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Renowned Turkish novelist Orhan Kemal is coming back to life
42 years after his death through newfound domestic and
international attention.
Sensitive to social issues, the author manages to depict the
relationship of individuals with society in a realistic
manner. Some of his literary works, including “Kötü Yol”
(Bad Track) and “Evlerden Biri” (One of the Houses), have
been adapted for TV recently. A few years ago a TV show
based on his novel “Hanımın Çiftliği” (Lady’s Farm) was a
hit.
In line with the reawakening of his fame at home, Kemal’s
literary works come in second on a list of authors whose
works have received the most funding from the long-running
literary translation subvention project of the Ministry of
Culture and Tourism known by the acronym TEDA, following
Turkish Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk. As TEDA provides funding
for the translation of Turkish literary works to other
languages on the basis of interest from abroad, the second
place on the list makes Kemal the second most popular
Turkish author internationally.
The TEDA project is huge: So far 724 works by 340 authors
have been translated as part of the project since it was
launched seven years ago. Kemal’s novels have thus far been
translated into 12 languages, including Urdu, Albanian,
Chinese, Serbian and Russian. Forty-four translation
projects for Kemal’s books received funding.
According to Kemal’s son, Işık Öğütçü, the reason why his
father’s work is receiving international attention is that
Kemal is a “living author.” “The fact that he writes about
the people, he is a realist and he uses a sincere language
attracts readers. The events he is talking about are the
common problems and miseries of humanity,” he told Today’s
Zaman.
He noted that demands to publish the author’s novels in
other languages continue to come. He has been negotiating
with publishers in Holland, India, Croatia and Portugal
lately. “Most recently three of his books have been released
in China. After the TV show ‘Hanımın Çiftliği,’ three other
books by Kemal were published in Bulgaria. They are
interested in four other novels,” he elaborated.
TEDA head Ümit Yaşar Gözüm said authors face no preferential
treatment when it comes to providing funding for the
translation of their books. “Since the project supports
publications on the basis of demand from foreign publishing
houses, it paves the way for the books to meet with their
audiences from the target language and culture directly,” he
added.
Following Pamuk and Kemal, the other authors who receive
most demand from abroad, and therefore the most funding,
are, in order: Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, Oya Baydar, Mario Levi,
Reşat Nuri Güntekin and Elif Şafak.
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