Mehmed Nâzım Ran (15 January 1902 – 3 June 1963),
[ Note: 403 Forbidden error received 10 October 2022.] commonly known as Nâzım Hikmet (), was a Turkish-Polish poet, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director, and memoirist. He was acclaimed for the "lyrical flow of his statements".
[Selected poems, Nazim Hikmet translated by Ruth Christie, Richard McKane, Talat Sait Halman, Anvil press Poetry, 2002, p.9 ] Described as a "romantic communist"
[Saime Goksu, Edward Timms, ''Romantic Communist: The Life and Work of Nazim Hikmet'', St. Martin's Press, New York ] and "romantic revolutionary",
[ he was repeatedly arrested for his political beliefs and spent much of his adult life in prison or in exile. His poetry has been translated into more than fifty languages.
]
Family
According to Nâzım Hikmet, he was of paternal Turkish and maternal German, Polish, Georgian descent. Nâzım Hikmet's mother came from a distinguished, cosmopolitan family with predominantly Circassian ( Adyghe) roots, along with high social position and relations to Polish nobility. From his father's side he had Turkish heritage. His father, Hikmet Bey, was the son of Çerkes Nâzım Pasha (another Circassian), after whom Nâzım Hikmet was named.
Nazım’s maternal grandfather, Hasan Enver Pasha
Hasan Enver Pasha, (1857, Istanbul - 1929, Istanbul) was an Ottoman general.
Personal life
He was the son of Mustafa Celalettin Pasha a Polish convert to Islam, who fled to the Ottoman Empire after a failed Polish uprising against Prussia, who ...
, was the son of Polish-born Mustafa Celalettin Pasha
Mustafa Celalettin Pasha, born as Konstanty Borzęcki (April 10, 1826 in Modrzewiec, Piotrków County – 1876 in Novoselë, Kolonjë), was a participant in Polish and Ottoman uprisings, a strategist, and a writer.
He was the great-grandfather ...
and Saffet Hanım, daughter of Serbian Omar Pasha
Omer Pasha, also known as Omer Pasha Latas ( tr, Ömer Lütfi Paşa, sr, Омер-паша Латас, Omer-paša Latas; 24 September 1806 – 18 April 1871) was an Ottoman field marshal and governor. Born in Austrian territory to Serbian Or ...
and Circassian Adviye Hanım the daughter of Çerkes Hafız Pasha.
Mustafa Celalettin Pasha (born Konstanty Borzęcki herbu Półkozic) authored (''The Ancient and Modern Turks'') in Istanbul, in 1869.
This is considered one of the first works of national Turkist political thought.
Nâzım Hikmet's maternal grandmother, Leyla Hanım, was the daughter of Mehmet Ali Pasha
Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha, also known as Muhammad Ali of Egypt and the Sudan ( sq, Mehmet Ali Pasha, ar, محمد علي باشا, ; ota, محمد علی پاشا المسعود بن آغا; ; 4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849), was ...
, of French (Huguenot) and German origin, and Ayşe Sıdıka Hanım who was a daughter of Çerkes Hafız Paşa. Nâzım Hikmet and Celile Hanım's cousins included Oktay Rifat Horozcu
Oktay is a Turkish masculine given name. It is also used as a surname. Notable people with the name are as follows:
First name
*Oktay Afandiyev (1926–2013), Azerbaijani historian
*Oktay Delibalta (born 1985), Turkish football player
*Oktay Derel ...
, a leading Turkish poet, and the statesman Ali Fuat Cebesoy
Ali Fuat Cebesoy (September 23, 1882Ayfer Özçelik, ''Ali Fuad Cepesoy'', Akçağ Yayınları, 1993, , p. 1. – January 10, 1968) was a Turkish army officer and politician.
Early life
Ali Fuat was born in September 1882 to father Ismail ...
, among others.
Early life
Ran was born on 15 January 1902, in Selânik (Salonica), where his father was serving as an Ottoman government official.[ He attended the Taşmektep Primary School in the Göztepe district of Istanbul and later enrolled in the junior high school section of the prestigious ]Galatasaray High School
Galatasaray High School ( tr, Galatasaray Lisesi, french: Lycée de Galatasaray), established in what was then Constantinople and is now Istanbul, in 1481, is the oldest high school in Turkey. It is also the second-oldest Turkish educational in ...
in the Beyoğlu
Beyoğlu (, ota, بكاوغلی, script=Arab) is a district on the European side of İstanbul, Turkey, separated from the old city (historic peninsula of Constantinople) by the Golden Horn. It was known as the region of Pera (Πέρα, meani ...
district, where he began to learn French; however, in 1913, he was transferred to the Numune Mektebi in the Nişantaşı district. In 1918, he graduated from the Ottoman Naval School on Heybeliada
Heybeliada, or Heybeli Ada, is the second largest of the Prince' Islands in the Sea of Marmara, near Istanbull, Turkey. It is officially a neighbourhood of the Adalar district of Istanbul. Its name, meaning 'with a saddlebag' in Turkish, i ...
