Sabahattin Kudret Aksal

Writer, Poet

Birth
25 April, 1920
Death
19 April, 1993
Education
İstanbul University Faculty of Literature Department of Philosophy
Horoscope

Poet and author (b. 25 April  1920, İstanbul - d. 19 April 1993). He attended the Işık High School (1937) and graduated from İstanbul University, Faculty of Literature, Department of Philosophy of (1943). He worked as a teacher at İstiklal, Işık and Boğaziçi High Schools; as an inspector at the Ministry of Employment (1949) and at İstanbul Municipality (1951); as a manager at the Conservatory (1959) and in the Municipal Theaters (1961) and as a teacher in Municipal Conservatory. He retired from here in 1977. He gave lectures on esthetics and art theories at the State Academy of Fine Arts for a while (1980-81).

He embarked on literature with poetry. His first poem was published in the review Varlık (1 August 1938), and his first short story was published in Küllük (1940). His poems also appeared in reviews such as Hamle, İnsan and Oluş. In his poems, which were under the influence of the Strange Movement, he later inclined to philosophical thoughts. He gave great importance to the format of his short stories and plays; and he wrote about the paradoxes of ordinary people in their relations with the immediate environment. He focused on story-writing between 1952 and 1956. He collected the Sait Faik Short Story Award with his book titled Gazoz Ağacı (The Soda Tree) in 1955; the Turkish Language Institution Art Award with Yaralı Hayvan (The Wounded Animal); the award for the best playwright of the season of 1965-66 with his play titled Kahvede Şenlik Var (The Feast at the Café), the Avni Dilligil Theater Award in 1981; the Yeditepe Poetry Prize with his poetry book titled Şiirler (Poems) in 1980; the Sedat Simavi Foundation Literature Award with Buluşma (The Meeting) in 1990; the Enka Short Story Award with Vavlar (The Vavs) and the Ministry of Culture Honorary Award in 1990.

WORKS:

POETRY: Şarkılı Kahve (The Café with Songs, 1944), Gün Işığı (The Daylight, 1953), Duru Gök (The Clear Sky, 1958), Elinle (With Your Hands, 1962), Bir Sabah Uyanmak (Waking Up in a Morning, with his first poetry book, 1962), Eşik (The Doorstep, 1970), Çizgi (The Line, 1976), Şiirler (The Poems, all poems, 1979; all his poems with the same title, 1988), Zamanlar (The Times, 1982), Bir Zaman Düşü (A Dream of Time, 1984), Buluşma (The Meeting, 1990), Batık Kent (The Sunken City, his last poems, 1993).

SHORT STORY: Gazoz Ağacı (The Soda Tree, 1954), Yaralı Hayvan (The Wounded Animal, 1956), Yaralı Hayvan, Gazoz Ağacı (The Wounded Animal, The Tree of Soda, five new short stories supplemented to his first two story books, 1974).

PLAY: Evin Üstündeki Bulut (The Cloud over the House, staged in 1948, was not published), Şakacı (The Joker, 1952), Bir Odada Üç Ayna (Three Mirrors in One Room, 1956), Tersine Dönen Şemsiye (An Umbrella that Turned Upside Down, 1958), Kahvede Şenlik Var (The Feast at the Café, 1966), Sonsuzluk Kitabevi ya da Kuyruklu Yıldız (The Infinity Bookstore or the Comet, 1969), Kral Üşümesi (Chilling of the King, 1970), Bay Hiç - Sonsuzluk Kitabevi (Mr. Nobody – the Infinity Bookstore, 1981), Önemli Adam (The Important Man, 1983).

ESSAY - RESEARCH: Geçmişle Gelecek (The Past and the Future; essays, speeches, 1978).

Besides, he translated poems from Baudelaire and Eluard.

 

PHOTO GALLERY

RELATED BIOGRAPHIES

Show More