Mavi Boncuk |
|Mavi Boncuk
EROL GÜNEY'S [1] CAT[2]
Translation by Talat Sait Halman
[1] Erol Güney (b. Mişa(Michel) Rottenberg, 1914, Odesa - d. October 16, 2009, Tel Aviv) was a well-known Turkish translator who was one of Orhan Veli Kanık's close friends.
Born in Odessa as Michel Rottenberg, Erol Güney was as the son of a Jewish family. In 1917 the family moved to Istanbul. Erol Guney is known in Turkey by the title of a poem by the famous poet Orhan Veli; “Erol Guney’s Cat”. His friends Orhan Veli, Melih Cevdet Anday, Aşık Veysel are famous classic poets of Turkish literature. Their girlfriends were beautiful jewish girls, Dora, Bella and Eza, who shared the joy of life in the Turkey's « roaring fourties ».
In 1940 a translation bureau were founded, where Erol Guney worked translating Dostojevski, Goncharov, Thechov, Moliere and Platon into Turkish. 1946 Guney left the translation bureau and started working as a journalist. In 1955 he wrote an article about the Soviet Union. This was the reason he was sent to a stateless persons camp in Yozgat. He managed to go to France, worked for AFP and Le Monde. Being still a migrant without passport, he decided in 1956 to emigrate to Israel, where he worked as a journalist untill he died the 11 october 2009.
[2] Erol Güney'in Kedisinin Bahar Mevsiminde
Toplum Meseleleri Karşısında Takındığı Tavrı Anlatan Şiirdir
Bir erkek kediyle bir parça ciğer
Dünyadan bütün beklediği
Ne iyi!
Erol Güney'in Kedisinin Hamileliğini Anlatır Şiirdir
Çıkar mısın bahar günü sokağa
İşte böyle oturursun
Böyle yattığın yerde
Düşünür düşünür
Durursun.
|Mavi Boncuk
EROL GÜNEY'S [1] CAT[2]
Poem on the attitude adopted by Erol Güney's cat toward social problems in the spring:
A male cat and a slice of liver
Is all she wants out of life.
How marvelous!
Poem cencerning the pregnancy of Erol Güney's cat:
That's just what you get, see,
For slipping out into the street on a spring day.
Now you have to lie there
Thinking and worrying
Your head off.
Translation by Talat Sait Halman
[1] Erol Güney (b. Mişa(Michel) Rottenberg, 1914, Odesa - d. October 16, 2009, Tel Aviv) was a well-known Turkish translator who was one of Orhan Veli Kanık's close friends.
Born in Odessa as Michel Rottenberg, Erol Güney was as the son of a Jewish family. In 1917 the family moved to Istanbul. Erol Guney is known in Turkey by the title of a poem by the famous poet Orhan Veli; “Erol Guney’s Cat”. His friends Orhan Veli, Melih Cevdet Anday, Aşık Veysel are famous classic poets of Turkish literature. Their girlfriends were beautiful jewish girls, Dora, Bella and Eza, who shared the joy of life in the Turkey's « roaring fourties ».
In 1940 a translation bureau were founded, where Erol Guney worked translating Dostojevski, Goncharov, Thechov, Moliere and Platon into Turkish. 1946 Guney left the translation bureau and started working as a journalist. In 1955 he wrote an article about the Soviet Union. This was the reason he was sent to a stateless persons camp in Yozgat. He managed to go to France, worked for AFP and Le Monde. Being still a migrant without passport, he decided in 1956 to emigrate to Israel, where he worked as a journalist untill he died the 11 october 2009.
[2] Erol Güney'in Kedisinin Bahar Mevsiminde
Toplum Meseleleri Karşısında Takındığı Tavrı Anlatan Şiirdir
Bir erkek kediyle bir parça ciğer
Dünyadan bütün beklediği
Ne iyi!
Erol Güney'in Kedisinin Hamileliğini Anlatır Şiirdir
Çıkar mısın bahar günü sokağa
İşte böyle oturursun
Böyle yattığın yerde
Düşünür düşünür
Durursun.