, one of the Princes' Islands
The Princes' Islands ( tr, Prens Adaları; the word "princes" is plural, because the name means "Islands of the Princes", el, Πριγκηπονήσια, ''Pringiponisia''), officially just Adalar ( en, Islands); alternatively the Princes' Arch ...
located in the Sea of Marmara
The Sea of Marmara,; grc, Προποντίς, Προποντίδα, Propontís, Propontída also known as the Marmara Sea, is an inland sea located entirely within the borders of Turkey. It connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea via the ...
. His school days coincided with a period of political upheaval, during which the Ottoman government entered the First World War, allying itself with Germany. For a brief period he was assigned as a naval officer to the Ottoman cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles.
The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...
'' Hamidiye''; however in 1919 he became seriously ill and, not being able to fully recover, was exempted from naval service in 1920.
In 1921, together with his friends Vâlâ Nureddin (Vâ-Nû), Yusuf Ziya Ortaç and Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel
Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel (18 May 1898 – 8 November 1973) was a leading Turkish poet, author and later politician.
Biography
Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel was born in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire, on 18 May 1898. His mother, Fatma Ruhiye, was the d ...
, he went to İnebolu
İnebolu is a town and district of the Kastamonu Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is from Istanbul by road and north of Kastamonu. It is a typical Black Sea port town with many fine examples of traditional domestic architecture. Ac ...
in Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
in order to join the Turkish War of Independence
The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...
; from there he (together with Vâlâ Nûreddin) walked to Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
, where the Turkish liberation movement was headquartered. In Ankara they were introduced to Mustafa Kemal Pasha
Mustafa ( ar, مصطفى
, Muṣṭafā) is one of the names of Prophet Muhammad, and the name means "chosen, selected, appointed, preferred", used as an Arabic given name and surname. Mustafa is a common name in the Muslim world.
Given name Mou ...
( Atatürk) who wanted the two friends to write a poem that would invite and inspire Turkish volunteers in Istanbul and elsewhere to join their struggle. This poem was much appreciated, and Muhittin Bey (Birgen) decided to appoint them as teachers to the Sultani (high-college) in Bolu
Bolu is a city in Turkey, and administrative center of the Bolu Province. The population is 131,264 (2012 census).
The city has been governed by mayor Tanju Özcan ( CHP) since local elections in 2019. It was the site of Ancient Claudiopolis ...
, rather than sending them to the front as soldiers. However, their communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
views were not appreciated by the conservative officials in Bolu, and so the two decided to go to Batumi
Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of th ...
in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц ...
to witness the results of the Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...
, arriving there on 30 September 1921. In July 1922, the two friends went to Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, where Ran studied Economics and Sociology at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East
The Communist University of the Toilers of the East (KUTV) (russian: link=no, Коммунистический университет трудящихся Востока; also known as the Far East University) was a revolutionary training scho ...
in the early 1920s. There, he was influenced by the artistic experiments of Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (, ; rus, Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский, , vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ məjɪˈkofskʲɪj, Ru-Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.ogg, links=y; – 14 Apr ...
and Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Emilyevich Meyerhold (russian: Всеволод Эмильевич Мейерхольд, translit=Vsévolod Èmíl'evič Mejerchól'd; born german: Karl Kasimir Theodor Meyerhold; 2 February 1940) was a Russian and Soviet theatre ...
, as well as the ideological vision of Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
.[
]
Style and achievements
Despite writing his first poems in syllabic meter, Nazım Hikmet distinguished himself from the "syllabic poets" in concept. With the development of his poetic conception, the narrow forms of syllabic verse became too limiting for his style and he set out to seek new forms for his poems.
He was influenced by the young Soviet poets who advocated Futurism
Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such ...
. On his return to Turkey, he became the charismatic leader of the Turkish avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
, producing streams of innovative poems, plays and film scripts. In Moscow in 1922, breaking the boundaries of syllabic meter, he changed his form and began writing in free verse
Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French ''vers libre'' form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech.
Definit ...
.
He has been compared by Turkish and non-Turkish men of letters to such figures as Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...
, Louis Aragon
Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He wa ...
, Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (, ; rus, Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский, , vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ məjɪˈkofskʲɪj, Ru-Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.ogg, links=y; – 14 Apr ...
, Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Faiz Ahmad ''Faiz'' (13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984; Urdu, Punjabi:
فیض احمد فیض) was a Pakistani poet, and author of Urdu and Punjabi literature. Faiz was one of the most celebrated Pakistani Urdu writers of his time. Out ...
and Pablo Neruda
Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...
. Although Ran's work bears a resemblance to these poets and owes them occasional debts of form and stylistic device, his literary personality is unique in terms of the synthesis he made of iconoclasm and lyricism, of ideology and poetic diction.[
Many of his poems have been set to music by the Turkish composer ]Zülfü Livaneli
Ömer Zülfü Livaneli (born 20 June 1946), is a Turkish musician, author, poet, and politician.
