Yasar Kemal
Encyclopedia
Yaşar Kemal, is a Turkish writer. He is one of Turkey
's leading writers. He has long been a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature
, on the strength of Memed, My Hawk
.
As an outspoken intellectual, he does not hesitate to speak on sensitive issues such as the plight of the ethnic Kurds in Southeastern Turkey. His activism resulted in a twenty-month suspended jail sentence, on charges of advocating separatism.
origin, was born in Hemite (now Gökçedam
), a hamlet
in the province
of Osmaniye
in southern Turkey
. His parents were from Van
, who came into Çukurova
during the First World War
. Kemal had a difficult childhood because he lost his right eye due to a knife accident, when his father was slaughtering a sheep on Eid al-Adha, and had to witness as his father was stabbed to death by his adoptive son Yusuf while praying in a mosque
when he was five years old. This traumatic experience left Kemal with a speech impediment, which lasted until he was twelve years old. At nine he started school in a neighboring village and continued his formal education in Kadirli
, Osmaniye Province
.
Kemal was a locally noted bard before he started school, but was unappreciated by his widowed mother until he composed an elegy on the death of one of her eight brothers, all bandits. However, he forgot it and became interested in writing as a means to record his work when he questioned an itinerant peddler, who was doing his accounts. Ultimately, his village paid his way to university in Istanbul
.
He worked for a while for rich farmers, guarding their river water against other farmers' unauthorized irrigation. However, instead he taught the poor farmers how to steal the water undetected, by taking it at night.
Later he worked as a letter-writer, then as a journalist, and finally as a novelist. He said that the Turkish police took his first two novels.
When Yaşar Kemal was visiting Akdamar Island
in 1951, he saw the island's Holy Cross Church being destroyed. Using his contacts to the public, he helped stop destruction of the site. However, the church remained in a neglected state until 2005, when restoration by the Turkish government began.
. She translated 17 of her husband’s works into the English language. Thilda died on January 17, 2001 (aged 78) from pulmonary
complications at a hospital in Istanbul, and was laid to rest at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery
. Thilda is survived by her hushand, her son Raşit and a grandchild.
Yaşar Kemal remarried on August 1, 2002 with Ayşe Semiha Baban, a lecturer for public relations
at Bilgi University in Istanbul. She was educated at the American University of Beirut
, Bosphorus University and Harvard University
.
. Then he published his book of short stories Sarı Sıcak ("Yellow Heat") in 1952. The initial point of his works was the toil of the people of the Çukurova
plains and he based the themes of his writings on the lives and sufferings of these people. Yaşar Kemal has used the legends and stories of Anatolia
extensively as the basis of his works.
He received international acclaim with the publication of Memed, My Hawk
in 1955. In İnce Memed, Yaşar Kemal criticizes the fabric of the society through a legendary hero, a protagonist, who flees to the mountains as a result of the oppression of the Aghas. One of the most famous living writers in Turkey, Kemal is noted for his command of the language and lyrical description of bucolic Turkish life. He has been awarded 19 literary prizes so far and nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature
in 1973.
His 1955 novel Teneke
was adapted into a theatrical play, which was staged for almost one year in Gothenburg
, Sweden
, in the country where he lived for about two years in the late 1970s. Italian composer Fabio Vacchi
adapted the same novel with the original title into an opera
of three acts, which premiered at the Teatro alla Scala in Milano, Italy
in 2007.
Kemal lays claim to having recreated Turkish as a literary language, by bringing in the vernacular, following Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
's sterilization of Turkish by removing Persian and Arabic elements.
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
's leading writers. He has long been a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
, on the strength of Memed, My Hawk
Memed, My Hawk
Memed, My Hawk is a 1955 novel by Yaşar Kemal. It was Kemal's debut novel and is the first novel in his İnce Memed tetralogy. The novel won the Varlik prize for that year and earned Kemal a national reputation...
.
