Molla Nasreddin: The Making of a Modern Trickster (1906-1911)
Author: Janet Afary and Kamran Afary
Molla Nasreddin, the groundbreaking weekly magazine edited by Jalil Mohammadgholizadeh, was one of the most influential publications shaping Constitutionalist thought. Published in Azerbaijani Turkish in Tbilisi—then part of Tsarist Russia, now the capital of Georgia—it quickly captured the attention of parts of the Islamic world and was met with particular enthusiasm in Iran.
The book Molla Nasreddin: The Making of a Modern Trickster investigates the reasons behind the journal’s remarkable success, attributing it primarily to its artful reinterpretation of folktales deeply rooted in popular culture. According to the authors, this distinctive literary approach enabled anti-colonial and reformist discourse, closely aligned with the ideals of the Social Democrats, to find its way into coffeehouses and the everyday speech of ordinary people. The book explores on the one hand the full artistic scope of the magazine, including its caricatures, poetry, and stories, and, on the other, narrates the era and the people who were both its creators and its readers.