Livaneli was imprisoned several times during the 1971 Turkish coup d'état because of his political views and had to leave Turkey in 1972 and went ...
and Cem Karaca. A part of his work has been translated into Greek by Yiannis Ritsos
Yiannis Ritsos ( el, Γιάννης Ρίτσος; 1 May 1909 – 11 November 1990) was a Greek poet and communist and an active member of the Greek Resistance during World War II. While he disliked being regarded as a political poet, he has be ...
, and some of these translations have been arranged by the Greek composers Manos Loizos
Manos may refer to:
Films
* ''The Hands'' (Spanish: ''Las manos''), a 2006 Argentinean-Italian film
* '' Manos: The Hands of Fate'', 1966 horror film
Music
* Manos (band), German Black metal band
* ''Manos'' (album), by The Spinanes
Other use ...
and Thanos Mikroutsikos
Athanasios "Thanos" Mikroutsikos ( el, Αθανάσιος (Θάνος) Μικρούτσικος; 13 April 1947 – 28 December 2019) was a Greek composer and politician. He is considered one of the most important composers of the recent Greek mu ...
.
Because of his political views his works were banned in Turkey from 1938 to 1965.
Later life and legacy
Ran's imprisonment in the 1940s became a ''cause célèbre
A cause célèbre (,''Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged'', 12th Edition, 2014. S.v. "cause célèbre". Retrieved November 30, 2018 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cause+c%c3%a9l%c3%a8bre ,''Random House Kernerman Webs ...
'' among intellectuals worldwide; a 1949 committee that included Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
, Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...
, and Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...
campaigned for his release.
On 8 April 1950, Ran began a hunger strike in protest against the Turkish parliament's failure to include an amnesty law in its agenda before it closed for the upcoming general election. He was then transferred from the prison in Bursa
( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...
, first to the infirmary of Sultanahmet Jail in Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
, and later to Paşakapısı Prison. Seriously ill, Ran suspended his strike on 23 April, the National Sovereignty and Children's Day
National Sovereignty and Children's Day ( tr, Ulusal Egemenlik ve Çocuk Bayramı) is a Public holidays in Turkey, public holiday in Turkey commemorating the foundation of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, on 23 April 1920. It is also observ ...
. His doctor's request to treat him in hospital for three months was refused by officials. So, as his imprisonment status had not changed, he resumed his hunger strike on the morning of 2 May.
Ran's hunger strike caused a stir throughout the country. Petitions were signed and a magazine named after him was published. His mother, Celile, began a hunger strike on 9 May, followed by renowned Turkish poets Orhan Veli
Orhan Ghazi ( ota, اورخان غازی; tr, Orhan Gazi, also spelled Orkhan, 1281 – March 1362) was the second bey of the Ottoman Beylik from 1323/4 to 1362. He was born in Söğüt, as the son of Osman I.
In the early stages of his ...
, Melih Cevdet
Melih Cevdet Anday (13 March 1915 – 28 November 2002) was a Turkish writer whose poetry stands outside the traditional literary movements. He also wrote in many other genres which, over six and a half decades, included eleven collections of p ...
and Oktay Rıfat the next day. In light of the new political situation after the 1950 Turkish general election, held on 14 May, the strike was ended five days later, on 19 May, Turkey's Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day
The Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day ( tr, Atatürk'ü Anma, Gençlik ve Spor Bayramı), is an annual Turkish national holiday celebrated on May 19 to commemorate Mustafa Kemal's landing at Samsun on May 19, 1919, which is regard ...
, he was finally released through a general amnesty law enacted by the new government.
On 22 November 1950, the World Council of Peace announced that Nazım Hikmet Ran was among the recipients of the International Peace Prize
The World Peace Council (WPC), a pro-Soviet non-governmental organization, has awarded a number of prizes, beginning in 1950. These have been awarded to individuals, organisations, peoples, and places. Typically, several winners would be voted at ...
, along with Pablo Picasso, Paul Robeson, Wanda Jakubowska
Wanda Jakubowska (10 November 1907 – 25 February 1998) was a Polish film director. Although she directed as many as 15 films over 50 years, Jakubowska is best known for her work on the Holocaust. Her 1948 film ''The Last Stage'' was an early an ...
and Pablo Neruda
Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...
.
Later on, Ran escaped from Turkey to Romania on a ship via the Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
, and from there moved to the USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
. Because in the Soviet bloc the only recognized Turkish minority existed in communist Bulgaria, the poet's books were immediately brought out in this country, both in Turkish originals and Bulgarian translations. The communist authorities in Bulgaria celebrated him in Turkish and Bulgarian publications as 'a poet of liberty and peace.' The goal was to discredit Turkey presented as a 'lackey of the imperialist' United States in the eyes of Bulgaria's Turkish minority, many of whom desired to leave for or were expelled to Turkey in 1950–1953.