As an outspoken intellectual, he does not hesitate to speak on sensitive issues such as the plight of the ethnic Kurds in Southeastern Turkey. His activism resulted in a twenty-month suspended jail sentence, on charges of advocating separatism.
Life
Kemal, who is of KurdishKurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
origin, was born in Hemite (now Gökçedam
Gökçedam
Gökçedam is a village in the central district of Osmaniye Province, Turkey. It is the birthplace of Yaşar Kemal....
), a hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
in the province
Provinces of Turkey
Turkey is divided into 81 provinces, called il in Turkish .A province is administered by an appointed governor , and was formerly termed a "governorate" ....
of Osmaniye
Osmaniye Province
Osmaniye Province is a Turkish province located in southern Turkey. It became a province in 1996. The province was part of Adana Province. It covers an area of 3,767 km² and has a population of 479,221 . The province is situated in Çukurova, a geographical, economical and cultural region.The...
in southern Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. His parents were from Van
Van, Turkey
Van is a city in southeastern Turkey and the seat of the Kurdish-majority Van Province, and is located on the eastern shore of Lake Van. The city's official population in 2010 was 367,419, but many estimates put this as much higher with a 1996 estimate stating 500,000 and former Mayor Burhan...
, who came into Çukurova
Çukurova
Çukurova , historically known as Cilicia, is a geographic, economic and cultural region in south-central Turkey, covering the provinces of Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye and Hatay...
during the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Kemal had a difficult childhood because he lost his right eye due to a knife accident, when his father was slaughtering a sheep on Eid al-Adha, and had to witness as his father was stabbed to death by his adoptive son Yusuf while praying in a mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
when he was five years old. This traumatic experience left Kemal with a speech impediment, which lasted until he was twelve years old. At nine he started school in a neighboring village and continued his formal education in Kadirli
Kadirli
Kadirli , is a town and district of Osmaniye Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. It is located in the Çukurova plain, from the large city of Osmaniye...
, Osmaniye Province
Osmaniye Province
Osmaniye Province is a Turkish province located in southern Turkey. It became a province in 1996. The province was part of Adana Province. It covers an area of 3,767 km² and has a population of 479,221 . The province is situated in Çukurova, a geographical, economical and cultural region.The...
.
Kemal was a locally noted bard before he started school, but was unappreciated by his widowed mother until he composed an elegy on the death of one of her eight brothers, all bandits. However, he forgot it and became interested in writing as a means to record his work when he questioned an itinerant peddler, who was doing his accounts. Ultimately, his village paid his way to university in Istanbul
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...
.
He worked for a while for rich farmers, guarding their river water against other farmers' unauthorized irrigation. However, instead he taught the poor farmers how to steal the water undetected, by taking it at night.
Later he worked as a letter-writer, then as a journalist, and finally as a novelist. He said that the Turkish police took his first two novels.
When Yaşar Kemal was visiting Akdamar Island
Akdamar Island
Akdamar Island also known as Aght'amar or Akhtamar, is the second by size of four islands in Lake Van in the south of Eastern Anatolia Region, Turkey, about 0.7 km2 in size, situated about 3 km from the shoreline. At the western end of the island a hard, grey, limestone cliff rises 80 m...
in 1951, he saw the island's Holy Cross Church being destroyed. Using his contacts to the public, he helped stop destruction of the site. However, the church remained in a neglected state until 2005, when restoration by the Turkish government began.
Marriages
In 1952, Yaşar Kemal married Thilda Serrero, a member of a prominent Sephardi Jewish family in Istanbul. Her grandfather, Jak Mandil Pasha, was the chief physician of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid IIAbdul Hamid II
His Imperial Majesty, The Sultan Abdülhamid II, Emperor of the Ottomans, Caliph of the Faithful was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire...
