By Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, January 7, 2015
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| Mehemmed Riza Levayi speaks to Voice of America about the resistance literature in Iranian Azerbaijan |
"Southern resistance literature, in this form, does not exist in Turkey or Northern Azerbaijan. It is found in nations living under colonialism," says Southern Azerbaijani poet and writer Mehemmed Riza Levayi in an interview with Voice of America, describing the resistance literature that emerged in response to the political conditions in Southern Azerbaijan. Currently living in exile in the United States, the author discusses the characteristics of "resistance literature" that formed in Iranian Azerbaijan and elaborates on a process he calls "the resistance of literature."
The author of books like Terror and Freedom, Fish, and Then I Gave My Heart to Them compares the process of the emergence of independent literature to the process of the formation of an independent political geography.
According to Levayi, "the resistance literature emerging in the South differs from the literature developed in Turkey and the Republic of Azerbaijan in its characteristics of marginalization and questioning."
"A writer from Southern Azerbaijan, whose identity is denied and who is subjected to violence and assimilation, tries to preserve themselves in their literature. They strive to preserve their literature both linguistically and spatially... They approach both Northern and Turkish literature, but their literature is distinct from both," he notes.
Levayi also emphasizes the significant influence of the literature of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Turkey on the resistance literature in the South:
"All of this is Turkish literature. Therefore, Southern literature takes a great deal from both Turkey and Azerbaijan... It absorbs not only language but also thought."
Mehemmed Riza Levayi expresses that the hero of the world-famous Southern Azerbaijani writer Samad Behrangi's iconic work The Little Black Fish is a symbol of resistance literature in the South.
"The black fish resists and defeats all its enemies, the birds that catch fish, by destroying them from within... It uses its dagger to tear their bellies from the inside and reaches salvation. It's a true internal resistance," Levayi describes the hero of Behrangi's work, which was written in Persian.
The former political prisoner also comments on the characteristics of Southern literature, such as "telling memories" and "returning to the past," as well as the importance it places on identity.
He notes that some characteristics of Southern literature are similar to Latin American literature.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Məhəmməd Rza Ləvayi: “Kiçik qara balıq” Güney Azərbaycan dirəniş ədəbiyyatının simvoludur