Abdulhamid Sulaymon oûgûli Yunusov (, 1893 â 4 October 1938), most commonly known by his penname Choûlpon (sometimes spelled Cholpán in English), was an Uzbek poet, playwright, novelist, and literary translator. Choûlpon was one of Central Asia's most popular poets during the first half of the 20th century. He was also the first person to translate William Shakespeare's plays into the Uzbek language.
Choûlpon's works had a major impact on the works of other Uzbek writers. He was one of the first authors to introduce realism into Uzbek literature. Choûlpon was executed during the Great Purge under the leadership of Joseph Stalin.
Abdulhamid Sulaymon oûgûli Yunusov was born in 1893 in Andijan. His father, Sulaymonqul Mulla Muhammad Yunus oûgûli, was a learned man. Choûlpon first studied at a madrasa. Later he enrolled in a Russian tuzem school (), an elementary school for non-Russians in Turkestan.
From 1919 until 1920, Choûlpon worked as editor-in-chief of the newspaper TurkROSTA. He also worked on the editorial board of many other publications, such as Ishtirokiyun, Qizil bayroq (The Red Flag), Turkiston (Turkestan), Buxoro axbori (Bukhara News), and Darhon.
Like many Uzbek authors of his time, such as Abdulla Qodiriy and Abdulrauf Fitrat, Choûlpon was executed during the Great Purge under the leadership of Joseph Stalin. He was arrested as "enemy of the people" in 1937 and, as with Qodiriy and Fitrat, was killed on 4 October 1938.
Choûlpon's first poems were published in Oûzbek yosh shoirlari (Young Uzbek Poets), a collection of poems by young Uzbek poets, in 1922. His three collections of poems, namely, Uygûonish (The Awakening) (1922), Buloqlar (The Springs) (1924), and Tong sirlari (The Secrets of Dawn) (1926) were published during his lifetime. Choûlpon's novel Kecha va kunduz (Night and Day) is one of the most highly acclaimed novels in Uzbek literature.
Choûlpon's works had a major impact on the works of other Uzbek writers. He was one of the first authors to introduce realism into Uzbek literature. Choûlpon used clear and straightforward language in his works. He appealed to Uzbek national identity in some of his works, and because of it was criticized as a bourgeois nationalist in Soviet sources. He was finally rehabilitated during glasnost.
In addition to writing numerous poems, plays, and short stories, Choûlpon translated the works of foreign writers including Alexander Pushkin, Maxim Gorky, and William Shakespeare into Uzbek. In particular, he translated Pushkin's Boris Godunov and Shakespeare's Hamlet into Uzbek.
Choûlpon's first forays into drama date from 1919, when he wrote small stage works such as Temirchi, Gunoh, and Choûrining isyoni. In the early 1920s, he published Yorqinoy, Xalil Farang, Qotil (1921), Sevgi va Saltanat, Yorqinoy (1920), Xalil farang (1921), Yana uylanaman (1926), Mushtumzo'r (1928), Hujum 1928) and Choûlpon sevgisi (1922).