Abdulla Alish
Alish, Abdulla
(pseudonym of Abdulla Barievich Alishev). Born Sept. 15, 1908, in the village of Kuiuki, now in the Tatar ASSR; died August 1944. Tatar Soviet writer. Graduated from the Kazan Teaching Institute in 1941.
In 1931, Alish published a collection of stories called The Banner of the Young Pioneer Detachment. His novella By the Bright Lake (1933), his collections of stories Waves (1934) and The Oath (1935), and his poetry collections Il’giz and I (1940) and My Brother (1940) occupy an important place in Tatar children’s literature. A book by Alish, Mother’s Tales (1940), has been published more than once in Russian.
In October 1941 he was taken prisoner near Briansk and thrown in a concentration camp, where he became acquainted with Musa Dzhalil. He experienced the horrors of the Moabite dungeon and wrote verses expressing his hatred for the enemy and his devotion to his people—for example, “Fatherland,” “Song of Death,” “Native Village,” and “Song of Myself.” He was executed by the fascists.
WORKS
Saylanma äsärlä r. Kazan, 1957.Skazki. Kazan, 1959.
Khvosty. Kazan, 1960.
Ognennoe iaichko: Rasskazy i skazki. Moscow, 1962.
REFERENCES
Simonov, K. “Sosed po kamere.” Lit. gazeta, Oct. 13, 1956.Kashshaf, G. “Alish—yäzüchï häm käräshche.” Sovet ädäbiyätï, 1956, no. 6.