When the EOKA
The Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (EOKA; ; el, Εθνική Οργάνωσις Κυπρίων Αγωνιστών, lit=National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) was a Greek Cypriot
Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνο ...
struggle broke out in Cyprus, Ran believed that the population of Cyprus would be able to live together peacefully, and called on the Cypriot Turks to support the Greek Cypriot
Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνοκύπριοι, Ellinokýprioi, tr, Kıbrıs Rumları) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2011 census, 659,115 r ...
s' demand for an end to British rule and Union with Greece (Enosis
''Enosis'' ( el, Ένωσις, , "union") is the movement of various Greek communities that live outside Greece for incorporation of the regions that they inhabit into the Greek state. The idea is related to the Megali Idea, an irredentist conc ...
). Hikmet drew negative reaction from Cyprus Turkish community due to his opinions.
Persecuted for decades by the Republic of Turkey during the Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
for his communist views, Ran died of a heart attack in Moscow on 3 June 1963 at 6.30 am while picking up a morning newspaper at the door of his summer house in Peredelkino
Peredelkino ( rus, Переде́лкино, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈdʲelkʲɪnə) is a dacha complex situated just to the southwest of Moscow, Russia.
History
The settlement originated as the estate of Peredeltsy, owned by the Leontievs (maternal rela ...
, far away from his beloved homeland. He is buried in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery
Novodevichy Cemetery ( rus, Новоде́вичье кла́дбище, Novodevichye kladbishche) is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist ...
, where his tomb is still a place of pilgrimage for Turks and others from around the world. His final wish, never carried out, was to be buried under a plane-tree (platanus
''Platanus'' is a genus consisting of a small number of tree species native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae.
All mature members of ''Platanus'' are tall, reaching in height. All except f ...
) in any village cemetery in Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
.
His poems depicting the people of the countryside, villages, towns and cities of his homeland (''Memleketimden İnsan Manzaraları'', i.e. ''Human Landscapes from my Country''), as well as the Turkish War of Independence
The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...
(''Kurtuluş Savaşı Destanı'', i.e. ''The Epic of the War of Independence''), and the Turkish revolutionaries
The Turkish National Movement ( tr, Türk Ulusal Hareketi) encompasses the political and military activities of the Turkish revolutionaries that resulted in the creation and shaping of the modern Republic of Turkey, as a consequence of the defe ...
(''Kuvâyi Milliye'', i.e. ''Force of the Nation'') are considered among the greatest literary works of Turkey.
Following his death, the Kremlin ordered the publication of the poet's first-ever Turkish-language collected works in communist Bulgaria, where at that time a large and still recognized Turkish national minority existed. The eight volumes of these collected works, ''Bütün eserleri'', appeared at Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
between 1967 and 1972, that is, in the very last years of the existence of the Turkish minority educational and publishing system in Bulgaria.
Ran had Polish and Turkish citizenship. The latter was revoked in 1959, and restored in 2009. His family has been asked if they want his remains repatriated from Russia.
Patronage
During the 1940s, as he was serving his sentence at Bursa Prison, he used to paint. There, he met a young inmate named İbrahim Balaban. Ran discovered Balaban's talent in drawing, gave all his paint and brushes to him, and encouraged him to continue with painting. Ran influenced the peasant, and educated him, who had finished only a three-grade village school, in forming his own ideas in the fields of philosophy, sociology, economics and politics. Ran admired Balaban much, and referred to him in a letter to the novelist Kemal Tahir as "his peasant painter" ( tr, Köylü ressam). Their contact remained also after they were released from the prison.
Selected works
"I Come and Stand at Every Door"
Ran's poem "" ("The Girl Child") conveys a plea for peace from a seven-year-old girl, ten years after she has perished in the atomic bomb
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
attack at Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
. It has achieved popularity as an anti-war message and has been performed as a song by a number of singers and musicians both in Turkey and worldwide; it is also known in English by various other titles, including "I Come and Stand at Every Door", "I Unseen" and "Hiroshima Girl".
Turkish
*Zülfü Livaneli
Ömer Zülfü Livaneli (born 20 June 1946), is a Turkish musician, author, poet, and politician.
Livaneli was imprisoned several times during the 1971 Turkish coup d'état because of his political views and had to leave Turkey in 1972 and went ...
has performed a version of the original Turkish poem on his album ''Nazım Türküsü'', which was later sung in Turkish by Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...
.
*Fazıl Say
Fazıl Say (; born 14 January 1970 in Ankara) is a Turkish pianist and composer.
Life and career
Fazıl Say was born in 1970. His father, Ahmet Say was an author and musicologist. His mother, Gürgün Say was a pharmacist. His grandfather Fa ...
included the poem in his ''Nazım'' oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
in Turkish.
