Ozod Sharafiddinov

Ozod Sharafiddinov is a literary scholar and literary critic. O. Sharafiddinov was born on March 1, 1929, in the village of Oxunqaynar near Kokand. He graduated from secondary school No. 14 in Tashkent and the Faculty of Philology of the Central Asian State University (now UzMU) (1951). He finished his postgraduate studies in Moscow and received a Candidate of Sciences degree (1955).

Ozod Sharafiddinov dealt with problems of poetry and wrote literary-critical articles about Uzbek poetry and its state. His scientific-creative and literary-critical research of that period is reflected in the work «Zamon. Qalb. Poeziya» (1962).

In the 60s-80s of the 20th century, he strove to promote the life and work of Cholpon. O. Sharafiddinov created literary portraits of representatives of Uzbek literature such as Oybek, Gafur Gulom, Abdulla Qahhor, Shayxzoda, Mirtemir, and Zulfiya: «Iste'dod jilolari» (1976), «Adabiy etyudlar» (1968), «Abdulla Qahhor» (1988), and «Birinchi mo'jiza» (1979). In the scholar's creative work, the book of literary-critical essays «Yalovbardorlar» (1974) about the work of representatives of other literatures occupies an important place.

Ozod Sharafiddinov reflected the situations in the Uzbek literary process from the 60s of the 20th century to the 19th century in works such as «Talant - xalq mulki» (1979), «Adabiyot - hayot darsligi» (1981), «Go'zallik izlab» (1985), «Haqiqatga sadoqat» (1988), «Sardaftar sahifalari» (1999), and «Prezident» (2003).

During the years of independence, O. Sharafiddinov accomplished great things as a literary critic, translator, and public figure. The aesthetic principles of the critic are reflected in his books «Cholpon» (1991), «Cholponni anglash» (1994), and works such as «E'tiqodimni nega o'zgartirdim» (1997). In later years, O. Sharafiddinov wrote dozens of articles about Uzbek writers, cultural and artistic figures, and scholars. He translated works by many representatives of world literature into Uzbek. Such as «Ko'lmak suvda quyosh parchasi» (Françoise Sagan), «Qadimgi xitoy nasri namunalari,» «Monumental targ'ibot» (Vl. Voynovich), and «Al-ximik» (Paulo Coelho).

Ozod Sharafiddinov was a professor at the National University of Uzbekistan until the mid-90s of the 20th century. In 1995-1997, he performed the duties of deputy editor-in-chief of the «Tafakkur» magazine.

Since 1997, he has been the editor-in-chief of the «Jahon adabiyoti» magazine. Ozod Sharafiddinov is a laureate of the Beruni State Prize (1970) and a holder of the «Buyuk xizmatlari uchun» (1999) and «Mehnat shuhrati» (1997) orders. On August 23, 2002, Ozod Sharafiddinov was awarded the title «Hero of Uzbekistan.»