P rominent t ajik f igures of the

Karimov, Usmonjon

Tajik linguist and intellectual Usmonjon Karimov was born into a

family of farmers in Kasansay in the Namangan province of Uzbekistan

in 1934.

Karimov graduated from Tajikistan State University in 1960, and in

1988, received his doctorate degree in language and literature. His early

works deal with Tajik literature of the second part of the 18th and the

beginning of the 19th centuries. He studied the literary, stylistic, and

aesthetic aspects of that literature, as well as the impact of that literature

on Tajik society. Author of a considerable body of literature, Karimov

also contributed to the compilation of the Russian Ta'rikhi Adabiyoti

Jahoni (History of World Literature). He is also the author of separate

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Iraj Bashiri

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

140

volumes of Adabiyoti Tojik (Tajik Literature) for high schools and uni-

versities.