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he was a most potent name in love poems. Çıldırlı Aşık Şenlik, Gevheri, Erzurumlu Emrah, Sümmani, Seyrani and Dadaloğlu were among the other prominent poets of minstrel literature.
Folk literature continues its centuries-long tradition at present, fed by new issues and current problems. Aşık Veysel Şatıroğlu, Dursun Cevlani, Davut Sulari, Sabit Ataman (Aşık Müdami), Daimi, Mahsuni Şerif, Neşet Ertaş, Şeref Taşlıova, Murat Çobanoğlu, Muhlis Akarsu, Yaşar Reyhani and Musa Eroğlu are some of the significant folk minstrels of recent times.
 Inclining Towards the West. In the 19th century, Divan literature was replaced by Tanzimat literature, which developed under Western influence. Works in new genres such as novels, plays, stories, articles, memoirs, essays and critiques, which were never seen before in Divan literature, were produced. With the first publication of newspapers in this period, the road was paved for a social literature genre, thus journalism and literature became interlinked. In the same period Şinasi authored his “Şair Evlenmesi” (A Poet’s Marriage), which was the first Turkish play in a western sense, while Namık Kemal, Ziya Paşa, Şemsettin Sami, Recaizâde Mahmut Ekrem and other artists produced works in new genres of literature.
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Mehmet Akif Ersoy |
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The “Edebiyat-i Cedide” (New Literature) movement that started in 1891 by the authors who had gathered around the periodical Servet-i Fünun, placed emphasis on pure art. The most important develop-ment in this period occurred in the story and novel genres. “Mai ve Siyah” (Blue and Black) and “Aşk-ı Memnu” (An Illicit Love) by Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil, who is considered to be the first and real master in the Turkish novel genre, and Mehmet Rauf’s “Eylül”
(September), which |
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was the first example of a psychological novel, were among the most significant works of this period.
National Literature Movement. A movement which started with the “Genç Kalemler” (Young Pens), a periodical issued by Ali Canip Yöntem, Ömer Seyfettin and Ziya Gökalp, soon attracted authors advocating various approaches to art. The works authored in plain and purified Turkish dealt with the problems in the country and were aimed at introducing national values. Especially in the novel and short story fields, Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu, Halide Edip Adıvar, Reşat Nuri Güntekin and Refik Halit Karay produced the best examples of this movement. Poets gathering under the context of national literature but having different world views and differing concepts of poetry also appeared in this period. For instance, Mehmet Akif Ersoy, the author of the Turkish National Anthem, who wrote his poems in prosodic meters (aruz) of Divan poetry instead of the syllabic meter which was the main characteristic of the movement, preferred to write on social issues in a realistic manner. On the other hand Yahya Kemal Beyatlı, who was considered as an advocate of the Ottoman style and a traditionalist, developed a neo-classical type of poetry, and Ahmet Haşim, who remained excluded from the preeminent ideologies, defended the “Pure Poem” with an impressionistic and symbolist perception.
The Republic Period. The first examples of literature oriented to social realism appeared in the 1930s. |
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| “Yeşil Gece” (Green Night-1928) and “Yaprak Dökü-mü” (Autumn-1930) by Reşat Nuri Güntekin, “Yaban”
(Savage-1932) by Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu, “Doku-zuncu Hariciye Koğuşu”
(Ninth Surgical Ward-1930) and “Fatih Harbiye” (1931) by Peyami Safa and “Sinekli Bakkal” (Fly-Infested Grocery-1936) by Halide Edip Adıvar were written in line with this concept. “Dikmen Yıldızı” (Dikmen Star-1928) by Aka Gündüz, “Çulluk” (Woodcock-1927) by Mahmut Yesari, and “Çingeneler” (Gypsies-1939) |
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Nazım Hikmet Ran |
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