Poet and writer, translator (b.
1925, İstanbul – d. Ö. 7 August 2013, İstanbul). He
attended Erenköy 38. Primary School, Kadıköy 1. Secondary School and graduated
from Haydarpaşa High School (1942) and İstanbul University, Faculty of
Literature, Department of German Language and Literature (1948). He started to
work as a civil servant at the İstanbul Branch of the Central Bank in 1951 and
later worked for a year at the Finance Institute (1955). He worked as a
translator for different companies and factories in İzmir from 1956. When he
retired in 1974, he devoted himself to poetry and translating from German.
Sedat Umran, who was not only a productive but also a subtle poet, is famous
for his book Leke (The Mark). As
topics he chose inconsequential things for his poems and Leke (The Mark) bears beautiful examples of this.
His first poem was published in the magazine Yedigün in 1943. In his first book Meşaleler (The Torches,
1949) we see the influence of Ahmet Haşim in his poetry; however, he gave
examples of his original style, simply writing the poetry of objects. He
developed a kind of object symbolism in his book Leke (The Mark, 1970),
or in Necatigil’s words, he “searched for the metaphysics of objects”, at the
same time he successfully reflected the grief of a person struck by tragedy. He
is regarded as “the poet of objects” in literature circles. Although he is
unbiased, he attracted the attention of the establishment from all sides and
his poetry was much appreciated.
For a while he was remembered primarily for
being among the poets in the magazine Yedigün,
but in addition he published his poems in a large amount of magazines. Within a
given month his poems appeared in more than one magazine. The magazines in
which his poems and translations were mainly published were: Yedigün (his first poem, 1943, no: 536),
Hisar, Beş Sanat, Varlık, Türk Dili, Güney, Yeditepe, Soyut, Büyük Doğu, Diriliş,
Türk Edebiyatı, Sözcükler, Sedir, Tan, Gösteri, Gergedan, Mavera, Aylık Dergi, Millî Kültür, and Yaba/Öykü. His research appeared in the
newspapers Yeni Devir, Tercüman and Türkiye. A major part of the books he
translated from German dealt with the topics of Indian Philosophy and
Spiritualism. With his translation İnsan
Gelişiminin Devridaimi (The Perpetual Rotation of Human Development) by Wilhelm
Werschel he won the Writers Union of Turkey Translation Award in 1994.
WORKS:
POETRY: Meşaleler (The
Torches, 1949), Leke (The Mark,
1970), Gittin Taş Atarak Denizlerime
(Throwing Stones to My Seas, You Went Away, 1990), Kara Işıldak (The Dark Searchlight, 1993), Parmak Uçlarımdaki Yangın (The Fire on My Finger Tips, 1995), Sedat Umran’dan Seçmeler (A Selection of
Sedat Umran, 1995), Aynada Gün Doğumu
(The Sunrise in the Mirror, 1995), Akşam
Şiirleri (Evening Poems, 1998), Altın
Eşik (The Golden Threshold, 1999), Kırık
Ayna (The Broken Mirror, a collection of his love poems, 2000), Sonsuzluk Atı (The Horse of Infinity,
2000), Kış Bayramı (The Winter
Festival, 2002).
ESSAY-RESEARCH: Şiirde Metafizik Gerçek (The Metaphysical Reality in Poetry, 1995).
ANTHOLOGY: Şaheserler
Antolojisi (The Anthology of Masterpieces, together with Hasan Akay, 1994),
İnsan Gelişiminin Devr-i Daimi (The
Perpetual Rotation of Human Development, 1996), Şaheser Çocuk Şiirleri Antolojisi (Anthology Masterpieces of Poetry
for Children, together with Hasan Akay, 1995), Ünlü Şairlerin En Güzel Aşk Şiirleri (The Most Beautiful Love Poems
of Famous Poets, 1999).
In addition, he translated works by Angelus Sileisus, Eugen Herriyel, Djilas, Lukacs, Heinrich Zimmer, Jürgen Rahle, Wilhelm Weischedel, Karl Jasrpers, Giardono Eruno, and Nietzsche.
