Bahodir Rahmonov. The Road That Began with “Tong yulduzi” (The Morning Star)

Life is often likened to a road, and this road, then, begins at birth. Yet there are people who, unlike others, seek a road within the road — the road of goodness. With a pure heart and a keen mind, they eventually find the road they are meant to travel. Like the youngest hero of a folktale, they spend their whole lives overcoming the hardships of this road. From this road called destiny they draw meaning for their lives, and they are able to turn the gifts God has given them toward goodness. This is the conclusion I have drawn from the life of my colleague and friend, the well-known scholar Dilmurod Quronov.

The life path of Dilmurod Quronov, Professor at Andijan State University and Doctor of Philological Sciences, is indeed suffused with such rays of goodness. That is why I am inclined to call Dilmurod a “Torchbearer of Thought”.

Every road of goodness has a beginning. By beginning I mean the narrow paths one walks before reaching the high road. Naturally, he too walked the narrow paths of scholarship in search of his road. On one of his nights of dreaming, “Tong yulduzi” (The Morning Star) must have shed the light of goodness into his heart. To my mind, that is where his torchbearer’s road began. As you will have gathered, “Tong yulduzi” is an allusion to Cholpon [the pen name Cholpon itself means “morning star”].

Dilmurod Quronov dedicated his book “Istiqlol dardi” (The Longing for Independence), published in 2000 and devoted to the evolution of Cholpon’s socio-political views, to the memory of his grandfather, Mulla Orinboy, son of Azizbek. The note that accompanies the dedication allows us to grasp the spiritual roots of the scholar’s first steps on the path of learning: “…while working on the book I kept remembering my late grandfather,” the author writes. “He had been a ‘basmachi’ and had been through exile… Only I know what anguish and bitterness the heart of a Soviet pioneer went through because of my grandfather’s past. The past that seemed ‘black’ to us lay between us like a bottomless chasm… My late grandfather never spoke of his past; now that I think of it, he probably understood that we were incapable of understanding… Today, in striving to comprehend Cholpon’s soul, I feel I have come to understand my grandfather too, and a painful regret keeps growing in my heart…”

From phrases in this note such as “only I know what anguish and bitterness it went through”, “striving to comprehend Cholpon’s soul” and “a painful regret in my heart”, one seems to discover the very roots of Dilmurod’s destiny in scholarship. I believe it was Cholpon’s lines “O heart, why have you befriended your fetters so? You have neither lament nor cry of protest…” that urged him to take the first step on this road. We know that Soviet ideology had silenced the voice of the poet who longed for freedom — “Wear no fetters, bow not your neck, for you too were born free!” — and deprived people of the chance to hear and understand him. At last, in the second half of the 1980s, the rays of Cholpon — that is, of the “Morning Star” — gradually began to spread. The word “freedom” came alive in the everyday speech of the time. Those “painful regrets” in Dilmurod’s heart turned into a dream that could be fulfilled on the path of scholarship. All that was needed was resolve, for this was still a time when linking one’s academic work with Jadidism and Jadid literature remained risky. This is borne out by the fact that before independence only a handful of our scholars had been able to turn to Cholpon’s life and work. The articles of Ozod Sharafiddinov, Umarali Normatov, Naim Karimov, Ibrohim Haqqulov, Salohiddin Mamajonov, Boybota Dostqorayev, Sherali Turdiyev, Sirojiddin Ahmedov, Murtazo Qarshiboyev and Rahimjon Otayev were the first steps boldly taken. It was at precisely this time that Dilmurod Quronov firmly set his own course in scholarship and embarked on his noble work with confident strides. As a result, in 1992 he defended his Candidate of Sciences dissertation on “Psychological Characterisation in the Novel ‘Kecha va kunduz’ (Night and Day)”, and in 1998 his doctoral dissertation on “The Poetics of Cholpon’s Prose”, taking a firm place among the first Cholpon scholars. This was received as a source of pride and a worthy scholarly achievement for Andijan, the land where Cholpon was born. Here I would like to draw your attention to the scholar’s observations on Cholpon’s travelogue “Yol esdaligi” (Notes from a Journey): “One may say,” he writes, “that no one feels changes of place and time as keenly as a person who has set out on a journey. Naturally, changes of place and time also exert a certain influence on the traveller’s inner world and bring about certain changes in his outlook.” I think these observations apply to Dilmurod’s own scholarly work as well. A traveller on the road of thought and spirit in Cholpon’s world, he has risen, shaped by that noble journey, to a new level of thinking — a scholar in the spirit of “for you too were born free”. As you read the fresh thinking, new approaches, new analyses and scholarly conclusions in his books “Choʻlpon: hayoti va ijodiy merosi” (Cholpon: Life and Literary Legacy), “Istiqlol dardi” (The Longing for Independence), “Choʻlpon nasri poetikasi” (The Poetics of Cholpon’s Prose), “Ruhiy dunyo tahlili” (Analysing the Inner World), “Adabiyot nadir yoki Choʻlponning mangu savoli” (What Is Literature? or Cholpon’s Eternal Question) and “Adabiy oʻylar” (Literary Reflections), you marvel at the breadth of the scholar’s thought.

