Literature
researcher (b. 26 January 1931, İstanbul - d. 13 January 2017, İstanbul). He attended Fatih 17. Primary School
(Muallim Naci Primary School, 1943), Edirnekapı Secondary School (1947) and graduated
from Vefa High School (1950), Istanbul University, Faculty of Literature,
Department of Turkish Language and Literature (1955) and Istanbul Advanced
Teacher Training School, Department of Turkish Language and Literature (1955).
He began his working life as literature teacher in Artvin High School. After
his military service working as Turkish teacher in Merzifon School of
Noncommissioned Officers (1957), he worked as teacher in Diyarbakır Ziya Gökalp
High School for two years (1957-59). He entered to Erzurum Atatürk University,
Department of Turkish Language and Literature, which was opened in that year as
the assistant of New Turkish Literature. He became doctor of literature with
his study "Beşir Fuad, Türkiye'de Pozitivizmin ve Natüralizmin
Mübeşşiri" (Beşir Fuat, the Messenger of Positivism and Naturalism in
Turkey) in 1963. He studied on “Fransız Basınında Osmanlı'nın Batılılaşması”
(Westernization of Ottomans in French Press) for a while in Paris (1963-1965).
He became assistant professor in 1975, professor in 1988. He transferred from
Atatürk University for which he has worked till 1994, to Sakarya University. He
retired by his request in 1996. He worked as lecturer in Fatih University for
three years. He has still working as redactor and member of Consultant Council
in TDV
İslâm Ansiklopedisi (The Turkish Foundation of Religious Affairs’ Islamic
Encyclopedia).
Orhan Okay, who
began to his writing life with his article "İfadenin
Masuniyeti" (Confidence of Statement, 1953) published in the review Türk Sanatı,
has more than five hundred scientific articles and essays published in the
reviews and newspapers İstanbul, Hareket, Türk Dili, Türk Edebiyatı, Türk Yurdu, Türk
Kültürü, Millî Kültür, Dergâh, Yedi İklim, Kaşgar, Hece, Zaman. He has an
important role in his field with his experiment as teacher and lecturer of
forty four years, the undergraduate and graduate lectures that he gave, the
master and doctorate studies that he directed, with the conferences that he
gave and symposiums that he participated.
He received the
Turkish National Culture Foundation Research Award with Batı Medeniyeti
Karşısında Ahmed Midhat Efendi (Ahmet Mithat Efendi, on the Contrary of Western Civilization) in
1976, the Writers Union of Turkey Critique Award with Sanat ve
Edebiyat Yazıları (Articles on Art and Literature) in 1991, the Writers Union of
Turkey, Culture Man of the Year Award in 1996 and the Literature Award of
Kombassan Foundation Mevlana Grand Awards.
WORKS:
Sanat ve Hayat (Art and Life, 1956),
Beşir Fuad
İlk Türk Pozitivist ve Natüralisti (Beşir Fuad, First Turkish Positivist and Naturalist, 1969),
Abdülhak
Hamid'in Romantizmi (Romanticism of Abdülhak Hamid, 1971),
Batı
Medeniyeti Karşısında Ahmed Midhat Efendi (Ahmet Mithat
Efendi, on the Contrary of Western Civilization, 1975),
Şeyh Galib
Hüsn ü Aşk (Şeyh Galip, Beautiful Love, with H. Ayan, 1975),
Necip Fazıl
Kısakürek (Necip Fazıl Kısakürek, 1987),
Mehmed
Akif, Bir Karakter Heykelinin Anatomisi (Mehmet Akif,
Anatomy of a Statue of Character, 1989),
Sanat ve
Edebiyat Yazıları (Articles on Art and Literature, 1990),
Kültür ve
Edebiyat Dünyamızdan (From Our Culture and Literature World, 1991),
Konuşmalar (Conversations,
1998),
Ahmed Hamdi
Tanpınar (Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, 1999),
Kendi
Sesinin Yankısı. Necip Fazıl Kısakürek (Necip Fazıl
Kısakürek, Echo of His Own Voice, 2001),
Silik
Fotoğraflar (Unpolished Photographs, 2001),
Bir Başka
İstanbul (An Other İstanbul, 2002),
Mehmet
Kaplan'dan Hatıralar, Mektuplar (Memoirs and Letters from Mehmet Kaplan, 2003).
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