Bengali
*Subhash Mukhopadhyay (poet)
Subhash Mukhopadhyay (; 12 February 1919 – 8 July 2003) was one of the foremost Indian Bengali poets of the 20th century. He is also known as the "podatik kobi" in the field of Bengali literature. A book of thirty of Subhash's best known ...
translated Hikmet's poems into Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
. Those poems are collected in two anthologies, titled ''Nirbachita Nazim Hikmet'' (1952)(Selected Poems of Nazem Hikmet) and ''Nazem Hikmet er Aro Kobita'' (1974) (''More Poems of Nazem Himet''). Some of these translation's are available in open sources.
Greek
*Thanos Mikroutsikos
Athanasios "Thanos" Mikroutsikos ( el, Αθανάσιος (Θάνος) Μικρούτσικος; 13 April 1947 – 28 December 2019) was a Greek composer and politician. He is considered one of the most important composers of the recent Greek mu ...
, in the album ''Politika tragoudia'' (''Political Songs'', 1975) composed a series of Hikmet's poems, adapted in Greek by the poet Yiannis Ritsos
Yiannis Ritsos ( el, Γιάννης Ρίτσος; 1 May 1909 – 11 November 1990) was a Greek poet and communist and an active member of the Greek Resistance during World War II. While he disliked being regarded as a political poet, he has be ...
.
*Manos Loizos
Manos may refer to:
Films
* ''The Hands'' (Spanish: ''Las manos''), a 2006 Argentinean-Italian film
* '' Manos: The Hands of Fate'', 1966 horror film
Music
* Manos (band), German Black metal band
* ''Manos'' (album), by The Spinanes
Other use ...
composed settings of some of Ran's poems, adapted in Greek by Yiannis Ritsos
Yiannis Ritsos ( el, Γιάννης Ρίτσος; 1 May 1909 – 11 November 1990) was a Greek poet and communist and an active member of the Greek Resistance during World War II. While he disliked being regarded as a political poet, he has be ...
. They are included in the 1983 disc ''Grammata stin agapimeni'' (''Letters to the Beloved One'').
English
*The usual tune is a non-traditional melody composed by Jim Waters in 1954 to fit the lyrics of Child 113 ballad "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry
"The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" or "The Grey Selkie of Sule Skerry" is a traditional folk song from Shetland and Orkney. A woman has her child taken away by its father, the great selkie of Sule Skerry which can transform from a seal into a h ...
", which was recorded by American folksinger Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...
as "Silkie" on her second album Joan Baez, Vol. 2
''Joan Baez, Vol. 2'' is the second studio album by Joan Baez. Released in 1961, the album, like her self-titled 1960 debut album, featured mostly traditional songs. The bluegrass band The Greenbriar Boys provided backup on two songs.
''Joan Bae ...
in 1961.
*According to American activist folk musician
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...
Pete Seeger
Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...
, Jeanette Turner did a loose English "singable translation" of the poem under a different title, "I Come And Stand At Every Door", and sent a note to Seeger asking "Do you think you could make a tune for it?" in the late 1950s. After a week of trial and failure, this English translation was used by Seeger in 1962 with an adaptation of "an extraordinary melody put together by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
student James Waters, who had put a new tune to a mystical ballad 'The Great Silkie' which he could not get out of his head, without permission." Seeger wrote in ''Where Have All the Flowers Gone
"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" is a modern folk-style song. Inspired lyrically by the traditional Cossack folk song "Koloda-Duda", Pete Seeger borrowed an Irish melody and the first three verses in 1955 and published it in ''Sing Out!'' maga ...
'': "It was wrong of me. I should have gotten his permission. But it worked. The Byrds made a good recording of it, electric guitars and all."[Seeger describes the story behind his version of the song in hi]
''Where Have All the Flowers Gone: A Singer's Stories, Songs, Seeds, Robberies (A Musical Autobiography)''
(1993): "In the late '50s I got a letter: 'Dear Pete Seeger: I've made what I think is a singable translation of a poem by the Turkish poet, Nazim Hikmet. Do you think you could make a tune for it? (Signed), Jeanette Turner.' I tried for a week. Failed. Meanwhile, I couldn't get out of my head an extraordinary melody put together by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology student who had put a new tune to a mystical ballad The Great Silkie from the Shetland Islands north of Scotland. Without his permission I used his melody for Hikmet's words. It was wrong of me. I should have gotten his permission. But it worked. The Byrds made a good recording of it, electric guitars and all." Seeger also used the track in his 1999 compilation album '' Headlines & Footnotes: A Collection Of Topical Songs''. Seeger sang the song on 9 August 2013, the 68th anniversary of the Nagasaki atomic bombing, on a Democracy Now!
''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...
interview.
*British folk singer Harvey Andrews
Harvey John Andrews (born 7 May 1943 in Stechford, Birmingham) is an English singer-songwriter and poet. Andrews has produced 16 albums singing his own songs, many of which have also been recorded by other artists.
Career
From 1964, Andrews su ...
recorded a version under the title "Child of Hiroshima" (sometimes re-released as "Children of Hiroshima"), released on his eponymous debut EP in 1965.
