasny Fleet newspaper. He writes a kind of modern prose epics: "Ivan Nikulin - Russian sailor", "Sevastopol stone". According to the scripts, films are staged one after another.
In September 1946 Solovyov arrested. Either he really annoyed someone, or there was a denunciation, or one led to another. He spent ten months in pre-trial detention. In the end, he admitted his guilt - of course, fictitious: the plan of a terrorist act against the head of state. He said something unflattering about Stalin. Apparently, he told his friends, but he was mistaken in them. Solovyov was not shot, because the idea is not yet the action. We were sent to the Dubravlag camp. His address was as follows: Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Potma station, Yavas post office, mailbox LK 241/13.
According to the memoirs of fellow camper Alexander Vladimirovich Usikov, Solovyov was selected as part of the stage to Kolyma. He wrote to the head of the camp, General Sergeenko, that if he was left here, he would take up the second book about Khoja Nasreddin. The general ordered Solovyov to leave. And The Enchanted Prince was indeed written in the camp. Manuscripts have been preserved. Papers, of course, were not given. She was sent by her family. Parents then lived in Stavropol, sisters - in various other cities.
Solovyov managed to become a night watchman in a workshop where wood was dried. Then he became a night attendant, that is, like a watchman at the bathhouse. Apparently, new prisoners were also brought in at night, they had to comply with sanitary standards. Occasionally, Moscow acquaintances were delivered. These meetings were great events in a monotonous life. Lonely night positions gave Solovyov the opportunity to concentrate on his literary pursuits.
The work on the book has been delayed. Still, by the end of 1950, The Enchanted Prince was written and sent to the authorities. The manuscript was not returned for several years. Solovyov was worried. But someone saved the "Enchanted Prince" - by accident or being aware of what was being done.
For reasons unclear to the biographer, apparently, in the middle of 1953 Solovyov's prison and camp life continued already in Omsk. Presumably, it was from there that he was released in June 1954, when all cases were reviewed. Among others, it became clear that Solovyov's accusation was exaggerated. I had to start life over.
For the first time, Leonid Vasilyevich married very early, back in Central Asia, in Kanibadam, Elizaveta Petrovna Belyaeva. But their paths soon parted. The Moscow family was Tamara Aleksandrovna Sedykh. According to eyewitness accounts, their union was not smooth, or rather painful. Upon Solovyov's arrival from the camp, Sedykh did not take him back into the house. All letters were returned unopened. Solovyov had no children.
In the first days after the camp he was met in Moscow by Yuri Olesha. The Central Archive of Literature and Art (TsGALI) keeps a record of this meeting: “July 13. I met Leonid Solovyov, who returned from exile ("Troublemaker"). Tall, old, lost his teeth. (…) Decently dressed. This, he says, was bought by a man who owes him. I went to the department store and bought it. He says about life there that he did not feel bad - not because he was placed in any special conditions, but because inside, as he says, he was not in exile. “I took it as retribution for the crime I committed against one woman - my first, as he put it, “real wife.” Now I believe I'll get something."
Confused, confused, with bitter reproaches to himself, without money, where was he to go? On reflection, Leonid Vasilyevich went to Leningrad for the first time in his life, to his sister Zinaida (the eldest, Ekaterina, lived until the end of her days in Central Asia, in Namangan). Zina was tight. Lived with difficulty. In April 1955, Solovyov married Maria Markovna Kudymovskaya, a teacher of the Russian language, most likely his age. They lived on Kharkovskaya street, house 2, apartment 16. There in recent months During his life, I met Leonid Vasilievich and I, unexpectedly learning that the author of The Tale of Khoja Nasreddin lives in Leningrad.
Everything seemed to be on the mend. Lenizdat was the first to publish The Enchanted Prince, preceded by The Troublemaker. The book had great success. Solovyov again began to work for the cinema. Started The Book of Youth. But health was deteriorating. He had severe hypertension. I found Leonid Vasilyevich walking, but half of his body was paralyzed. On April 9, 1962, he died before reaching fifty-six.
At first, in Leningrad, Solovyov was immediately supported by Mikhail Aleksandrovich Dudin. We also met friendly people. But in Leningrad literary life Leonid Vasilievich did not really enter. He kept himself apart - most likely due to ill health and mental unrest. When Maria Markovna gathered writers at her place to celebrate some date connected with Solovyov, there were three of us and one more, who did not know Leonid Vasilyevich. He was buried at the Red Cemetery in Avtovo.
Monument to Khoja Nasreddin in Bukhara
P.S. In 2010 came out complete collection works of Leonid Solovyov in 5 volumes. Publishing House "Book Club Knigovek".
The famous hero of Central Asian folklore, Khoja Nasreddin, would not have met so much attention and reverence among the Russian-speaking public if it were not for Leonid Solovyov, his literary guide, the author of a dilogy about a cunning, resourceful and fair wanderer, who coped much more successfully with the intrigues and intrigues of enemies, avoiding unfair punishments than the writer himself.
