 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
Aziz Nesin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Mehmet Nusret (1915-12-20)20 December 1915 |
| Died | 6 July 1995(1995-07-06) (aged 79) |
| Nationality | Turkish |
| Occupation(s) | Writer andhumorist |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Oya Nesin Ali Nesin Ateş Nesin Ahmet Nesin [tr] |
Aziz Nesin (pronounced[ˈazizˈne.sin]; bornMehmet Nusret,¶ 20 December 1915 – 6 July 1995) was aTurkish writer,humorist and the author of more than 100 books. Born in a time when Turks did not have official surnames, he had to adopt one after theSurname Law of 1934 was passed. Although his family carried the nickname "Topalosmanoğlu", after an ancestor named "Topal Osman",[1] he chose the surname "Nesin". InTurkish,Nesin? means,What are you?.[2]
Generally going by the name "Aziz Nesin", the name "Aziz" was originally his father's nickname, used by Nesin for thepseudonym under which he started publishing. He wrote under more than fiftynoms de plume, such as the pseudonym "Vedia Nesin", his first wife's name, which he used for love poems published in the magazineYedigün.
He was born in 1915 onHeybeliada, one of thePrinces' Islands ofIstanbul, in the days of theOttoman Empire. After serving as a career officer for several years, he became the editor of a series ofsatiricalperiodicals with asocialist slant. He was jailed several times and placed under surveillance by theNational Security Service (MAH in Turkish) for his political views.[3][4]
In 1946 Nesin launched a weekly satirical magazine,Marko Paşa, with two leading figures, namelySabahattin Ali andRıfat Ilgaz.[5] Before that Nesin was a contributor toTan newspaper.[6] He was among the contributors of theForum magazine in the 1950s.[7]
Nesin provided a strong indictment of the oppression and brutalization of the common man. He satirized bureaucracy and "exposed economic inequities in stories that effectively combinelocal color and universal truths". Aziz Nesin has been presented with numerous awards in Turkey, Italy, Bulgaria and the former Soviet Union. His works have been translated into over thirty languages. During latter parts of his life he was said to be the only Turkish author who made a living only out of his earnings from his books.
On 6 June 1956, he married a coworker from theAkbaba magazine, Meral Çelen.
When he arrived in Bulgaria in 1965, he met the poetRecep Küpçü and took some of his manuscripts with him to Turkey.[8]
In 1972, he founded the Nesin Foundation in Catalca. The purpose of the Nesin Foundation is to take, each year, four poor and destitute children into the Foundation's home and provide every necessity - shelter, education and training, starting from elementary school - until they complete high school, a trade school, or until they acquire a vocation. Aziz Nesin donated to the Nesin Foundation his copyrights in their entirety for all his works in Turkey or other countries, including all of his published books, all plays to be staged, all copyrights for documentars, and all his works performed or used in radio or television.
Aziz Nesin was a political activist. In the aftermath of the1980 military coup led byKenan Evren, Turkish intelligentsia faced heavy oppression. Aziz Nesin led a number of intellectuals to rebel against the military government, by issuing the Petition of Intellectuals (Turkish:Aydınlar Dilekçesi), notable signatories of which includedYalçın Küçük,Korkut Boratav,Atıf Yılmaz andMurat Belge.[9] He was the two-time President ofTürkiye Yazarlar Sendikası (Turkish Writers' Union) once from 1980 to 1986, and subsequently from 1987 to 1989.[10]
He was also a critic ofIslam.[11] In the early 1990s, he began a translation ofSalman Rushdie's controversial novel,The Satanic Verses. This provoked outrage from Islamic organizations, who were gaining popularity throughout Turkey, who then tried to hunt him down. On 2 July 1993, while attending a mostlyAlevi cultural festival in the central Anatolian city ofSivas, a mob organized by Islamists gathered around the Madimak Hotel, where the festival attendants were accommodated.[12] After hours of siege, the intruders set the hotel on fire. After flames engulfed several lower floors of the hotel, firetrucks managed to get close, and Aziz Nesin and many guests of the hotel escaped. However, 37 people were killed.[13] This event, also known as theSivas massacre, was perceived ascensorship, andhuman rights in Turkey were allegedly disrupted at that time. It also deepened the rift between fundamentalist Muslims and those that they regard as infidels.
