Cevdet Kudret

     Poet and writer (b. 2 February 1907, İstanbul – d. 10 July 1991). His surname was Solok but wrote under the pen name Cevdet Kudret. He attended Nümune-i İrfan Primary School, Davutpaşa Secondary School and graduated from İstiklâl High School (1930) and İstanbul University, Faculty of Law (1933). He worked as a literature teacher at various high schools in Ankara and at Ankara State Conservatoire (1934-45). He also worked as a secretary at The Conservatoire 1948 and 1950. During the period of the Democratic Party, he was appointed as a Turkish teacher at Bitlis Secondary School. He was then commissioned to work on the Encyclopedia of Turkey (1945-50).

After leaving this job, he worked as a private lawyer in Ankara and İstanbul, as an editor at the Turkish Language Association and as an advisor at Bilgi Publishing House (1967-70). He retired when he was working as a lecturer at the Political Science Press and Publishing College (1973) and moved to Bodrum. He lived there for a while. He lived in İstanbul after 1986. He worked on the preparation of Grand Larousse Encyclopedia published by Gelişim Publications.  In 1995, his family established the Cevdet Kudret Literature Award, which is given to a different literary genre every year.

The poems of Kudret, who was one of the poets of the “Seven Torches Movement”, were published for the first time in the reviews Servet-i Fünun and Meşale. After 1950, he started to work on research, essays and reviews on the history of literature. His books evaluating Turkish literature in various aspects are regarded as significant studies in this field. After 1952, he wrote course books and supplementary books for secondary education. For some of his work, he wrote under the pen names Abdurrahman Nisari, Nevzat Yesirgil, Cevdet Baykara and Suat Hizarcı. He also wrote course books under the name A. Nisari. He won the Turkish Language Association’s 1974 Science Award with his monograph called Ortaoyunu*. In 1989, he was awarded the Language Society Language Honor Award. In 1992, he was awarded the Turkish Authors Association Honor Award.

WORKS:

POETRY: Yedi Meşale (Seven Torches, together with his six friends, 1928), Birinci Perde (First Act, 1929).

NOVEL: Sınıf Arkadaşları (Classmates, 1943), Havada Bulut Yok (There are No Clouds in the Sky, 1958), Karıncayı Tanırsınız (You Know the Ant, his first two novels with this one were published under the general title Süleymanın Dünyası (Süleyman’s World), 1976).

PLAY: Tersine Akan Nehir (The River Flowing in Reverse, 1929), Rüya İçinde Rüya (A Dream within a Dream, 1930), Danyal ve Sara (Danyal and Sara, 1931), Kurtlar (Wolves, 1933), Hamle Et, Yaşayan Ölüler (Attack!, the Living Dead, these plays, performed at İstanbul City Theatres, were serialized in Varlık, Gündüz and Ağaç magazines and were compiled after his death, 1994)

SHORT STORY: Sokak (Street, 1974)

ESSAY: Dilleri Var Bizim Dile Benzemez (They Have a Language that Does Not Resemble Ours, 1966), Bir Bakıma (In One Respect, 1977), Benim Oğlum Bina Okur (My Son Reads Buildings, 1983), Kalemin Ucu (The Point of the Pen, 1991), Edebiyat Kapısı (The Door of Literature, 1997). 

RESEARCH-COLLECTION-ANTHOLOGY: Türk Hikâye ve Roman Antolojisi (Anthology of Turkish Stories and Novels, 1945, published under the name of Türk Edebiyatında Hikâye ve Roman - The Story and Novel in Turkish Literature, 1859-1959 in three volumes. The first volume covers the period between the Tanzimat* to the Constitutional Monarchy 1859-1910, 1965. The second volume covers the period from the Constitutional Monarchy to the beginning of the Republic 1911-1922, 1967.  The third volume covers the Republican Era 1923-1959, 1990), Karagöz (Shadow Puppet Play, 3 volumes 1968-1970), Fuzuli (Unnecessary, 1952), Baki (Baki, 1953), Nedim (Nedim, 1952), Eşref: Hicviyeler (Satires, 1953), Yunus Emre (Yunus Emre, 1958), Pir Sultan Abdal (Pir Sultan Abdal, 1965), Karacaoğlan (Karacaoğlan, 1965), Ahmet Rasim (Ahmet Rasim, 1953), Hüseyin Rahmi (Hüseyin Rahmi, 1953), Hüseyin Cahit Yalçın (Hüseyin Cahit Yalçın, 1957), Şinasi: Şair Evlenmesi (Şinasi: The Marriage of the Poet, 1958), Ahmet Mithat (Ahmet Mithat, 1962), Ziya Gökalp (Ziya Gökalp, 1962), Teodor Kasap (Teodor the Butcher), İskilli Memo (İskilli Memo, 1965), Nazım Hikmet: Kuvayi Milliye (Nazım Hikmet: The National Independence Army, 1968),  Batı Edebiyatından Seçme Parçalar (Selected Pieces from Western Literature, 1973), Türk Edebiyatından Seçme Parçalar (Selected Pieces From Turkish Literature, 1973), Ortaoyunu* (Monograph, 2 volumes, 1973-1975), Ferâizcizâde Mehmet Şakir: Evhami (Ferâizcizâde Mehmet Şakir: Doubts, 1974), Abdülhamit Devrinde Sansür (Censorship in the Reign of Abdülhamit,1977), Örnekleriyle Edebiyat Bilgileri (Literature Knowledge with Examples, 2 volumes, 1980), Dede Korkut Hikâyeleri (Stories of Dede Korkut, 1986), Örnekli Türk Edebiyatı Tarihi (The History of Turkish Literature with Examples, 1995).

He also translated works.

REFERENCE: Ahmet Haşim (Politika, 21.1.1930), Nurullah Ataç (Milliyet, 2.3.1934), Oktay Akbal (Cumhuriyet, 26.2.1977), Hilmi Yavuz (Gösteri, Nisan 1983), Atilla Özkırımlı (söyleşi / Cumhuriyet, 19.4.1988), Yusuf Çotuksöken (Varlık, Temmuz 1988), Vedat Günyol (Varlık, Temmuz 1988), Fahir İz (Varlık, Temmuz 1988), Vecihi Timuroğlu (Varlık, Temmuz 1988), Tuncer Uçarol / 1930’lu Yıllarda Cevdet Kudret, (Varlık, Temmuz 1988), 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 Fikir ve Kültür Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 3, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013), İhsan Kudret - Alpay Kabacalı / Cevdet Kudret’e Saygı (1993).