Who is Khoja Nasreddin?
Khoja Nasreddin began to be mentioned starting from the 13th century - if he really existed, it was at that time. No evidence that Nasreddin was real person, currently not, except perhaps an ancient grave in Turkey, which is shown to tourists. True, the date of death is indicated there as the year 386 of the Hijra (Islamic calendar), while it is believed that Khoja died in 683 (corresponding to 1284 of the Gregorian calendar). It is possible, however, that this is one of those jokes that accompanied the hero all his life and continued after his death - to write the date backwards, why not?
Still from the film "Nasreddin in Bukhara", 1943
In the East, there were numerous short stories, parables, anecdotes about Khoja Nasreddin - it was this legacy that provided the cunning and vagabond with centuries-old fame. 1238 such stories are recorded in Russian, but the main literary embodiment of this hero was the books of the Soviet writer Leonid Solovyov: "Troublemaker" and "The Enchanted Wanderer", which together make up "The Tale of Khoja Nasreddin".
It is interesting that in these works this character is shown as a rather young man - in the prime of life and vitality, while the traditional Nasreddin is an old man who bears the honorary title of "Khoja", which was given to spiritual mentors and teachers. In the folklore of some peoples, for example, Azerbaijanis, he bears the name Molla Nasreddin - a respectful, honorable appeal is added to the name Nasreddin, which also means "teacher".
The reason why Khoja is depicted as young is most likely in the very essence of this hero, and in the personality of the writer, Leonid Solovyov.
A tramp and a rogue, fellow Ostap Bender, Ulenspiegel, like them, accompanied by not the most intelligent companion - in this case, a donkey, Nasreddin simply could not turn out to be elderly. In addition, with a high probability, when writing his works, Soloviev invested in his most famous character and his own features.
The life path of Leonid Solovyov
Leonid Solovyov was born in 1906 in Tripoli, Lebanon, where his parents were sent to serve. Both the father and mother of the future author of books about Nasreddin taught Russian in Arabic schools of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society. The family did not live well, in 1909 she returned to Russia. In 1921, Solovyov ended up in Kokand, a city that would play a special role in subsequent works, and since 1923, the first articles of the writer began to appear in the Pravda Vostoka newspaper. Solovyov worked as a special correspondent for the newspaper until 1930, after which he came to Moscow, where he entered VGIK, the literary and script department.
Solovyov's career went uphill, the articles were followed by stories, then novels, and in 1940 the novel "Troublemaker" was published, which immediately became extremely popular in the Soviet Union. During the war, the writer worked as a correspondent, wrote essays, stories, scripts, and in 1946 was under arrest. The reason was, obviously, a denunciation, and for allegedly carried out "anti-Soviet agitation and terrorist statements" Solovyov was sentenced to ten years in the camps.
"The Tale of Khoja Nasreddin", 1958 edition
The first place of detention was the Mordovian colony, where the writer managed to free himself from corrective labor on condition that the second part of The Tale of Khoja Nasreddin was written. The work continued until 1950, the story was written, but it was published only in 1956, after the release of Solovyov. Two years before publication, he was released with all charges dropped.
The writer died at the age of 56.
Khoja Nasreddin - and Solovyov's hoaxes
Khoja Nasreddin gained popularity not only due to his role as the hero of a picaresque novel, perhaps the main advantage of the dilogy is the style of narration, sustained in the style of oriental legends, thanks to which the book seems to be a record of a folk epic, folklore. Meanwhile, the plot contains detailed and extremely reliable descriptions of the characters, which are fiction, a hoax performed by the author. For example, grandfather Turakhon, to whom many pages of the second part of the "Tale" are devoted, is not found in any other sources, and apparently is a figment of Soloviev's imagination.
At the same time, in some countries, a congenial hero is honored, Khidr (Khizra), whose mission is also to guide people to good luck. In Turkey, there is also a holiday - Hidyrlez, it is celebrated in early May and is dedicated to the beginning of a new agricultural (cattle-breeding) year. So, combining elements of oriental legends and fiction, Solovyov makes the reader feel the spirit of the East, associating himself with Khoja Nasreddin, and his enemies, stupid khans and emirs, with his own opponents.
One can only guess what could be the contribution of Leonid Solovyov to the further development of Khoja Nasreddin as a literary character, who, unlike the Soviet writer, perhaps gained immortality long ago.
The life of another writer, who gave the world the adventures of a rogue and a merry fellow, was also interesting -
All day the sky was covered with a gray veil. It became cold and deserted. The dull treeless steppe plateaus with burnt-out grass made me sad. Went to sleep...
In the distance appeared the post of the TRF - the Turkish equivalent of our traffic police. I instinctively prepared for the worst, because I know from past driving experience that meetings with such services do not bring much joy.
I have not had to deal with Turkish "road owners" yet. Are they the same as ours? Just in case, in order not to give the road guards time to come up with an excuse to find fault with us, they stopped themselves and “attacked” them with questions, remembering that the best defense is an attack.
