"The Turkish writer Yaşar Kemal, who has died aged 91, found fame after the publication of his first novel, Ince Memed (1955), translated into English as Memed, My Hawk (1961). It became known around the world in other translations, the first Turkish novel to make a big impact internationally. Kemal was then working as a journalist in Istanbul, but the story dealt with the harsh life of farmers and ordinary people in the Çukurova plain and Taurus mountains around Adana in southern Turkey." Guardian Obituary
Kemal was hospitalized on January 14, 2015 into the hospital of Istanbul University's Çapa Medical Faculty due to respiratory insufficiency. He died at age 92 in the afternoon of February 28, 2015 in the intensive care unit, where he was taken due to multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. Mavi Boncuk |
Yaşar Kemal, (born Kemal Sadık Gökçeli;[1] 6 October 1923 – 28 February 2015) was a Turkish writer of Kurdish origin. He was one of Turkey's leading writers.[2][3] Kemal was long a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, on the strength of Memed, My Hawk.[1]
An outspoken intellectual, he often did not hesitate to speak on sensitive issues. His activism resulted in a twenty-month suspended jail sentence, on charges of advocating separatism. 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 II. She translated 17 of her husband’s works into the English language. Thilda predeceased Yaşar on January 17, 2001 (aged 78) from pulmonary complications at a hospital in Istanbul, and was laid to rest at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery. Thilda was also survived by her son Raşit Göğçel 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.
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Memed running through the thistles - Illustrated by ismail Gülgeç
He received international acclaim with the publication of Memed, My Hawk (Turkish: İnce Memed) in 1955. In İnce Memed, 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 writers in Turkey, Kemal was noted for his command of the language and lyrical description of bucolic Turkish life. He was awarded 19 literary prizes during his lifetime and nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1973.
[1] Memed, My Hawk (Turkish: İnce Memed, meaning "Memed, the Slim) 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 (Turkey's highest literary prize) and earned Kemal a national reputation. In 1961, the book was translated into English by Edouard Roditi, thus gaining Kemal his first exposure to English-speaking readers.
İnce Memed is the best-known Turkish novel published since World War II.
In 1984, Peter Ustinov made the movie of Memed My Hawk (also known as The Lion and the Hawk) in which he played Abdi Agha.
Memed, a young boy from a village in Anatolia is abused and beaten by the villainous Abdi Agha, the local landowner. Having endured great cruelty towards himself and his mother, he finally escapes with his beloved, a girl named Hatche. Abdi Agha catches up with the young couple, but only manages to capture Hatche, while Memed is able to avoid his pursuers and runs into the mountains whereupon he joins a band of brigands and exacts revenge against his old adversary. Hatche was then imprisoned and later dies. Her mother, when Memed returns to the town, tells him he has a "women's heart" if he surrenders himself. He instead rides into town on a horse given to him by the towns people, to find his enemy. He finds Agha in the south-east corner of his house and shoots him in the breast. The local authorities hear the gunshots, but Memed gets away barely before they are able to take a few shots at him.
Yet before Hatche dies she gives birth to his son, who is also named Memed. Where he has to take care of his orphaned son.
Kemal was hospitalized on January 14, 2015 into the hospital of Istanbul University's Çapa Medical Faculty due to respiratory insufficiency. He died at age 92 in the afternoon of February 28, 2015 in the intensive care unit, where he was taken due to multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. Mavi Boncuk |
Yaşar Kemal, (born Kemal Sadık Gökçeli;[1] 6 October 1923 – 28 February 2015) was a Turkish writer of Kurdish origin. He was one of Turkey's leading writers.[2][3] Kemal was long a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, on the strength of Memed, My Hawk.[1]
An outspoken intellectual, he often did not hesitate to speak on sensitive issues. His activism resulted in a twenty-month suspended jail sentence, on charges of advocating separatism. 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 II. She translated 17 of her husband’s works into the English language. Thilda predeceased Yaşar on January 17, 2001 (aged 78) from pulmonary complications at a hospital in Istanbul, and was laid to rest at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery. Thilda was also survived by her son Raşit Göğçel 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.
He received international acclaim with the publication of Memed, My Hawk (Turkish: İnce Memed) in 1955. In İnce Memed, 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 writers in Turkey, Kemal was noted for his command of the language and lyrical description of bucolic Turkish life. He was awarded 19 literary prizes during his lifetime and nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1973.
[1] Memed, My Hawk (Turkish: İnce Memed, meaning "Memed, the Slim) 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 (Turkey's highest literary prize) and earned Kemal a national reputation. In 1961, the book was translated into English by Edouard Roditi, thus gaining Kemal his first exposure to English-speaking readers.
İnce Memed is the best-known Turkish novel published since World War II.
In 1984, Peter Ustinov made the movie of Memed My Hawk (also known as The Lion and the Hawk) in which he played Abdi Agha.
Memed, a young boy from a village in Anatolia is abused and beaten by the villainous Abdi Agha, the local landowner. Having endured great cruelty towards himself and his mother, he finally escapes with his beloved, a girl named Hatche. Abdi Agha catches up with the young couple, but only manages to capture Hatche, while Memed is able to avoid his pursuers and runs into the mountains whereupon he joins a band of brigands and exacts revenge against his old adversary. Hatche was then imprisoned and later dies. Her mother, when Memed returns to the town, tells him he has a "women's heart" if he surrenders himself. He instead rides into town on a horse given to him by the towns people, to find his enemy. He finds Agha in the south-east corner of his house and shoots him in the breast. The local authorities hear the gunshots, but Memed gets away barely before they are able to take a few shots at him.
Yet before Hatche dies she gives birth to his son, who is also named Memed. Where he has to take care of his orphaned son.