*The Byrds
The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole cons ...
; the American rock band used the translation on their third album '' Fifth Dimension'' in 1966.
*Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn (born James Joseph McGuinn III; July 13, 1942) is an American musician. He is best known for being the frontman and leader of the Byrds. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with the Byrds. As a ...
of the Byrds later recorded the song with its original lyrics as part of his Folk Den project.
*The Misunderstood
The Misunderstood were an American psychedelic rock band originating from Riverside, California in the mid-1960s. The band moved to London early in their career, and although they recorded only a handful of songs before being forced to disband, ...
used the translation, changing the title to "I Unseen", on a 1969 UK Fontana single, later included in the 1997 anthology album '' Before The Dream Faded'' with their own tune.
*Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...
recorded the song as "The Little Dead Girl" with another translation.
The song was later covered by
*Ivo Watts-Russell
Ivo Watts-Russell (born 1954) is a British music producer and record label executive. He was joint-founder with Peter Kent of the indie record label 4AD. He has produced several records, although he prefers to use the term "musical director".
Ea ...
's supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to:
* Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields
* Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry
* Supergroup ...
, This Mortal Coil
This Mortal Coil were a British music collective led by Ivo Watts-Russell, founder of the British record label 4AD. Although Watts-Russell and John Fryer were the only two official members, the band's recorded output featured a large rotati ...
on their 1991 album ''Blood
Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the c ...
'' with vocals of Louise Rutkowski
Louise Rutkowski (born 1964) is a Scottish singer who rose to prominence as part of the 4AD music project This Mortal Coil.
Early life
At 19, Louise was signed to CBS Records, recording three singles and an album with soul producer Pete Wingf ...
, Deirdre Rutkowski with Tim Freeman and ''1983–1991''.
* The Fall on their 1997 album ''Levitate
Levitation (from Latin ''levitas'' "lightness") is the process by which an object is held aloft in a stable position, without mechanical support via any physical contact.
Levitation is accomplished by providing an upward force that counteracts ...
'', albeit omitting the last verse and wrongly attributing writing credits to anon/J Nagle. "I Come and Stand at Your Door" listed as "Anon/Nagle", which is an interpretation of the song "I Come and Stand at Every Door". "Jap Kid" is an instrumental version of this track.
*Silent Stream Of Godless Elegy
Silent Stream of Godless Elegy is a Moravian folk metal band from the Czech Republic formed in 1995. As of 2020, they have released six studio albums and one EP.
Biography Early years: ''Iron'', ''Behind the Shadows'', and ''Themes''
Silent Str ...
, a Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The me ...
n folk metal
Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for exampl ...
band, on their album ''Behind the Shadows
''Behind the Shadows'' is the second studio album by Moravian (Czech) folk metal band Silent Stream of Godless Elegy, released on 22 April 1998 by Redblack. The songs on the album are sung in English.
Track listing
# "Wizard" – 4:13
# "Garde ...
'' in 1998.
* Faith & Disease on their 1998 album ''Insularia''.
*Anne Hills
Anne Hills (born October 18, 1953) is an American folk singer-songwriter.
Hills was born to a family of missionaries in Moradabad, India, and grew up in Michigan, United States. She studied at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, where she pl ...
on 1998 album ''Where Have All The Flowers Gone: The Songs of Peter Seeger''.
* Ibon Errazkin has an instrumental song with the same title on .
*Styrofoam
Styrofoam is a trademarked brand of closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), commonly called "Blue Board", manufactured as foam continuous building insulation board used in walls, roofs, and foundations as thermal insulation and water barrie ...
aka Arne Van Petegem's EP and first US release, '' RR20'', included an instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...
version of the traditional tune of "Great Silkie" with the same title.
Japanese
In 2005, famous Amami Ōshima
, also known as Amami, is the largest island in the Amami archipelago between Kyūshū and Okinawa. It is one of the Satsunan Islands.
The island, 712.35 km2 in area, has a population of approximately 73,000 people. Administratively it is ...
singer Chitose Hajime
is a Japanese singer from Amami Ōshima. She sings in the shima-uta style particular to that region, with distinctive falsetto effects.
History
Early life
Chitose Hajime began learning shamisen under her mother's encouragement from a young ...
collaborated with Ryuichi Sakamoto
is a Japanese composer, pianist, singer, record producer and actor who has pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto inf ...
by translating "Kız Çocuğu" into Japanese, retitling it [] "A dead girl"). It was performed live at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima on the eve of the 60th Anniversary (5 August 2005) of Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The song later appeared as a bonus track on Chitose's album '' Hanadairo'' in 2006.
Nepali
Some of Ran's poems are translated into Nepali by Suman Pokhrel and are published in print and online literary journals.
On the soldier worth 23 cents
He also opposed the Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, in which Turkey participated. After the Senate address of John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles (, ; February 25, 1888 – May 24, 1959) was an American diplomat, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. He served as United States Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959 and was briefly ...