But, as we saw, there is a completely different "climate", and the local "traffic cops", in which drivers are accustomed to seeing their eternal opponents, were not at all going to stop us and were not at all opponents of motorists. Even vice versa.
The police kindly answered our questions, gave a lot of advice, and in general showed the liveliest interest in us and especially in our country. Already a few minutes of conversation convinced me: these are simple, disinterested and kind guys, conscientiously fulfilling their official duty, which at the same time does not prevent them from being sympathetic, cheerful and smiling. The hospitable policemen invited us to their post to drink a glass of tea and continue the conversation there...
After this fleeting meeting, it seemed to me that the sky seemed to brighten up, and it became warmer, and nature smiled ... And it was as if the shadow of that cheerful person who, according to the Turks, once lived here, flashed by.
We were approaching the city of Sivrihisar. The surroundings are very picturesque - rocky mountains, bristling up to the sky with sharp teeth. From a distance, I was mistaking them for ancient fortress walls. Apparently, the city was named “Sivrihisar”, which means “fortress with pointed walls”. At the entrance to the city, to the left of the highway, they suddenly saw a monument - an old man in a wide-brimmed hat sits on a donkey, thrusting a long stick into the globe, on which is written: "Dunyanyn merkezi burasydyr" ("The center of the world is here").
I was waiting for this meeting and therefore I immediately guessed: this is the legendary Nasreddin-Khoja ...
I remembered an anecdote. Nasreddin was asked a tricky question that seemed impossible to answer: "Where is the center of the Earth's surface?" “Here,” Hodge replied, sticking his stick into the ground. “If you don’t believe me, you can make sure I’m right by measuring the distances in all directions ...”
But why is this monument erected here? We turn into the city and at the hotel, which is called "Nasreddin-Khoja", we learn that, it turns out, one of the neighboring villages is - no more, no less - the birthplace of the favorite of the Turks.
This further piqued our curiosity. Immediately we go to the specified village. Today it is also called Nasreddin-Khoja. And at the time when Nasreddin was born there, her name was Hortu.
Three kilometers from the road leading to Ankara, a roadside sign made us turn sharply to the southwest.
Along the main street of the village there are whitewashed blank end walls of adobe houses, painted with color paintings illustrating jokes about Nasreddin. On the central square, which, like the main street in this small village, can only be called so conditionally, a small monument has been erected. On the pedestal there is an inscription testifying that Nasreddin was born here in 1208 and lived until the age of 60. He died in 1284 in Aksehir...
The headman pointed out to us a narrow, crooked street, where one car could not pass—that was where Nasreddin's house was. The huts huddle closely, clinging to each other. Walls without windows that have grown into the ground, like blind old men crushed by the unbearable burden of time, were powdered with whitewash, which, contrary to their aspirations, did not hide age, but, on the contrary, showed wrinkles even more. The same miserable and compassionate crooked doors and gates squinted and wrinkled from old age and disease... Some houses were two stories high; the second floors hung like bony loggias over crooked steep streets.
Nasreddin's dwelling differs from others in that the house was built not immediately outside the gate, at the "red line", but in the depths of a tiny "patch" courtyard, at the back border of the site. Cramped on both sides by neighbors, a dilapidated house, built of unhewn stones, nevertheless contained several small rooms and an open veranda on the second floor. In the lower floor there are utility rooms and for the traditional personal transport of the East - the constant donkey. In an empty courtyard without a single tree, only an antediluvian axle from a cart with wooden solid curved wheels has been preserved.
No one has lived in the house for a long time, and it has fallen into complete disrepair. However, they say, as a token of grateful memory to the glorious Nasreddin, a new, solid house worthy of his main square. And then the villagers are ashamed that their illustrious countryman has such a wreck ... And, right, they will hang a memorial plaque on that house with the inscription: "Nasreddin-Khoja was born and lived here."
Such a neglected view of his house surprised us a lot: the popularity of Nasreddin-Khoja has reached truly global proportions. With the growth of his popularity, the number of applicants who considered Nasreddin their countryman also grew. Not only the Turks, but also many of their neighbors in the Middle East, the Caucasus, and Central Asia consider him “their own” ...
Nasreddin's grave is located in the city of Akshehir, about two hundred kilometers south of his native village. It is curious that the date of death on the tombstone of the crafty merry fellow and joker, as they say, is also deliberately indicated in a playful spirit, in his manner - backwards (this is how Nasreddin-Khoja often rode his donkey) - that is, 386, instead of 683, which corresponds to 1008 according to our chronology. But ... it turns out then that he died before he was born! True, this kind of "inconsistency" does not bother the fans of the beloved hero.
I asked the inhabitants of Nasreddin-Khoja whether any of the descendants of the Great Joker had accidentally remained here. It turned out that there are descendants. In less than five minutes, the neighbors, without hesitation, introduced us to the direct descendants of Nasreddin, whom we captured against the backdrop of a historic dwelling ...
