|
For anyone like me who loves reading
fiction, searching out Turkish novels that have been
translated into English is a great way of finding out about
a whole range of aspects of Turkey's society, history,
culture and geography. I recently discovered that the first
two of Orhan Kemal's semi-autobiographical novels are
available in English, beautifully translated by Cengiz
Lugal. Having read both of these in the space of one day, I
am hoping to find the next two in the series in English as
soon as possible, as I doubt that my Turkish will ever be at
a level to read long texts.
Orhan Kemal -- a short biography
Kemal was born Mehmet Raşit Öğütçu in Adana in 1914,
adopting his pen name Orhan Kemal at a later date. His
father, Abdulkadir Kemal, was trained as a lawyer but became
an MP for Kastamonu during the early years of the republic.
He established the Ahali Party, which proved to be
politically unpopular and was rapidly dissolved, forcing the
whole family to flee the country and take refuge in Syria
and Lebanon. Kemal therefore had to abandon his formal
education at this point but later returned alone to Adana in
1932, theoretically to continue his schooling, but in
practice most of his time was taken up with eking out a
living working as a laborer, a weaver and eventually a
clerk. He began writing during this period, concentrating
mostly on poems. During his military service, he was
sentenced to five years' imprisonment for his rather
outspoken political opinions. While he was incarcerated in a
Bursa jail, he met up with the famous poet Nazim Hikmet, who
became both his fiercest critic and also his chief educator.
Hikmet encouraged Kemal to work on prose. Following his
release, Kemal moved to İstanbul, where he continued to make
a living on a series of jobs whilst working on his literary
career with the continuing support of Hikmet. He died in
1970 in Sofia.
Over the course of his life, Kemal published several volumes
of poetry, many novels, plays and film scripts. Thanks to
the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, much of his work has
now been translated into 13 different languages, providing
large parts of the world with access to this important
Turkish writer. The novels that describe his life offer a
truly realistic picture of life for the poor and
underprivileged members of society who are struggling to
make ends meet. Kemal's stories of life amongst the
underclass have been compared with Charles Dickens'
portrayal of the poorer members of society. Although I'm not
convinced that Kemal's work has quite the same depth, he
nevertheless writes with a refreshing honesty and lucidity,
offering a wholly realistic portrayal of hardship and
suffering.
‘My Father's House'
The background of the books is full of deprivation, but the
characters remain largely hopeful and show a great deal of
determination to improve their lives. “My Father's House”
describes Kemal's childhood, starting from his early years
in Turkey in which he lived with his, quite frankly,
bullying and abusive father. Due to his father's involvement
in politics, the family was forced to move to Lebanon. Here
the family opened a restaurant where Kemal, abandoning
(quite willingly) his education, was given no choice but to
work long hours. With the ultimate demise of their business,
the family was reduced to even more abject poverty with long
periods of unemployment. Despite his father's aggressive
child-rearing tactics, Kemal came to realize the importance
of the family's dynamics for survival in the harsh
environment they had found themselves in. “What would
happen, I wondered, if my father suddenly died? It seemed
that his very existence held the magic that kept the family
together,” he discovered. The theme of family unity is
prevalent throughout the book.
Their life in Beirut living as impoverished political
refugees was, for the whole family, a harsh contrast to
their former life where they had lived comfortably and
commanded the respect of those around them. The precarious
and dangerous nature of their life as immigrants is brought
home to Kemal when the Greek family he had befriended
suddenly disappears -- having been forced to leave the
country. When Kemal is unceremoniously sacked from his job,
he makes the decision to find a way to return to Adana. He
returns ostensibly to continue with his education, but finds
much has changed in his hometown and instead becomes, like
many a teenage boy all over the world, more interested in
playing football and dreaming of being picked for a national
team.
‘The Idle Years'
The next part in the series, “The Idle Years,” follows the
central character's attempts to settle back into his former
hometown. He moves in with his grandmother but finds the
change in his circumstances to be totally overwhelming. He
not only has to cope with abject poverty, but also with the
complete loss of status in an ever-changing society. These
formative years are set against the background caused by the
upheavals of the war years, the immense changes brought
about by the introduction of the republic and the rapid
industrialization of the nation. He refers frequently to “my
hooked nose, my disreputable shoes, my withered hands, my
gaunt features and my frayed trousers …”
In an attempt to win back some measure of self-esteem, he
and his friend enroll themselves as apprentices at a weaving
factory, where they work long hours learning the skills of
the looms in return for no money and no guarantee of
employment at the end of the training. During this stint, he
witnesses an accident which the factory owners were quick to
blame on one of the workers, rather than accepting
responsibility for the poorly maintained machines. Whether
it was the realization of the dangerous nature involved in
factory work, the injustice of the hierarchy or the fact
that the demands of his work interfered with his football
training that caused him to quit, is not made clear.
Like many other young and hopeful men of the time, our hero
decides to try his luck in İstanbul, dreaming of making his
fortune. Of course, life in the big city proves to be even
harder than in Adana, with opportunities for work being few
and far between. His attempts to find work were fruitless
and “Eventually we had our fill of the wonders of İstanbul.
This was because we were almost always hungry and beautiful
sights didn't fill our stomachs.” He returns to Adana and
eventually finds work as a clerk in an office, where his
main focus of interest becomes his infatuation with a girl
from a nearby factory. A bizarre courtship, which consists
mostly of our hero standing mournfully outside the girl's
house, ends in their marriage.
These books bring to life a very formative period in the
history of this country with their descriptions of the
realities of life for the average person. The stories are
full of suffering that borders on the tragic, but
nevertheless there is an element of humor. Retrospectively,
the narrator is able to make fun of his youthful, obsessive
behavior, his overblown sense of pride and the many mistakes
he made in life. The characters have an inspiring ability to
help and support one another and each and every one remains
hopeful that things will eventually improve. |