Tahir Olgun (Tahirü’l Mevlevî)

Historian of literature (b. 1877, İstanbul - d. 1951). He used the pen name Tahir Saffet, in addition to Tahirü’l Mevlevî. He attended Gülhane Military School and the Military Clerical School. He worked as an officer at various ministries and gave lectures on the Persian language, Turkish literature and history at several private and state schools. He worked as a teacher for 36 years at the School for Orphans and 10 years at Kuleli Military High School. In his later years, he served on the Committee for Classification in İstanbul libraries and contributed a great deal to the recording and cataloguing of Turkish handwritten divans*. He was a member of Mevlevi Dervish order. He wrote poems in the tradition of divan* poetry and published a review with the title Mahfil (1920-26, 68 issues). He is famous for his research on the history of literature. 

WORKS:

Mir'at-ı Hz. Mevlânâ (The Mirror of Mevlana, prose, 1899), Divançe-i Tahir (The Divan* of Tahir, 1902), Cengiz ve Hülâgü Mezalimi (Tyranny of Cengiz and Hulagu, 1906), Nazım ve Eşkal-i Nazım (Poetry and Form in Poetry, on meters of poetry, 1913), Manzum Bir Muhtıra (A Notification in Prose, history of literature, until Tanzimat*, 1931), Edebiyat Lugatı (Dictionary of Literature, 1936; expanded second edition by K. Edip Kürkçüoğlu, 1973), Fuzuliye Dair (On Fuzuli, 1936), Nev'î ve Suriye Kasidesi (Melodies and  Kaside* of Syria, 1937), Bakî'ye Dair (On Baki, 1938), Germiyanlı Şeyhî ve Harnâmesi (Şeyh of Germiyan and his Book of the Ass, 1949), Mesnevi Dersleri (Lessons on Mesnevi*, 1949), Matbuat Alemindeki Hayatım ve İstiklâl Mahkemeleri (My Life in the World of Printing and Independence Courts, 1992), Tahir Olgun - Divan Edebiyatının Bazı Beyitlerinin İzahına Dair Edebî Mektuplar (Tahir Olgun , Literary Letters on the Explanation of Some Staves in Divan* Literature, edited by Cemal Kurnaz, 1995), Tahir Olgun - Çilehâne Mektupları (Tahir Olgun – Letters from the House of Pain, edited by Cemal Kurnaz - Gülgün Erişen, 1996). 

REFERENCE: Tahir’ül-Mevlevî / Matbuat Alemindeki Hayatım (1926), Sadettin Nüzhet Ergun / Türk Musikîsi Antolojisi (1943), Mahir İz / Yılların İzi (1975), TDE Ansiklopedisi (c. 7, 1976-98), İhsan Işık / Yazarlar Sözlüğü (1990, 1998) - Türkiye Yazarlar Ansiklopedisi (2001, 2004) – Encyclopedia of Turkish Authors (2005) - Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2006, gen. 2. bas. 2007) – Ünlü Bilim Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 2, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013), Atillâ Şentürk / Tahir’ül-Mevlevî: Hayatı ve Eserleri (1991), Cemal Kurnaz / Tahir Olgun / Çilehâne Mektupları (Gülgün Erişen ile, 1996), Mehmet Behçet Yazar / Edebiyatçılar Alemi - Edebiyatımızın Unutulan Simaları (Yay. Haz. Mustafa Everdi, 1999), Behçet Necatigil / Edebiyatımızda İsimler Sözlüğü (18. bas. 1999).