The most urgent and painstaking research that Cholpon studies needed, and could not postpone, began in those very years — the first decade of independence. The work gathered pace especially in connection with Cholpon’s centenary. As one of the leading specialists, Dilmurod Quronov devoted all his knowledge and effort to accomplishing the necessary work in a short time, and this labour continues. In particular, he took an active part in the most important and responsible task of all — preparing Abdulhamid Cholpon’s works for publication. He prepared the second volume of Cholpon’s three-volume collected works for publication, with commentary; the book came out in 1994. That same year he also took part in preparing the collection “Adabiyot nadir” (What Is Literature?). He led the group that prepared and published Cholpon’s collected works in four volumes, and prepared the second volume of that edition with commentary. The fruit of this labour was presented to Cholpon’s readers in book form in 2016.

Since the Cholpon Foundation of Andijan Region was established in 1997, Dilmurod Quronov has served as its chief specialist. The applied research project “Choʻlpon hayoti va adabiy merosi” (Cholpon’s Life and Literary Legacy) in 1998–2000 and the project “Oʻzbek adabiyotida tarixiy-badiiy tafakkur tadriji” (The Evolution of Historical and Artistic Thinking in Uzbek Literature) in 2000–2002 were carried out under his academic supervision. In 2011 he entered the grant competition announced by the Public Fund for the Support of Non-Governmental Non-Profit Organisations under the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan with the project “Choʻlpon, biz seni unutmaymiz!” (Cholpon, We Will Not Forget You!) and won. All this makes it clear that Dilmurod Quronov is one of the devoted people who laid the foundations of Cholpon studies within Uzbek literary scholarship.

In the literary process, the phrase “understanding Cholpon” acquired new weight with Ozod Sharafiddinov’s study of that name. It signalled that literary scholars needed deep research — first to understand Cholpon themselves, and then to help readers understand him. We would not be mistaken in calling Dilmurod Quronov’s studies of this period a serious scholarly step toward understanding Cholpon. Let us note here how the scholar interprets Cholpon’s famous dictum on the social mission of literature, “If literature lives, the nation lives”: “Cholpon holds literature responsible for the spiritual life of the nation, and this claim has not lost its relevance to this day. The writer, who lived aflame with the ideas of Jadidism, sees in literature a force capable of making the nation aware of its own identity and rousing it to great deeds. Yet this force has not yet been able to reveal itself, for the writer’s compatriots cannot rise above the cares of making a living and fleeting whims and desires. As a result, they live ‘with our spirits sinking day by day, looking without hope to the future that is coming’. That is why, Cholpon believes, the nation today has an extraordinary need for literature — ‘the pure water of enlightenment that washes the grime from the heart’.”

True, literature is first and foremost the art of the word. But through Cholpon the scholar wants to say that literature possesses a power that bears on the destiny of the nation.

