Kemal Tahir facts for kids

Kemal Tahir (born March 13, 1910 – died April 21, 1973) was an important Turkish novelist and thinker. He spent 13 years in prison because of his political ideas. Many of his best-known novels were written during this time.

His most famous novels include Esir Şehrin İnsanları (1956), Devlet Ana (1967), and Yorgun Savaşçı (1965). In these books, Tahir used historical events to create his characters and settings. Some of his novels were even made into popular movies. He also wrote adventure stories under different names to earn money.

About Kemal Tahir's Life

Kemal Tahir was born on March 13, 1910. His father, Tahir Bey, was a navy captain and an adviser to Sultan Abdul Hamid II. After finishing secondary school, Kemal Tahir went to Galatasaray High School.

However, he left high school in tenth grade after his mother passed away. He then started working as a lawyer's clerk. Later, he worked as a journalist, editor, and translator for various newspapers in İstanbul. He also became a lead writer for the Karagöz newspaper and editor-in-chief at Tan.

Time in Prison

In 1938, Kemal Tahir and Nâzım Hikmet were accused of trying to cause trouble within the armed forces. Tahir was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was held in different prisons across Turkey. After twelve years, he was set free in 1950 as part of a general pardon.

After his release, Kemal Tahir returned to Istanbul. He worked as a correspondent for a newspaper. He also wrote romance and adventure novels and movie scripts. He used different pen names like "Körduman" and "Samim Aşkın" to publish these works. He also translated books from French.

In 1955, he was taken into custody again for about six months. After that, he helped start a publishing company called Düşün Publishing with writer Aziz Nesin. He also worked on movie scripts with famous directors like Metin Erksan. In 1968, he traveled to the Soviet Union.

After a lung operation in 1970, Tahir worked on making Marxist ideas easier to understand for Turkish people. He wanted to create a Turkish way of thinking about society. He passed away on April 21, 1973, after a heart attack during a discussion. Kemal Tahir was married twice, first to Fatma İrfan and later to Semiha Sıdıka.

Kemal Tahir's Ideas

Kemal Tahir's main ideas were based on Marxism. However, he felt that the usual Marxist ideas didn't quite fit Turkey's unique society and history. He believed that trying to be too much like Western countries, whether through capitalism or communism, wasn't the right path for Turkey.

He studied the ideas of historians and thinkers who looked at Eastern societies. Tahir concluded that Ottoman-Turkish society developed in its own special way. It didn't follow the same historical steps as European societies. He thought that simply copying Western ideas wouldn't work without big changes in Turkey's economy and society.

Because of these beliefs, Kemal Tahir wanted to show the true nature of Ottoman society in his books. He tried to highlight a "Turkish reality" that was different from European societies. He used simple language, good conversations, and interesting characters in his novels. He became one of the most productive novelists in Turkish literature.

Kemal Tahir's Books

Kemal Tahir started his writing journey by writing poems. His first poems were published in İçtihad magazine in 1931. Later, his poems appeared in other magazines like Yeni Kültür and Ses.

His first big work was a four-part story published in the Tan newspaper. It was later released as a book called Göl İnsanları (People of The Lake) in 1955. In the same year, he became well-known for his novel Sağırdere (Deaf River).

Famous Novels and Themes

In 1956, he published Esir Şehrin İnsanları (People of the Captive City). This was the first of his "city novels" where he used Istanbul to show how Turks changed from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic. In this book, Tahir described Istanbul when it was occupied after World War I. Esir Şehrin Mahpusu (Prisoner of the Captive City), published in 1961, and Yol Ayrımı (Parting of the Ways), published in 1971, continued this story.

At first, Kemal Tahir wrote about the challenges faced by people living in villages. Later, he focused on Turkish history, especially recent events.

• In his novel Devlet Ana (Mother State), he described how the Ottoman society and government were structured when they first began.
• In Kurt Kanunu (Law of the Wolf), he told the story of the attempted assassination of Atatürk in İzmir.
• Rahmet Yolları Kesti (Rain Closed the Roads) looked at the issue of banditry.
• Yedi Çınar Yaylası (Seven Plane Tree Plateau) explored the "ağa" system, which was about powerful landowners.
• In his historical novel Yorgun Savaşçı (Tired Warrior), Tahir described how the Turkish national resistance forces came together to start the Turkish Independence War.

Because he sometimes needed money, Kemal Tahir also wrote adventure stories under different names. He even translated Mike Hammer detective novels and wrote new stories for that series. Some of his novels, like Karılar Koğuşu and Yorgun Savaşçı, were later made into movies.

Complete List of Fiction Books

• Göl İnsanları (stories) (1955)
• Sağırdere (1955)
• Esir Şehrin İnsanları (1956)
• Körduman (1957)
• Rahmet Yolları Kesti (1957)
• Yedi Çınar Yaylası (1958)
• Köyün Kamburu (1959)
• Esir Şehrin Mahpusu (1961)
• Bozkırdaki Çekirdek (1962)
• Kelleci Memet (1962)
• Yorgun Savaşçı (1965)
• Devlet Ana (1967)
• Kurt Kanunu (1969)
• Büyük Mal (1970)
• Yol Ayrımı (1971)
• Namusçular (1974)
• Karılar Koğuşu (1974)
• Hür Şehrin İnsanları (1976)
• Damağası (1977)
• Bir Mülkiyet Kalesi (1977)