, who served as U.S. Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
under President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
, where he valued Turkish soldiers at 23 cents a month compared with the lowest echelon U.S. soldiers at $70, Nazım Hikmet Ran wrote a protest poem criticising the policies of the United States. This poem is titled (On the soldier worth 23 cents).
In popular culture
*Hikmet's poem "We'll Give the Globe to the Children" was set to music in 1979 by Russian composer David Tukhmanov
David Fyodorovich Tukhmanov PAR (russian: Дави́д Фёдорович Тухма́нов, was born on July 20, 1940, in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union) is a Soviet and Russian composer. People's Artist of Russia (2000), State Prize of Ru ...
.
*'' Tale of Tales'' is a Russian animated film (1979) partially inspired by Hikmet's poem of the same name.
* Finnish band Ultra Bra
Ultra Bra was a Finnish band, formed in 1994 by Olli Virtaperko and Kerkko Koskinen, and disbanded in 2001.
Band history
In 1994, Olli Virtaperko heard about a political song contest held by the Finnish Democratic Youth League (predecessor of ...
recorded a song ("Send me books")) based on a translated excerpt of Hikmet's poem "Rubai".
*'' The Ignorant Fairies'' is a 2001 Italian film, in which a book by Hikmet plays a central plot role.
* (Blue Eyed Giant) is a 2007 Turkish biographical film about Nazım Hikmet. The title is a reference to the poem . The film chronicles Nazim Hikmet's imprisonment at Bursa Prison and his relationships with his wife Piraye and his translator and lover Münevver Andaç. He is played by Yetkin Dikinciler.
*Hikmet's poem was quoted in the 2012 Korean drama ''Cheongdam-dong Alice
''Cheongdam-dong Alice'' () is a 2012 South Korean television series, starring Moon Geun-young, Park Si-hoo, So Yi-hyun and Kim Ji-seok. The series tell the story of a young woman's "journey" to Cheongdam-dong ― one of the wealthiest areas in ...
''.
*The video game ''Suzerain
Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is calle ...
'' opens with a quote from Hikmet, and the character Bernard Circas is based on him. The game is heavily inspired by modern Turkish history.
Bibliography
Plays
* (1932, ''The Skull'')
* (1935, ''The Forgotten Man'')
* 1965 ('' Ferhad and Şirin'')
* (''Luxurious Living'') (as ghostwriter
A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often h ...
)
Ballet libretto
*'' Legend of Love'' (by Arif Malikov) 1961
Novels
* (1967, ''Life's Good, Brother'')
* (1965, ''Blood Doesn't Tell'')
Poems
* (1935, "Letters to Taranta-Babu")
* (1936, "The Epic of Sheikh Bedreddin")
* (1966–67, "Human Landscapes from My Country")
* (1965, "The Epic of the War of Independence")
Poetry
* / Nâzım Hikmet, İstanbul : Yapı Kredi, 2002.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, İstanbul : YKY, 2002.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, İstanbul : YKY, 2002.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, İstanbul : YKY, 2002.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, İstanbul : YKY, 2002.
* : (insan manzaraları) / Nâzım Hikmet, İstanbul : YKY, 2002.
* : (1951–1959) / Nâzım Hikmet, İstanbul : Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2002.
* : (1959–1963) / Nâzım Hikmet, İstanbul : Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2002.
Partial list of translated works in English
*''Selected Poems'' / Nâzim Hikmet; done into English by Taner Baybars. London, Cape Editions, 1967.
*''The Moscow Symphony and Other Poems'' / translated into English by Taner Baybars. Chicago: Swallow Press, 1971.
*''The day before tomorrow : poems'' / translated into English by Taner Baybars. South Hinksey
South Hinksey is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish just over south of the centre of Oxford. The parish includes the residential area of Hinksey Hill about south of the village. The parish was part of Berkshire until the Loc ...
, England : Carcanet Press, 1972.
*''That Wall'' / Nâzım Hikmet; illustrations yMaureen Scott, London: League of Socialist Artists, 1973.
*''Things I didn't know I loved: selected poems'' / Nâzim Hikmet; translated by Randy Blasing & Mutlu Konuk. New York : Persea Books, 1975.
*''Human Landscapes'' / by Nazim Hikmet; translated by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk ; foreword by Denise Levertov, New York : Persea Books, c1982.
*''Selected poetry'' / Nazim Hikmet; translated by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk, New York : Persea Books, c1986.
*''Poems of Nazim Hikmet'', trans. Randy Blasing & Mutlu Konuk. New York: Persea Books, 1994 (revised 2nd ed., 2002).
*''Beyond the walls: selected poems'' / Nâzim Hikmet; translated by Ruth Christie, Richard McKane, Talât Sait Halman; introduction by Talât Sait Halman, London: Anvil Press Poetry, 2002.
*''Life's Good, Brother'' / Nâzım Hikmet; translated by Mutlu Konuk Blasing, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013.