. She translated 17 of her husband’s works into the English language. Thilda died on January 17, 2001 (aged 78) from pulmonary
Human lung
The human lungs are the organs of respiration in humans. Humans have two lungs, with the left being divided into two lobes and the right into three lobes. Together, the lungs contain approximately of airways and 300 to 500 million alveoli, having a total surface area of about in...
complications at a hospital in Istanbul, and was laid to rest at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery
Zincirlikuyu Cemetery
The Zincirlikuyu Cemetery is a modern burial ground at the European part of Istanbul, Turkey. It is administered by the Metropolitan Municipality. Many prominent figures from the world of politics, business, sports and arts rest here....
. Thilda is survived by her hushand, her son Raşit and a grandchild.
Yaşar Kemal remarried on August 1, 2002 with Ayşe Semiha Baban, a lecturer for public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
at Bilgi University in Istanbul. She was educated at the American University of Beirut
American University of Beirut
The American University of Beirut is a private, independent university in Beirut, Lebanon. It was founded as the Syrian Protestant College by American missionaries in 1866...
, Bosphorus University and Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
Oeuvre
He published his first book Ağıtlar ("Ballads") in 1943, which was a compilation of folkloric themes. This book brings to light many long forgotten rhymes and ballads and Kemal had started to collect these ballads at the age of 16. His first stories Bebek ("The Baby"), Dükkancı ("The Shopkeeper"), Memet ile Memet ("Memet and Memet") were published in 1950. He had written his first story Pis Hikaye ("The Dirty Story") in 1944, while he was serving in the military, in KayseriKayseri
Kayseri is a large and industrialized city in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It is the seat of Kayseri Province. The city of Kayseri, as defined by the boundaries of Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality, is structurally composed of five metropolitan districts, the two core districts of Kocasinan and...
. Then he published his book of short stories Sarı Sıcak ("Yellow Heat") in 1952. The initial point of his works was the toil of the people of the Çukurova
Çukurova
Çukurova , historically known as Cilicia, is a geographic, economic and cultural region in south-central Turkey, covering the provinces of Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye and Hatay...
plains and he based the themes of his writings on the lives and sufferings of these people. Yaşar Kemal has used the legends and stories of Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
extensively as the basis of his works.
He received international acclaim with the publication of Memed, My Hawk
Memed, My Hawk
Memed, My Hawk is a 1955 novel by Yaşar Kemal. It was Kemal's debut novel and is the first novel in his İnce Memed tetralogy. The novel won the Varlik prize for that year and earned Kemal a national reputation...
in 1955. In İnce Memed, Yaşar Kemal criticizes the fabric of the society through a legendary hero, a protagonist, who flees to the mountains as a result of the oppression of the Aghas. One of the most famous living writers in Turkey, Kemal is noted for his command of the language and lyrical description of bucolic Turkish life. He has been awarded 19 literary prizes so far and nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
in 1973.
His 1955 novel Teneke
Teneke (novel)
Teneke is a novel by the Kurdish author Yaşar Kemal, appeared in 1955 by Varlık Yayınları after its first publication in 1954 as an episode in the newspaper Cumhuriyet. It is Kemal's second novel...
was adapted into a theatrical play, which was staged for almost one year in Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, in the country where he lived for about two years in the late 1970s. Italian composer Fabio Vacchi
Fabio Vacchi
Fabio Vacchi is an Italian composer born in 1949 in Bologna.-Training and debut:Fabio Vacchi studied at the G.B. Martini Conservatory of Bologna with Giacomo Manzoni and Tito Gotti. In 1974 he participated in the courses of the Tanglewood Festival in the USA, where he was awarded the Koussevitzky...
adapted the same novel with the original title into an opera
Teneke
Teneke is an opera in three acts by Italian composer Fabio Vacchi.Franco Marcoaldi adapted the Italian libretto from the eponymous novel by the Turkish author Yaşar Kemal published in 1955. The opera was premiered on September 22, 2007 at the Teatro alla Scala of Milan, conducted by Roberto Abbado...
of three acts, which premiered at the Teatro alla Scala in Milano, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in 2007.
