Mahmud Tarzi - Journalism and Poetry

Journalism and Poetry

One of Mahmud Tarzi's earliest works was known as the Account of a Journey (Sayahat-Namah-e Manzum) that was published in Lahore, Pakistan. However, Mahmud Tarzi's most influential work – and the foundation of journalism in Afghanistan – was his publishing of Seraj-al-Akhbar. This newspaper was published bi-weekly from October 1911 to January 1919. It played an important role in the development of an Afghan modernist movement, serving as a forum for a small, enlightened group of young Afghans, who provided the ethical justification and basic tenets of Afghan nationalism and modernism. Mahmud Tarzi also published Seraj-al-Atfal (Children's Lamp), the first Afghan Publication aimed at a juvenile audience.

Tarzi was the first who introduced Novel in Afghanistan and translated many English and French novels to Dari. He also contributed in editing, translations, and modernization of the Afghan press. He translated into Dari many major works of European authors, such as Around the World in Eighty Days, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Mysterious Island, International Law (from Turkish), and the History of the Russo-Japanese War. When he lived in Turkey and Syria, he immersed himself in reading and research, using both Turkish and Western literary and scientific sources. In Damascus, Tarzi wrote The Garden of Learning, containing choice articles about literary, artistic, travel and scientific matters. Another book entitled The Garden of Knowledge (later published in Kabul), concludes with an article “My beloved country, Afghanistan”, in which he tells his countrymen in Afghanistan how much he longs for his native land and recalls with nostalgia the virtues of its climate, mountains and deserts. In 1914, his novel Travel Across Three Continents in Twenty-Nine Days published. In the preface, he makes an apt comment about travel and history:

"Although age has its normal limits, it may be extended by two things-the study of history and by travel. Reading history broadens one's perception of the creation of the world, while travel extends one's field of vision."

He was instrumental in developing a modern literary community his last two decades in Afghanistan. Many of Tarzi's writings would be published after his death.