He devoted his last years to combating religious fundamentalism. Aziz Nesin died on 6 July 1995 inÇeşme,İzmir, due to a heart attack.[14] After his death, his body was buried at an unknown location in land belonging to the Nesin Foundation, without any ceremony, as requested in his will.
Several of Nesin's works have been published in English translation.
Istanbul Boy: The Autobiography of Aziz Nesin (Turkish title:Böyle Gelmiş Böyle Gitmez) is a multi-volume autobiography by Turkish writer Aziz Nesin published byUniversity of Texas Press andSouthmoor Studios, in English language translation byJoseph S. Jacobson.[15][16]
Turkish Stories from Four Decades is a 1991 short story collection by Turkish writer Aziz Nesin published byThree Continents Press, in English language translation byLouis Mitler.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)Dog Tails is a long story collection by Turkish writer Aziz Nesin republished in 2000 by Southmoor Studios, in Spanish language translation by Joseph S. Jacobson.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)Memoirs Of An Exile (Turkish title:Bir Sürgünün Hatıraları) is an autobiographical memoir by Turkish writer Aziz Nesin about his exile toBursa, republished in 2001 by Southmoor Studios, in English language translation by Joseph S. Jacobson.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)Hayri the Barber Surnâmé (Turkish title:Surnâme) is a novel by Turkish writer Aziz Nesin republished in 2001 by Southmoor Studios, in English language translation by Joseph S. Jacobson.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)Out of the Way! Socialism's Coming! (Turkish title:Sosyalizm Geliyor Savulun!) is a 2001 selection of three stories from a short story collection by Turkish writer Aziz Nesin, published byMilet Books, in a dual of the original Turkish and an English language translation byDamian Croft, as part of its series ofTurkish-English Short Story Collections.
The publisher states that, "In these hilarious and entertaining stories, the legendary Aziz Nesin turns his uniquely incisive, satirical wit on shifting ideologies, bureaucracy and the question of who’s really (in)sane: the ones locked up or the ones outside."[17]
A review inWrite Away states that, "These are thought provoking parables of our time," that, "take the mickey out of bureaucracy and political ideology and hypocrisy," and "should leave readers laughing and thinking."[17]
The volume consists of the stories;
For an English-only edition of the full collection, see below underSocialism Is Coming: Stand Aside.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)The Dance of the Eagle and the Fish is a children's book adapted by English writer Alison Boyle from the short story of the same name by Turkish writer Aziz Nesin and published in 2001 by Milet Books, in English language translation byRuth Christie.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)Socialism Is Coming: Stand Aside (Turkish title:Sosyalizm Geliyor Savulun!) is a short story collection by Turkish writer Aziz Nesin republished in 2002 by Southmoor Studios, in English language translation by Joseph S. Jacobson.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)The Tales of Nasrettin Hoca (Turkish title:Nasrettin Hoca Hikayeleri) is a short story collection by Turkish writer Aziz Nesin based on the folk tales ofNasrettin Hoca republished in 2002 byDost Yayınları, in English language translation byTalât Sait Halman.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)Laugh or Lament: Selected Short Stories is a 2002 short story collection by Turkish writer Aziz Nesin published byTurkish Ministry of Culture, in English language translation byMasud Akhtar Shaikh, with an introduction by the translator.
The volume consists of the stories;
|
|
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)^¶ According to Nesin'sautobiographyMemoirs of an Exile: "They named meNusret. In Turkish, this Arabic word means 'God's Help.' It was a name entirely fitting to us because my family, destitute of any other hope, placed all their hope in God."[18]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) &"The Nesin Foundation". Archived from the original on 26 October 2009. Retrieved24 November 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)(in English)
