Oguz Atay
Encyclopedia
Oğuz Atay was a pioneer
of the modern novel
in Turkey. His first novel, Tutunamayanlar
(The Disconnected), appeared 1971-72. Never reprinted in his lifetime and controversial among critics, it has become a best-seller since a new edition came out in 1984. It has been described as “probably the most eminent novel of twentieth-century Turkish literature”: this reference is due to a UNESCO survey, which goes on: “it poses an earnest challenge to even the most skilled translator with its kaleidoscope of colloquialisms and sheer size.” In fact one translation has so far been published, into Dutch: Het leven in stukken, translated by Hanneke van der Heijden and Margreet Dorleijn (Athenaeum-Polak & v Gennep, 2011). It appears also that a complete English translation exists, of which an excerpt won the Dryden Translation Prize in 2008: see http://www.eupjournals.com/doi/abs/10.3366/E1744185408000293, Comparative Critical Studies, vol.V (2008) 99.
His book of short stories, Korkuyu Beklerken, has appeared in a French translation by Jocelyne Burkmann and Ali Terzioglu as En guettant la peur, Paris, L'Harmattan, March 2010. French Wikipaedia says this of it: "Dans ce dernier recueil, grâce à un sens aigu de l'observation et de l'humour, Atay nous dévoile un univers étrange, à travers le destin de personnages drôles et pathétiques, incontournables témoins d'un monde où le grotesque rivalise souvent avec le tragique. Imprévisibles et captivantes, ces histoires nous invitent à un voyage singulier dans la littérature turque."
, a small town (population less than 10,000) in the centre of the Black Sea
coast, 590 km from İstanbul
. His father was a judge and his mother a schoolteacher, thus both representative of the modernization of Turkey brought about by Atatürk. Although he lived most of his life in big cities this provincial background was important to his work. He was at high school in Ankara
, at TED Ankara College until 1951, and after military service enrolled at Istanbul Technical University
, where he graduated as a civil engineer in 1957. With a friend he started an enterprise as a building contractor. This failed, leaving him (as such experiences have for other novelists) valuable material for his writing. In 1960 he joined the staff of the İstanbul Academy of Engineering and Architecture, where he worked until his final illness; he was promoted to associate professorship in 1970, for which he presented as his qualification a textbook on surveying, Topoğrafya. His first creative work, Tutunamayanlar
, was awarded the prize of Turkish Radio Television Institution, TRT in 1970, before it had been published. He went on to write another novel and a volume of short stories among other works.
He died in İstanbul, December 13, 1977, of a brain tumour. He spent much of his last year in London
, where he had gone for treatment. He is buried in Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery
. He married twice, and is survived by a daughter, Özge, by his first marriage.
What he had hoped would be his magnum opus
, "Türkiye'nin Ruhu" (The Spirit of Turkey), was cut short by his death. It is not known what form he intended for it.
One (not quite representative) short story, Beyaz Mantolu Adam, has been translated into several European languages.
for the corruption of the late Ottoman Empire, though he knew its literature, and was in particular well versed in Divan poetry. Yet the Western culture he saw around him was largely a form of colonialism, tending to crush what he saw was best about Turkish life. He had no patience with the traditionalists, who countered Western culture with improbable stories of early Turkish history. He soon lost patience with the underground socialists of the 1960s. And, although some good writers, such as Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar
, had written fiction dealing with the modernisation of Turkey, there were none that came near to dealing with life as he saw it lived. In fact, almost the only Turkish writer of the Republican period whose name appears in his work is the poet Nâzim Hikmet
.
The solution lay in using the West for his own ends. His subject matter is frequently the detritus of Western culture — translations of tenth-rate historical novels, Hollywood fantasy films, trivialities of encyclopaedias, Turkish tangos.... — but it is plain to any reader that he had a deep knowledge of Western literature. First come the great Russians, particularly Dostoevsky, with a particular liking for Ivan Goncharov
's Oblomov
: he was not alone in seeing a peculiar affinity between 19th-century Russia and the Turkey of his own day. Then the 19th-century Europeans, from Stendhal
to Henry James
, particularly The Portrait of a Lady
. But as the fracturing of society in 20th-century Europe gave birth to the modern novel, so James Joyce
, Franz Kafka
, Vladimir Nabokov
and others licensed his revolutionising the Turkish novel. His innovations are never bolted on, as we feel with so many modernist novels: they are always integral to the text. To the fracturing of Turkish life there corresponds the fracturing of language, and Atay is the master of its possibilities: the flowery Ottoman, the artificial purified Turkish, the rank colloquialism. From the West Atay took one of his favourite motifs, but so changed as to be new, intercourse between people as playing games: the free games of love and friendship, the ritualised games of superficial acquaintance, the mechanical games of bureaucracy.