Dilmurod is one of the active critics who write with devotion for the purity and harmony of literature, society and the human heart. His articles “Inson yoʻli” (The Human Path), “Sheʼrda mantiq kerakmi?” (Does Poetry Need Logic?), “Oʻylashga undovchi asar” (A Work That Makes One Think), “Zavqimdan bir shingil” (A Morsel of Delight), “Sheʼrlarida tuproq isi bor” (There Is a Scent of Earth in the Poems), “Quduqda oʻsgan nay ohanglari” (Melodies of a Reed Grown in a Well) and “Ideal va badiiy yaxlitlik” (The Ideal and Artistic Integrity), together with his interviews and answers to questions such as “Adabiyot biz koʻnikkan tushunchadangina iborat emas” (Literature Is More Than What We Are Used to Thinking), “Tanqidda xolislik boʻlishi shart” (Criticism Must Be Impartial) and “Ijod masʼuliyati” (The Responsibility of Creative Work) — and even his remarks on social media — all serve to enrich readers’ understanding of literature, society and the human being.

One of the good deeds carried out by Professor Dilmurod Quronov deserves special mention. The scholar has been collecting the works of poets and writers of the past who wrote in his native Andijan and whose works were never put in order or published in their own time and remained neglected, and he has been publishing them in the series “Andijon ijodkorlari merosidan” (From the Legacy of Andijan Writers). This worthy work has been under way since 2018. Dilmurod leads a team made up mainly of university professors and lecturers and museum researchers. So far, under his general editorship, A. Qambarov’s “Navodir ul-vaqoye” (Rare Events), A. Boqir’s “Sogʻinch” (Longing), H. Razzoqov’s “Zulmatdagi nur” (Light in the Darkness), M. Mahjuriy’s “Visoling orzusi” (The Dream of Union with You) and Anisiy’s “Kulliyot” (Collected Works) have been published, as well as the collection “Koʻhna sadolar” (Ancient Echoes), which brings together the works of poets such as Manzur, Ojiz, Muntazir, Bimiy, Muhib, Pirimqori, Hofiz, Mushtoq and Mavjiy. These books came into being as an expression of the respect, loyalty and sense of responsibility of worthy descendants toward the masters of our recent history.

The versatility of the scholar’s work testifies to qualities and abilities such as an inquiring mind, selflessness, dedication, quick wit, a command of languages and a strong grounding in theory. The textbooks “Adabiyotshunoslikka kirish” (Introduction to Literary Studies) and “Adabiyot nazariyasi asoslari” (Fundamentals of Literary Theory), written by this gifted scholar for philology students in higher education, as well as a number of study guides, translations and journalistic articles, also deserve recognition. Moreover, his mentoring of researchers for the sake of the future of literary studies and his work as a permanent member of academic councils show him to be a tireless and modest scholar who has devoted his life to learning. Dilmurod Quronov currently serves as editor-in-chief of the journal “Ilmiy xabarnoma – Nauchnyy vestnik” (Scientific Bulletin), founded in 2009.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to fit all the facets and achievements of such an energetic person into a single article. Yet I believe it would be quite wrong not to mention one of Dilmurod’s distinctive, even exemplary, qualities. Abdulla Avloniy writes: “Truthfulness means rightness in deeds and honesty in words. A person reaches the orchard of well-being and the rose garden of happiness by the path of truthfulness. Truthfulness, the root of humanity, is the mother of the finest qualities, such as compassion, a sense of what is right and fairness.” This quotation is taken from an article by Dilmurod Quronov, which is itself titled “Ishda – toʻgʻrilik, soʻzda – rostlik” (Rightness in Deeds, Honesty in Words). What I mean to say is that this is precisely Dilmurod’s rule of life, his motto, his very identity as a person. Even my conclusion below echoes the ending of an article about Cholpon written by his own pen: “This is how he lives, this is how he thinks, this is how he creates.” For that is the most fitting tribute to the traveller on the road that began with the “Morning Star”.