Date: October 12, 2020 Posted by: Rohit Gupta In: Google Doodle

Google Doodle Oğuz Atay’ın 86. Yaş Günü

Today the search engine Google has shared an interactive Google Doodle celebrating Oğuz Atay’s 86th Birthday. Oğuz Atay was a pioneer of the modern novel in Turkey. His first novel, Tutunamayanlar (The Disconnected), appeared in 1971-72.

Oğuz Atay Biyografya

Born October 12, 1934
İnebolu, Turkey

Died December 13, 1977 (aged 43)
Istanbul, Turkey

Occupation Novelist, engineer

Period 1970–1977

Genre Fiction

Literary movement Modernism, Postmodernism

Notable works Tutunamayanlar, Tehlikeli Oyunlar

Oğuz Atay was born on October 12, 1934, in the Turkish town of İnebolu, in the area of Kastamonu. He was an innovator of the modern novel in Turkey. His first novel, Tutunamayanlar (The Disconnected), appeared in 1971-72.

Never reissued in his lifetime and debated among critics, it has become a best-seller since a new edition came out in 1984. It has been labelled as “probably the most well-known novel of twentieth-century Turkish literature”: this reference is due to a UNESCO review, which goes on: “it poses an serious challenge to even the most accomplished translator with its kaleidoscope of colloquialisms and sheer size.”

In fact three conversions have so far been published: into Dutch, as Het leven in stukken, interpreted by Hanneke van der Heijden and Margreet Dorleijn (Athenaeum-Polak & v Gennep, 2011); into German, as Die Haltlosen, interpreted by Johannes Neuner (Binooki, 2016); into English, as The Detached, translated by Sevin Seydi (Olric Press, 2017: ISBN 978-0-9955543-0-6): an excerpt from this won the Dryden Translation Prize in 2008 (Comparative Critical Studies, vol. V (2008) 99).

Oğuz Atay Life

Oğuz Atay was born October 12, 1934, in the Turkish town of İnebolu, in the area of Kastamonu. His father, Cemil Atay was a judge and also a Member of Parliament from Republican People’s Party (Turkey).
He went to elementary and middle school in Ankara, finished his high school education at Ankara Maarif Koleji, and his undergraduate degree at ITU School of Civil Engineering. He combined the same university as a faculty member, and became an Associate Professor in 1975.

His most distinguished novel Tutunamayanlar was published in 1971-72, and his second novel Tehlikeli Oyunlar was published in 1973. He wrote several plays, short-stories, and a biography. He has left his body of a brain tumor in December 13, 1977 before he could whole his final great project “Türkiye’nin Ruhu”.

Works
The literary works are now all published by Iletişim.

Topoğrafya (Topography) (1970) – a textbook for students of surveying)
Tutunamayanlar (1971–72) — (novel: The Disconnected)
Tehlikeli Oyunlar (1973) — (novel: Dangerous Games)
Bir Bilim Adamının Romanı: Mustafa İnan (1975) — (biographical novel: The Life of a Scientist: Mustafa İnan. German translation as Der Mathematiker (Unionsverlag, 2008)
Korkuyu Beklerken (1975) — (short stories: Waiting for Fear). Translations: French, as En guettant la peur (L’Harmattan, 2007); Italian, as Aspettando la paura, with a brief afterword by Orhan Pamuk (Lunargento, 2011); German, as Warten auf die Angst (Binooki, 2012).
Oyunlarla Yaşayanlar (play: Those who Live by Games)
Günlük (his diary, published with a facsimile of the manuscript)
Eylembilim (unfinished fiction: Science of Action)

What he had hoped would be his magnum opus, “Türkiye’nin Ruhu” (The Spirit of Turkey), was cut short by his death. It is not known what form he intended for it.

https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%C4%9Fuz_Atay