Novelist and researcher (b. 14 March
1887, İstanbul – d. 3 May 1963). His father Mahmud Celaleddin Bey, one of the
short story writers of the age, gave his son the name Abdülhak Şinasi, a
synthesis of the names of the writers Şinasi and Abdülhak Hamid whom he admired
and wished his son to be a writer like them. He completed his elementary
education at Galatasaray High School (1905). He learned French from the French
tutors at the mansion where he lived. He took Turkish lectures from the poet
Tevfik Fikret. His childhood passed in the beautiful places of İstanbul such as
on the Bosphorus and the Prince Islands. He joined the Young Turks movement and
the bohemian environment of the Latin Quarter in Paris where he went before the
Second Constitutional Monarchy. He registered at French student societies, and
wrote letters to famous French poets and went to their homes to meet them.
He worked as a clerk at a French
company in İstanbul after having graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences
in Paris (1913- 20). He attracted the attention by French admirers in Beyoğlu
as a writer who came from Paris. He thought that his mansion where he lived
during his childhood was primitive and settled in Nişantaşı, one of the modern
districts of the city. With the help of Hamdullah Suphi Tanrıöver, he worked as
a general clerk at the Balkan Union Association (1928- 31) and as a counselor
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1931- 45) after having worked in various
companies in İstanbul. He participated in the International Peace Conference
that took place in the United States in 1945. He worked as a board member at
various state and private banks after he returned. A.Ş. Hisar, who never
married, did not like crowds and was interested in literature. He died after a
sudden cerebral hemorrhage at his house in Cihangir (1963). He left nothing
material when he died and he was buried in Merkez Efendi Graveyard.
Hisar, who wrote in syllabic meter even
at the beginning of his writing career, published his poetry, critiques and
articles on various subjects in reviews and newspapers such as Dergâh (1921), Yarın (1921), İleri,
Medeniyet, Ağaç, Türk Yurdu, Milliyet and Dünya.
Abdülhak Şinasi Hisar did not
demonstrate any effort of purification in his language and narrated his
childhood memories, his longing for the past and nationalism. His first work Fahim Bey and Biz (Mr. Fahim and Us)
came third at the Republican People’s Party Novel Award in 1941. That year the
winner was the novel Sinekli Bakkal
(The Clown and His Daughter) by Halide Edip Adıvar and Yaban (The Stranger) by Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu came second.
WORKS:
NOVEL: Fahim Bey ve Biz (Fahim Bey and Us, 1941), Çamlıca'daki Eniştemiz (Our Brother-in-Law in Çamlıca, 1944), Ali Nizamî Bey'in Alafrangalığı ve Şeyhliği
(Ali Nizami Bey’s European Style and His Sheikhdom, 1952).
MEMOIR-ESSAY-RESEARCH:
Boğaziçi Mehtapları (Bosphorus
Moonlight, 1943), Boğaziçi Yalıları
(Bosphorus Mansions, 1954), Aşk İmiş Her
Ne Var Alemde (Everything Was Love in the Universe, love poem anthology,
1955), Geçmiş Zaman Köşkleri (Old
Mansions, 1956), Geçmiş Zaman Fıkraları
(Anecdotes of the Past, collection, 1958), İstanbul
ve Pierre Loti (İstanbul and Pierre Loti, 1958), Yahya Kemal'e Veda (Farewell to Yahya Kemal, 1959), Ahmet Haşim'in Şiiri ve Hayatı (The
Poetry and Life of Ahmet Haşim, 1963), Edebiyata
Dair (Concerning Literature), Romana
Dair (Concerning the Novel), Geçmiş
Zaman Edipleri (Journalists of the Past, edited by Tahsin
Yıldırım, introduction by Doğan Hızlan, 2005).
His complete works were published by the Selis Publishing House in 2005.