Partial list of translated works in other languages
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Joyce Lussu (Trans.), Newton Compton, 2010.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Joyce Lussu (Trans.), Fahrenheit 451, 2005.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Giampiero Bellingeri (Trans.), F. Negrin (Illustrator), Mondadori, 2003.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Koen Stassijns & Ivo van Strijtem (ed.), Perihan Eydemir & Joris Iven (Trans.), Lannoo , Atlas, 2003.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Joyce Lussu (Trans.), Mondadori, 2002.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Münevver Andaç (Trans.), Güzin Dino (Trans.), Gallimard, 1999.
*, Leonardo da Fonseca (Trans.), In. (n.t.) (set/2010), Fpolis/Brasil,
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Joyce Lussu (Trans.), Cattedrale, 2008.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Joyce Lussu (Trans.), Fahrenheit 451, 1992.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, F. Beltrami (Trans.), Mondadori, 2010.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, G. Bellingeri (Editor), F. Beltrami (Trans.), F. Boraldo (Trans.), Mondadori, 2013.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Münevver Andaç (Trans.), Temps Actuels, 1982.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Abidine Dino (Trans.), Parangon, 2004.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Münevver Andaç (Trans.), Aden Editions, 2005.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Münevver Andaç (Trans.), Gallimard Jeunesse Giboulées, 2013.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Fernando García Burillo (Trans.), Ediciones Del Oriente Y Del Mediterráneo S.L., 2000.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Fernando García Burillo (Trans.), Ediciones Del Oriente Y Del Mediterráneo S.L., 2005.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Małgorzata Łabęcka-Koecherowa (Trans.), Ludowa Spółdzielnia Wydawnicza, 1981.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Aleksander Olecki (Trans.), Książka i Wiedza, 1965.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Małgorzata Łabęcka-Koecherowa (Trans.), Elżbieta Gaudasińska (Trans.), Nasza Księgarnia, 1985.
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Małgorzata Łabęcka-Koecherowa (Trans.), Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, 1987.
*
* / Nâzım Hikmet, Ewa Fiszer (Trans.), Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1954
*Many of Hikmet's poems are translated into Nepali by Suman Pokhrel, and some are collected in an anthology tilled Manpareka Kehi Kavita.
See also
* Abidin Dino
Abidin Dino (23 March 1913 – 7 December 1993) was a Turkish artist and a well-known painter.
Early years
Dino was born on 23 March 1913 in Istanbul into an art-loving family. He was grandchild of Abedin Dino, Albanian descended Ottoman dipl ...
* Orhan Kemal
Orhan Kemal (15 September 1914 – 2 June 1970) is the pen name of Turkish novelist Mehmet Raşit Öğütçü. He is known for his realist novels that describe the life of the poor in Turkey.
Biography
Orhan Kemal was born in Ceyhan, Adana, ...
* Zülfü Livaneli
Ömer Zülfü Livaneli (born 20 June 1946), is a Turkish musician, author, poet, and politician.
Livaneli was imprisoned several times during the 1971 Turkish coup d'état because of his political views and had to leave Turkey in 1972 and went ...
* Fazıl Say
Fazıl Say (; born 14 January 1970 in Ankara) is a Turkish pianist and composer.
Life and career
Fazıl Say was born in 1970. His father, Ahmet Say was an author and musicologist. His mother, Gürgün Say was a pharmacist. His grandfather Fa ...
* Behçet Necatigil
Behçet Necatigil (16 April 1916 – 13 December 1979) was a leading Turkish author, poet and translator.
Biography
Behçet was born in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire, in 1916. He graduated from the Teachers' High School ( tr, İstanbul Yüksek ...
References
External links
Nâzım Hikmet Ran Russian Archive at nazimhikmet.com
Nazım Hikmet info
(Turkish page with bibliography)
English translation of Nazım Hikmet's poems at Poemist
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hikmet, Nazim
1902 births
1963 deaths
20th-century Turkish poets
Akbaba (periodical) people
Turkish atheism activists
Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery
Communist poets
Critics of religions
Galatasaray High School alumni
People from the Ottoman Empire of Circassian descent
People from the Ottoman Empire of French descent
People from the Ottoman Empire of Georgian descent
People from the Ottoman Empire of German descent
People from the Ottoman Empire of Polish descent
People from the Ottoman Empire of Serbian descent
Ottoman Thessalonica
People from Salonica vilayet
Writers from Thessaloniki
Prisoners and detainees of Turkey
Turkish former Muslims
Turkish atheists
Turkish communists
Turkish emigrants to the Soviet Union
Turkish exiles
Turkish Marxists
Turkish people of Circassian descent
Turkish people of French descent
Georgians from the Ottoman Empire
Turkish people of German descent
Turkish people of Polish descent
Turkish people of Serbian descent
Turkish prisoners and detainees
Turkish refugees
Turkish revolutionaries
People granted political asylum in the Soviet Union
Communist University of the Toilers of the East alumni