Author (B. 1910, Çanakkale – D. January 22, 1983,
Istanbul). He graduated from Edirne Teachers’ Training School (1929) and Gazi
Institute of Education (1935). He worked as a primary school for two years and
then worked as the history teacher at İzmir Karataş Secondary School until his
retirement.
He had his stories published in journals such as Aramak
(his first story, 1939), Yurt ve Dünya, and Yürüyüş. He examined the conflicts and transformations
occurred after the breakthrough of the traditional society and the sensitivity
of the rural people. He became famous with his novel named Cemo (1967)
which won the Turkish Linguistic Society 1967 Novel Award and which was adapted
as a movie scenario. He won the 1968 May Novel Award with his novel Yeşil
Gölge.
“Denizin Çağırışı is a
work about the internal world of the individual. The novel published by Kemal
Bilbaşar in 1943 mainly is about the depressions of a primary school teacher
after leaving his job. (…) He wrote his work in a period when the psychological
tendencies were high in Turkish literature, and he did not only make simple
psychoanalyses, but he has established a narrative by using psychology which
could be verified analytically. This novel is a remarkable first example in our
literature.” (Tamer Kütükçü)
WORKS:
NOVEL: Denizin
Çağırışı (1943), Ay Tutulduğu Gece (1961), Cemo (1966), Memo
(2 vol., 1968-69), Yeşil Gölge (1970), Yonca Kız (children’s
novel, 1971), Başka Olur Ağaların Düğünü (1972), Kölelik Dönemeci
(1977), Bedoş (1980), Zühre Ninem (1981).
STORY: Anadolu’dan
Hikâyeler (1939), Cevizli Bahçe (1941), Pazarlık (1944), Pembe
Kurt (1953), Üç Buutlu Hikâyeler (1956), Irgatların Öfkesi
(1971).
REFERENCE:
Yurt Ansiklopedisi (vol. 1, 1982), Adnan Benk / Kemal Bilbaşar’ın Bir Öyküsü
Üstüne (Çağdaş Eleştiri, March 1982), Behçet Necatigil / Edebiyatımızda İsimler
Sözlüğü (ed. 18 1999), Tamer Kütükçü / Yazılışının 60. Yılında Denizin Çağırışı
ve Romanımızda Paranoya (Varlık Kitap,
January 2004), İhsan Işık (TEKAA, 2009).
