One of the greatest Azerbaijani prose writers, dramatist, philosopher, enlightener and the founder of the modern realist school and literary criticism Mirza
Fatali Akhundov lived and passed away in Georgia.
Representation of State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic in Georgia claimed the responsibility to establish Akhundov's museum and in 2008 began to refurbish the house where the great writer lived. Anyone will be able to visit place where he lived and worked and have a closer insight into his works.
M.F.Akhundov was born in 1812 in Shaki. His parents, especially, his uncle Haji Alaskar, who was Fatali's first teacher prepared young Fatali for a career in priesthood but the young man was attracted to literature. In 1832 in Ganja Akhudov met Mirza Shafi Vazeh - a famous Azerbaijani philosopher, who is considered to have influenced the further whole fate of the writer.
In Akhundov's words, it was Vazeh, who inspired him with "enlightened ideas, removing from his eyes the veil of ignorance".
Later in 1834 he moved to Tbilisi, Georgia, where he worked as a translator of oriental languages. In Tbilisi his acquaintance and friendship with the exiled Russian decembrists A.Bestuzhev-Marlinski, A.Odoyevski, poet Ja.Polonsky and others played a large part in formation of Akhundov's views.
M.F. Akhundov`s first published work was the "Oriental Poem" (1837) dedicated to the death of the great Russian poet A. Pushkin. But the rise of Akhundov's literary activity comes to 50s of XIX century.
M.F. Akhundov wrote six comedies - the first ones in the Azerbaijan literature as well as the first samples of the national dramaturgy. Comedies by Akhundov are unique in their critical pathos, mercilessness of the analysis of the Azerbaijani reality of the first half of XIX century. These comedies found numerous responses in the Russian, German, French and other foreign periodical press.
In 1859 M.F. Akhundov, published his short but famous novel "The Deceived Stars" with great difficulty. By this novel he laid the foundation of realistic prose, giving the models of a new genre in Azerbaijani literature. By his comedies and dramas Akhundov established realism as the leading trend in Azerbaijani literature.