Kemal lays claim to having recreated Turkish as a literary language, by bringing in the vernacular, following Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey....
's sterilization of Turkish by removing Persian and Arabic elements.
Awards and Distinctions
- "Seven Days in the World's Largest Farm" reportage series, Journalist's Association Prize, 1955
- Varlik Prize for Ince Memed ("Memed, My Hawk"), 1956
- Ilhan Iskender Award for the play adapted from his book with the same name, Teneke ("The Drumming-Out"), 1966
- The International Nancy Theatre Festival - First Prize for Uzun Dere ("Long Brook"), 1966 -Theater adaptation from roman Iron Earth, Copper Sky.
- Madarli Novel Award for Demirciler Çarşısı ("Murder in the Ironsmith's Market"), 1974
- Choix du Syndicat des Critiques Littéraires pour le meilleur roman etranger (Eté/Automne 1977) pour Terre de Fer, Ciel de Cuivre ("Yer Demir, Gök Bakır").
- Prix du Meilleur Livre EtrangerPrix du Meilleur Livre ÉtrangerThe Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger is a French literary prize created in 1948. It is awarded yearly in two categories: Novel and Essay for books translated in to French.- Prix du Meilleur livre étranger — Novel :* 2010: Gonçalo M...
1978 pour L'Herbe qui ne meurt pas (Ölmez Otu); Paris, Janvier 1979. - Prix mondial Cino Del DucaPrix mondial Cino Del DucaThe Prix mondial Cino Del Duca is an international literary award.-Origins and operations:It was established in 1969 in France by Simone Del Duca to continue the work of her husband, publishing magnate Cino Del Duca .Designed to recognize and reward an author whose work constitutes, in a...
decerné pour contributions a l'humanisme moderne; Paris, Octobre 1982. - Commandeur de la Légion d'HonneurLégion d'honneurThe Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
de France; Paris, 1984. - The Sedat Simavi Foundation Award for Literature; Istanbul, Turkey, 1985.
- Paris, Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, 1988
- Doctor Honoris Causa, Strasbourg University, France, 1991.
- Doctor Honoris Causa, Akdeniz UniversityAkdeniz UniversityAkdeniz University is a campus university in Antalya Province of Turkey. It is the leading higher education and scientific research center of the West Mediterranean region of Turkey....
, Antalya, Turkey, 1992. - Premi Internacional Catalunya. Catalonia (Spain), 1996
- Lillian Hellman/Dashiell Hammett Award for Courage in Response to Repression, Human Rights Watch, USA, 1996.
- Peace Prize of the German Book TradePeace Prize of the German Book TradeThe Peace Prize of the German Book Trade is an international peace prize given yearly at the Frankfurt Book Fair in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt am Main, Germany...
, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 1997. - Premio Internazionale Nonino for collected works, Italy, 1997
- Bordeaux, Prix Ecureuit de Littérature Etrangère, 1998
- Honorary Doctorate, Bilkent UniversityBilkent Universityİhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University, commonly referred to as Bilkent University or Bilkent, is the first private, nonprofit university in Turkey with the fundamental aim of creating a center of excellence in higher education and research...
, 2002 - Z. Homer poetry Award, 2003
- Savanos Prize (Thessalonika-Greece), 2003
- Turkish Publisher's Association Lifetime Achievement Award, 2003
- Presidential Cultural and Artistic Grand Prize, 2008
- Honorary Doctorate, Bogazici UniversityBogaziçi UniversityBoğaziçi University is a public university located on the European side of the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul, Turkey. It has five faculties and two schools offering undergraduate degrees, and six institutes offering graduate degrees...
, 2009 - Honorary Doctorate, Çukurova UniversityÇukurova UniversityÇukurova University has eleven faculties, three colleges, seven vocational colleges, three institutes and twenty six research and application centers...
, 2009