On the issue of identifying Mirza Shafi Vazeh’s authorship

Abstract

The fate of the outstanding Azerbaijani poet Mirza Shafi Vazeh (1794-1852) was typical for a talented, free-thinking person of that epoch. Mirza Shafi Vazeh got education in a madrasаh in Ganja. There, he spent most part of his life and became famous as a poet and teacher, organizer of the literary Majlis “Divani-Hikmet”. At the same time, Mirza Shafi was also a competent translator (many of his translations from the Russian, Arabian and French languages have been preserved) and the author of the textbooks (he has certain merits in the development of the Azerbaijani language). As ordinary was the life of Mirza Shafi, as unusual became the fate of his verses. The pseudonym Vazeh (in Arabian “Vazeh” means open, clear, revealed) predetermined the creative fate of the “mystified” poet, who won world fame, thanks to the “plagiarism” of the German orientalist Friedrich Bodenshtedt, who came to Tiflis in 1844. Friedrich Bodenshtedt showed great interest in the life of Caucasus and for this purpose took lessons from Mirza Shafi. Having published in Germany Vazeh's verses under the name “The Songs of Mirza Shafi”, the German poet suddenly gained popularity and, not having settled down in front of temptation, represented himself to be the author of these verses.