Some of the most significant representatives of the so-called “national literature” (millî edebiyat) have disappeared in recent years: Halide Edip Adıvar (1883-1963), Yahya Kemal Beyatlı (1885-1958), Abdülhak Şinasi Hisar (1885-1963), Yakub Kadri Karaosmanoǧlu (1888-1974), Refik Halit Karay (1888-1965), ReŞat Nuri Güntekin (1892-1956), Peyami Safa (1899-1961), Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel (1899-1973), Cahit Sıtkı Taranci (1910-56).
The political change following the electoral victory of the Democratic Party (14 May 1950) accentuated the dynamism of the nation in political, economic and social activities and favors the expansion of culture, also facilitated by the multiplication of publishing initiatives. Writers are in an increasing number of provincial circles and bring to the attention of the public the serious problems of underdevelopment and exploitation of rural areas. Dominant themes are conflicts, tensions and contrasts between old and new, city and countryside, individual and society, farmer and worker, rich and poor. The cultural substrate is offered by European thought and art, so that the process of Westernization intensifies. In 1950 Mahmut Makal (1930) caused a sensation with Bizin Köy (it. Our village, Milan 1963), a sort of documentary where the theme of the Anatolian village is placed as a subject of social and economic claim and the use of dialectal forms is introduced. The same theme is taken up with better artistic results by Kemal Tahir (1910-72), Kemal BilbaŞar (1910), Orhan Kemal (1914-70), the first to touch upon the aspects of the citizen proletariat and life on the margins of society (one of his novel, Baba Evi, 1949, was translated into Italian with the title La casa del papa, Rome 1973), Samim Kocagöz (1916), Orhan Hançerlioǧlu (1916), Mehmed Seyda (1919) and Fakir Baykurt (1929), who obtained great success with Yılanların Öcü (“Revenge of the Snakes”, 1954). Above all, YaŞar Kemal (1922), candidate for the Nobel Prize several times, stands out. His novel Ince Mehmed (“Mehmed il mingherlino”, 1955, translated into about twenty languages; trad. It. Il cardo, Milan 1961), the first of a trilogy also including Ortadirek (“The mast”, 1960) and Yer demir gök bakır (“Land of iron sky of copper”, 1963), represents the hard struggle of the peasants for existence and their longing for freedom. Completely different temperaments show Sait Faik Abasıyanık (1906-54) and Aziz Nesin (1915). The first describes scenes from the life of the ibex plebs and the fishermen of the Sea of Marmara in a casual way, with a compelling personal language, and is considered a master of modern Turkish prose; the second comments on contemporary facts with a wit that recalls the popular jokes of the legendary Nasreddin Hoca. There are numerous writers who entered the scene after 1960. Among others there are Nevzat Üstün (1924), who connects the Anatolian reality with the problems of the Third World countries, Gastarbeiter, the second, the difficulties of insertion in the society of the young provincials of peasant extraction. Many women: Suat DerviŞ (1905-72) and Sâmiha Ayverdi (1906) linger in romantic motifs, Sevim Burak (1931), Füruzan (1935) and Tomris Uyar (1941) engage in the political-social field.
Orhan Veli Kanık (1904-50), who had given birth with Oktay Rifat (1914) and Melih Cevdet Anday (1915) to the movement called “Garip” (“Strange”, 1941), whose aim was to overcome traditional schemes and search for forms of expression arising from the social reality of the country, is considered the main architect of the renewal of Turkish poetry. From him descends the poetic production of the fifties with Behçet Necatigil (1916), Ilhan Berk (1916), Cahit Külebi (1917), Attilâ Ilhan (1925), Turgut Uyar (1926), Edip Cansever (1928), Sezaî Karakoç (1933). Prominent personality is Fazıl Hüsnü Daǧlarca (1914); his poems, included in about fifty collections, which he defined as a “play on words”, have a hermetic character; a cycle epically evokes, always with symbolic language, the Turkish war of independence. A place to himself belongs to Nazım Hikmet Ran (1902-63), the Turkish Communist poet who spent most of his life in prison (1938-50). Its post-1938 production came out in Russian translation or in other Western languages. Since 1965, the publication in the original of some of his most significant works has begun in Turkey. Memories of the imprisonment stand out for their high lyricism. In Italian translation they came out: Memories of the imprisonment stand out for their high lyricism. In Italian translation they came out: Memories of the imprisonment stand out for their high lyricism. In Italian translation they came out: Poesie, Milan 1958; Poetry and Theater, therein 1960; Poesie d’amore, therein 1963: In this year 1941, therein 1961 (with Turkish text); The conga with Fidel, there 1961; Human Landscapes, therein 1965 (with Turkish text); Poem from prison, Florence 1971. For Turkey 2018, please check ethnicityology.com.
In the theater the dominant themes are political, social and psychological; there is no shortage of historical re-enactments. Haldun Taner (1916) achieved considerable success with the comedies Ke Ş anlı Ali Destanı (“The Epic of Ali di KeŞan”, 1964) and E Ş egin Gölgesi (“The shadow of the donkey”), 1965; Orhan Asena (1921) with Tanrılar ve Insanlar (“Gods and men”), 1954 and Hürrem Sultan (“Princess Hürrem”, 1959); Necati Cumalı (1921) with Mine (1960) and Nalınlar (“The clogs”, 1962); Çetin Altan (1926) with Dilekçe (“The petition”, 1962); Güngör Dilmen (1930) with Midas’ (“The ears of Midas”, 1959); Turgut Özakman (1930) with Güne ş ‘te on ki ş i (“Ten people in the sun”, 1955), etc.
The studies of philology, history, literature and art, aware of modern methodology, have made considerable progress, feeding a series of series and specialized journals. The Türk Tarih Kurumu and the Turkish Language Association continue to make a major contribution. L ‘ Ansiklopedisi Islam is about to be completed. New universities have been created in Ankara (Hacettepe Üniversitesi) and Erzurum (Atatürk Üniversitesi).