Since the publication of Tutunamayanlar many Turkish novelists have broken away from traditional styles, first the slightly older writer Adalet Ağaoğlu
, then others including Orhan Pamuk
and Latife Tekin
. His actual influence would need to be examined case by case.
Innovator
An innovator in a general sense, is a person or an organization who is one of the first to introduce into reality something better than before. That often opens up a new area for others and achieves an innovation.-History:...
of the modern novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
in Turkey. His first novel, Tutunamayanlar
Tutunamayanlar
Tutunamayanlar is the first novel of Oguz Atay, one of the most prominent Turkish authors. It was written in 1970-71 and published in 1972. Although it was never reprinted in his lifetime and was controversial among critics, it has become a best-seller since a new edition came out in 1984...
(The Disconnected), appeared 1971-72. Never reprinted in his lifetime and controversial among critics, it has become a best-seller since a new edition came out in 1984. It has been described as “probably the most eminent novel of twentieth-century Turkish literature”: this reference is due to a UNESCO survey, which goes on: “it poses an earnest challenge to even the most skilled translator with its kaleidoscope of colloquialisms and sheer size.” In fact one translation has so far been published, into Dutch: Het leven in stukken, translated by Hanneke van der Heijden and Margreet Dorleijn (Athenaeum-Polak & v Gennep, 2011). It appears also that a complete English translation exists, of which an excerpt won the Dryden Translation Prize in 2008: see http://www.eupjournals.com/doi/abs/10.3366/E1744185408000293, Comparative Critical Studies, vol.V (2008) 99.
His book of short stories, Korkuyu Beklerken, has appeared in a French translation by Jocelyne Burkmann and Ali Terzioglu as En guettant la peur, Paris, L'Harmattan, March 2010. French Wikipaedia says this of it: "Dans ce dernier recueil, grâce à un sens aigu de l'observation et de l'humour, Atay nous dévoile un univers étrange, à travers le destin de personnages drôles et pathétiques, incontournables témoins d'un monde où le grotesque rivalise souvent avec le tragique. Imprévisibles et captivantes, ces histoires nous invitent à un voyage singulier dans la littérature turque."
Life
He was born October 12, 1934 in İneboluInebolu
İnebolu is a town and district of the Kastamonu Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is from Istanbul by road and north of Kastamonu. It is a typical Black Sea port town with many fine examples of traditional domestic architecture. According to the 2000 census, population of the...
, a small town (population less than 10,000) in the centre of the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
coast, 590 km from İstanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. His father was a judge and his mother a schoolteacher, thus both representative of the modernization of Turkey brought about by Atatürk. Although he lived most of his life in big cities this provincial background was important to his work. He was at high school in Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
, at TED Ankara College until 1951, and after military service enrolled at Istanbul Technical University
Istanbul Technical University
Istanbul Technical University is an international technical university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the world's third oldest technical university dedicated to engineering sciences as well as social sciences recently, and is one of the most prominent educational institutions in Turkey...
, where he graduated as a civil engineer in 1957. With a friend he started an enterprise as a building contractor. This failed, leaving him (as such experiences have for other novelists) valuable material for his writing. In 1960 he joined the staff of the İstanbul Academy of Engineering and Architecture, where he worked until his final illness; he was promoted to associate professorship in 1970, for which he presented as his qualification a textbook on surveying, Topoğrafya. His first creative work, Tutunamayanlar
Tutunamayanlar
Tutunamayanlar is the first novel of Oguz Atay, one of the most prominent Turkish authors. It was written in 1970-71 and published in 1972. Although it was never reprinted in his lifetime and was controversial among critics, it has become a best-seller since a new edition came out in 1984...
, was awarded the prize of Turkish Radio Television Institution, TRT in 1970, before it had been published. He went on to write another novel and a volume of short stories among other works.
He died in İstanbul, December 13, 1977, of a brain tumour. He spent much of his last year in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he had gone for treatment. He is buried in Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery
Edirnekapi Martyr's Cemetery
The Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery is a burial ground located in the European part of Istanbul, Turkey. It consists of an old, historical part and a modern one....
. He married twice, and is survived by a daughter, Özge, by his first marriage.
Works
- Topoğrafya (Topography) (1970) - a textbook for students of surveying)
- TutunamayanlarTutunamayanlarTutunamayanlar is the first novel of Oguz Atay, one of the most prominent Turkish authors. It was written in 1970-71 and published in 1972. Although it was never reprinted in his lifetime and was controversial among critics, it has become a best-seller since a new edition came out in 1984...
(1971–72) — (novel: The Disconnected) - Tehlikeli OyunlarTehlikeli OyunlarTehlikeli Oyunlar is the second novel of Oğuz Atay. It has been published in 1973. The main character of the novel is Hikmet Benol. Atay has stated in his diary that he has tried to create a "negative character" contrary to Selim Işık, who is the main character in his first novel Tutunamayanlar....
