Novelist (b. 17 August 1864,
İstanbul – d. 8 March 1944, Ankara). He was the son of Mirliva Mehmet Sait Paşa who was
an Ottoman general. He attended İstanbul Aksaray Ağa Yokuşu Primary School,
Mahmudiye Elementary School and Mahreci Aklam, a school that educated clerks
for legal positions. He discontinued his studies at the Faculty of Political
Sciences due to illness. He learnt French by private tutoring. He worked for
the Ministry of Justice at the commercial court and at the Ministry of Public
Works Translation Office (1893-1908). He worked as editorial writer on the
newspapers Tercüman-ı Hakikat (1988)
and İkdam (1894). He published the
newspapers Boşboğaz (with Ahmet Rasim, in 1908) and Güllabi, a
humorous newspaper. He stood trial because of Boşboğaz but he was
acquitted, however the review was closed down.
In 1912 he moved to his chalet
and spent thirty-two years on Heybelida Island in İstanbul mostly writing.
Although he was a member of the Literary Council of the City Theatre of
İstanbul in his later years, he left after a short time. In the years of World
War I, he wrote articles and theatre articles for the newspaper İkdam
(1914-1918). He wrote in the newspapers,
Sabah, Yeni Sabah, Cumhuriyet, Vakit and Milliyet. He became a parliamentary deputy for Kütahya and took his place at the
Turkey Grand National Assembly (1936-1943). Then he retired to his chalet
again. He never married. He is buried in the Heybelida Abbas Paşa Graveyard.
He became well known for the
novels Şık (Elegant) and İffet (Chastity), which he began to
serialize alternately after he did translations in the early days as a writer.
He aimed to serve society with his literary works with a similar understanding
to that of Ahmet Mithat Efendi. He featured different characters from different
backgrounds of society and the problem of change that he observed in social
life. Gürpınar’s novels are also important due to their introduction of
folklore and history to the traditions and society of İstanbul at that time.
Ahmet Oktay analyzes three important themes in the novels of Gürpınar: the
imitation of European ways, being on the fringe of society and individualism
WORKS:
NOVELS: Şık (Elegant, 1989), İffet
(Chastity, 1896), Mutallâka (Divorced
Wife, 1898; later editions with the name Child Souvenir), Mürebbiye (Governess, 1899), Bir
Muâdele-i Sevda (A Love Endorsement, 1899), Metres (Mistress, 1899; new edition, 1998), Tesadüf (Serendipity, 1900), Nimetşinas
(Blessing, 1910), Şıpsevdi (Quick
Lover, 1911), Kuyruklu Yıldız Altında
Bir İzdivaç (A Marriage under a
Comet, 1912), Gulyabani (The Ogre,
1912), Hakka Sığındık (We Took Refuge
in God, 1919), Sevda Peşinde (Chasing
after Love, 1912), Cadı (The Witch,
1914), Hayattan Sayfalar (Pages from
Life,1919), Toraman (Untamed, 1919), Son Arzu (The Last Desire,1922), Tebessüm-i Elem (1923; with the name the
Bitter Smile in contemporary Turkish, Kemal Bek, 2002), Cehennemlik (Hellish, 1924), Efsuncu
Baba (Father the Magician, 1924), Meyhanede
Hanımlar (Ladies in the Bar/long stories, 1924,), Ben Deli miyim? (Am I Crazy?, 1925), Tutuşmuş Gönüller (Blazing Hearts, 1926), Billur Kalb (The Crystal Heart, 1926), Evlere Şenlik Kaynanam Nasıl Kudurdu? (How Did My Awful
Mother-in-law Go Mad?, 1927), Muhabbet
Tılsımı (The Talisman of Love, 1928), Mezarından
Kalkan Şehit (The Martyr who Rose from His Grave, 1928), Kokotlar Mektebi (The School of Loose
Women, 1928), Şeytan İşi (The Devil’s
Work, 1933), Utanmaz Adam (The
Shameless Man, 1934), Eşkıya İninde (In
the Cave of the Bandit, 1935), Kesik Baş (The
Cut-Off Head, 1942), Gönül Bir
Yeldeğirmenidir Sevda Öğütür (The Heart is a Windmill, It Grinds
Love,1943), Ölüm Bir Kurtuluş mudur? (Is
Death a Salvation?, 1945), Dirilen
İskelet (The Living Skeleton, 1946), Dünyanın
Mihveri Kadın mı, Para mı? (Is the Axis of the World Women or Money?,
1949), Deli Filozof (The Crazy
Philosopher, 1964), Kaderin Cilvesi (The
Irony of Fate,1964), Can Pazarı (A
Matter of Life and Death, 1968), İnsanlar
Maymun muydu? (Were Human Beings Primates?, 1968), Ölüler Yaşıyor mu? (Do The Dead Live?, 1973), Namuslu Kokotlar (The Honorable Loose Women, 1973).
