Writer (b. 1899, İstanbul – d. 15 June 1961).
His childhood was spent with his mother and relatives due to his father’s death
in Sivas, to where he had been exiled when Peyami was two years old. From the
age of nine his education became irregular due to a bone disease, so he
educated himself. He had to work when he was thirteen years old. He became a
civil servant at the Ministry of the Postal and Telegraph Service (1912). After
he had served as a teacher for a while (1914-18), he published the evening
newspaper Yirminci Asır with the
encouragement of his brother, İlhami Safa (1918). He aroused interest with his
stories published under the general name of Asrın Hikâyeleri (Stories of
the Century). He took his place among the skillful writers of the period with
his works in the genres of story, article, essay and later in his life,
especially novels.
He used
Server Bedi as a pen name in the thriller novels he wrote accepting that he had
written these only in order to make a living. His most famous novel is Dokuzuncu Hariciye Koğuşu, which has an
autobiographical character and relies on psychological analyses rather than
events. Later on, he had a famous battle of words with Nazım Hikmet, to whom he
dedicated this work as a person defending totally different ideas. Fatih Harbiye (Fatih-Harbiye), Sözde Kızlar (So-called Girls), Bir Tereddüdün Roman (The Novel of a Hesitation), Matmazel Noralya’nın Koltuğu (The Armchair of Matmazel Noralya) and Yalnızız (We’re Alone) are his other
famous novels. Peyami Safa, who also published the reviews, Kültür Haftası
(1936, 21 volumes) and Türk Düşüncesi,
worked in his later years as editorial writer of the newspaper Son Havadis. The Peyami Safa Novel Award
which had been given in his memory since 1974, finished in 1978.
According to Berna Moran, there are specific
patterns in Peyami Safa’s novels. These patterns, if summarized, originate from
three men and a girl based around love. One of the men representing the West,
the other the East and the third symbolizes the thoughts of the author.
Sexuality is abhorrent when the platonic content of the love is praised. The
character representing the East wins the struggle between the characters of the
novel.
WORKS:
SHORT STORY:
Bir Mekteplinin Hatıratı (Memories of a
Student), Karanlıklar Kralı (The
King of Darkness,
1913), İstanbul Hikâyeleri (İstanbul
Tales, 1919), Gençliğimiz (Our Youth, 1922), Siyah Beyaz Hikâyeler (Black
and White Stories, 1923), Aşk Oyunları (Games of
Love, 1923), Süngülerin Gölgesinde (In
the Shadow of Bayonets, 1924), Ateş Böcekleri (Fireflies, 1925), Hikâyeler (Tales, 1980
NOVEL: Mahşer (The Last Judgment,
1924), Sözde Kızlar (So-called
Girls, 1925), Canan (Canan, 1925), Bir Akşamdı (One Night, 1928), Şimşek (Thunder, 1928), Dokuzuncu Hariciye Koğuşu (The
Ninth External Diseases Ward, 1930. Later made into a TV program by Salih
Diriklik), Atilla (Atilla, 1931), Fatih Harbiye (Fatih Harbiye, 1931), Bir Tereddüdün Romanı (The
Novel of a Hesitation, 1933), Matmazel Noralya'nın Koltuğu (The
Armchair of Matmazel Noralya,
1949), Yalnızız (We’re
Alone, 1951), Biz İnsanlar (We,
People, 1959).
ESSAY-RESEARCH: Türk İnkılabına Bakışlar (Views
on the Turkish Revolution, 1938), Büyük Avrupa Anketi (The Great
European Inquiry, 1938), Felsefî Buhran (The
Philosophical Crisis, 1939), Millet ve İnsan (Nation
and Man, 1943), Mahutlar (Notorious, 1959), Sosyalizm (Socialism, 1961), Mistisizm (Mysticism, 1961), Nasyonalizm (Nationalism,
1961), Doğu-Batı Sentezi (The
East-West Synthesis, 1963), Osmanlıca-Türkçe-Uydurmaca (Ottoman
Language-Turkish Language-Fictitious, 1970), Sanat-Edebiyat-Tenkit (Art-Literature-Review, 1970), Din-İnkılap-İrtica (Religion-Revolution-Reaction,
1971), Yazarlar, Sanatçılar, Meşhurlar (Writers-Artists-the
Famous,
1976).
New editions of his works were published by Gülten Press.