(1973) — (novel: Dangerous Games) - Bir Bilim Adamının Romanı: Mustafa İnan (1975) — (biographical novel: The Life of a Scientist: Mustafa Inan: German translation as Der Mathematiker, 2008)
- Korkuyu Beklerken (1975) — (short stories: Waiting for Fear)
- Oyunlarla Yaşayanlar (play: Those who Live by Games)
- Günlük (his personal diary)
- Eylembilim (unfinished fiction: Science of Action)
What he had hoped would be his magnum opus
Masterpiece
Masterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....
, "Türkiye'nin Ruhu" (The Spirit of Turkey), was cut short by his death. It is not known what form he intended for it.
One (not quite representative) short story, Beyaz Mantolu Adam, has been translated into several European languages.
Influences and achievements
Atay was of a generation deeply committed to the Westernising, scientific, secular culture encouraged by the revolution of the 1920s; he had no nostalgiaNostalgia
The term nostalgia describes a yearning for the past, often in idealized form.The word is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of , meaning "returning home", a Homeric word, and , meaning "pain, ache"...
for the corruption of the late Ottoman Empire, though he knew its literature, and was in particular well versed in Divan poetry. Yet the Western culture he saw around him was largely a form of colonialism, tending to crush what he saw was best about Turkish life. He had no patience with the traditionalists, who countered Western culture with improbable stories of early Turkish history. He soon lost patience with the underground socialists of the 1960s. And, although some good writers, such as Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar
Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar
Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar was one of the most important modern novelists and essayists of Turkish literature. He was also a member of the Turkish parliament between 1942 and 1946.-Biography:...
, had written fiction dealing with the modernisation of Turkey, there were none that came near to dealing with life as he saw it lived. In fact, almost the only Turkish writer of the Republican period whose name appears in his work is the poet Nâzim Hikmet
Nazim Hikmet
Nâzım Hikmet Ran , commonly known as Nâzım Hikmet , was a Turkish poet, playwright, novelist and memoirist. He was acclaimed for the "lyrical flow of his statements"...
.
The solution lay in using the West for his own ends. His subject matter is frequently the detritus of Western culture — translations of tenth-rate historical novels, Hollywood fantasy films, trivialities of encyclopaedias, Turkish tangos.... — but it is plain to any reader that he had a deep knowledge of Western literature. First come the great Russians, particularly Dostoevsky, with a particular liking for Ivan Goncharov
Ivan Goncharov
Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov was a Russian novelist best known as the author of Oblomov .- Biography :Ivan Goncharov was born in Simbirsk ; his father was a wealthy grain merchant and respected official who was elected mayor of Simbirsk several times...
's Oblomov
Oblomov
Oblomov is the best known novel by Russian writer Ivan Goncharov, first published in 1859. Oblomov is also the central character of the novel, often seen as the ultimate incarnation of the superfluous man, a symbolic character in 19th-century Russian literature...
: he was not alone in seeing a peculiar affinity between 19th-century Russia and the Turkey of his own day. Then the 19th-century Europeans, from Stendhal
Stendhal
Marie-Henri Beyle , better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme...
to Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
, particularly The Portrait of a Lady
The Portrait of a Lady
The Portrait of a Lady is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly and Macmillan's Magazine in 1880–81 and then as a book in 1881...
. But as the fracturing of society in 20th-century Europe gave birth to the modern novel, so James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
, Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
, Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...
and others licensed his revolutionising the Turkish novel. His innovations are never bolted on, as we feel with so many modernist novels: they are always integral to the text. To the fracturing of Turkish life there corresponds the fracturing of language, and Atay is the master of its possibilities: the flowery Ottoman, the artificial purified Turkish, the rank colloquialism. From the West Atay took one of his favourite motifs, but so changed as to be new, intercourse between people as playing games: the free games of love and friendship, the ritualised games of superficial acquaintance, the mechanical games of bureaucracy.
Since the publication of Tutunamayanlar many Turkish novelists have broken away from traditional styles, first the slightly older writer Adalet Ağaoğlu
Adalet Ağaoğlu
Adalet Ağaoğlu is a Turkish novelist and playwright.-Publishing career:As an author, a playwright and a human rights activist, she became one of the most prized novelists of Turkey...
, then others including Orhan Pamuk
Orhan Pamuk
Ferit Orhan Pamuk , generally known simply as Orhan Pamuk, is a Turkish novelist. He is also the Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he teaches comparative literature and writing....
and Latife Tekin
Latife Tekin
Latife Tekin is one of the most influential Turkish female authors. She was born in 1957 in Kayseri, Turkey. She continued her education in Istanbul. In 1983, her famous novel Sevgili Arsız Ölüm was published. The magic realism in the book was drawn from the Anatolian folklore and traditions...
. His actual influence would need to be examined case by case.