Peyami Safa (April 2, 1899 – June 15, 1961) was a
Turkish journalist, columnist and novelist. He came to the fore in the
Turkish literature
Turkish literature ( tr, Türk edebiyatı) comprises oral compositions and written texts in Turkic languages. The Ottoman and Azerbaijani forms of Turkish, which forms the basis of much of the written corpus, were highly influenced by Persian a ...
of the
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
era with his psychological works such as ''Dokuzuncu Hariciye Koğuşu'' (Ninth External Ward). He reflected his life and his changes to his works. He wrote many novels under the pseudonym ''Server Bedi''. He created the type ''Cingöz Recai'' inspired by
Arsène Lupin
Arsène Lupin (French pronunciation: ʁsɛn lypɛ̃ is a fictional gentleman thief and master of disguise created in 1905 by French writer Maurice Leblanc. The character was first introduced in a series of short stories serialized in the magazi ...
of the French writer
Maurice Leblanc
Maurice Marie Émile Leblanc (; ; 11 December 1864 – 6 November 1941) was a French novelist and writer of short stories, known primarily as the creator of the fictional gentleman thief and detective Arsène Lupin, often described as a French c ...
. He also worked as a journalist at various institutions and published several magazines such as Kültür Haftası with his brother İlhami Safa.
The poet
Tevfik Fikret
Tevfik Fikret ( ota, توفیق فكرت) was the pseudonym of Mehmed Tevfik (December 24, 1867 – August 19, 1915), an Ottoman-Turkish educator and poet, who is considered the founder of the modern school of Turkish poetry.
Biography
Fam ...
named him when he was born. After he lost his father at a young age, he lived under difficult conditions with his mother and brother. Bone tuberculosis appeared on the right arm. He processed his psychology in those years in his autobiographical novel, Ninth External Ward. He gave his first literary products during his education in
Vefa High School
Vefa High School ( tr, Vefa Lisesi), is one of the oldest and internationally renowned high school of Turkey. The first ''mülkiye lisesi'' (non-military high school) training in Turkish language was Vefa Lisesi (established in 1872) which forming ...
. He worked as a teacher for a short time. The stories he published under the title ''Stories of the Century'' drew attention and received encouraging reactions. He entered pen quarrels with prominent literary writers of the period. He experienced various changes by exhibiting
positivist,
materialist,
mystical
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
,
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
,
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
,
anti-communist and
corporatist
Corporatism is a Collectivism and individualism, collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by Corporate group (sociology), corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guil ...
attitudes. With his knowledge of
French, he closely followed Western culture and innovations. In his early days, he made translations from names such as
Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destin ...
and
Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...
. He always chose
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, ...
as the venue for his later works and never gave up the synthesis and analysis of the East and the West. He published articles with critical style in newspapers such as
Milliyet. His good relationships with
Nâzım Hikmet
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 ...
and
Necip Fazıl Kısakürek
Ahmet Necip Fazıl Kısakürek (May 26, 1904 – May 25, 1983) was a Turkish poet, novelist, playwright, and Islamist ideologue. He is also known simply by his initials NFK. He was noticed by the French philosopher Henri Bergson, who later ...
turned into pen fights over time. At first, he became closer to the
Republican People's Party, then to the
Democrat Party.
He continued his literary life, which he started at a young age, until his death. He was mainly
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
and
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
.
Ministry of National Education recommended his two books for secondary school students. His works were also adapted to the cinema and series in various periods.
Life
Early life
![Peyami Safa's childhood photo for a magazine](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Peyami_Safa%27s_childhood_photo_for_a_magazine.jpg)
Peyami Safa was born on April 2, 1889 in Gedikpaşa and named after Tevfik Fikret, one of the poets of
Servet-i Fünûn. His father is İsmail Safa, who was referred to as a "mother-born poet" by
Muallim Naci
Muallim Naci ( ota, معلّم ناجى), literally "Naci The Teacher" (b. 1850 – d. 12 April 1893), was an Ottoman writer, poet, educator and literary critic.
He lived during the reform-oriented Tanzimat period of the Ottoman Empire and advo ...
and belonging to a family of
Trabzon
Trabzon (; Ancient Greek: Tραπεζοῦς (''Trapezous''), Ophitic Pontic Greek: Τραπεζούντα (''Trapezounta''); Georgian: ტრაპიზონი (''Trapizoni'')), historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the B ...
origin. Her mother is Server Bedia Hanım. Peyami Safa's father was one of the opponents of
Abdülhamid II
Abdülhamid or Abdul Hamid II ( ota, عبد الحميد ثانی, Abd ül-Hamid-i Sani; tr, II. Abdülhamid; 21 September 1842 10 February 1918) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 31 August 1876 to 27 April 1909, and the last sultan to ...
and died in
Sivas
Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province.
The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is ...
while in exile without leaving anything financial to his family.
Peyami Safa, who lost his father when he was one and a half years old, was brought up by his mother under hard conditions with his brother Ilhami Safa. During his primary education, bone tuberculosis appeared in his right arm. Due to his illness, he could not attend school and found himself among doctors, patients and caregivers at a young age. He influenced the effect of this disease in his work,
Dokuzuncu Hariciye Koğuşu.
He started his high school education in
Vefa High School
Vefa High School ( tr, Vefa Lisesi), is one of the oldest and internationally renowned high school of Turkey. The first ''mülkiye lisesi'' (non-military high school) training in Turkish language was Vefa Lisesi (established in 1872) which forming ...
in
Fatih in 1910. During these years, he was a classmate with
Ekrem Hakkı Ayverdi and
Elif Naci
Elif Naci Kalpakçıoğlu (1898 – 8 May 1987), best known as Elif Naci, was a Turkish painter, curator, journalist and writer.
Early life
Elif Naci was born in Gelibolu, Çanakkale, Ottoman Empire in 1898. He completed his primary education in ...
. Also
Hasan Âli Yücel
Hasan Âli Yücel (17 December 1897 - 26 February 1961) was a Turkish education reformer and philosophy teacher who served as minister of national education of Turkey from December 1938 to August 1946. He is remembered for the foundation of Vil ...
and
Yusuf Ziya Ortaç were among their high school friends. He gave his first literary discussions and products in those years. He wrote his first story essay ''Piano Teaching'' and his first novel essay ''Eski Dost'' in high school. In addition, the first story book titled ''Don't Take This Book'', which he published during these periods, aroused curiosity and sold out within a few days. He could not continue his high school education due to his illness and his family's livelihood problems. He developed the knowledge of
French by memorizing
Petit Larousse
''Le Petit Larousse Illustré'', commonly known simply as ''Le Petit Larousse'' (), is a French-language encyclopedic dictionary published by Éditions Larousse. It first appeared in 1905 and was edited by Claude Augé, following Augé's '' Dict ...
, a gift from his father's close friends,
Abdullah Cevdet
Abdullah Cevdet ( ota, عبدالله جودت; tr, Abdullah Cevdet Karlıdağ; 9 September 1869 – 29 November 1932) was a Kurdish intellectual and physician in the Ottoman Empire. He was one of the founders of the Committee of Union an ...
, and began to be interested in
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...
,
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
and
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
books besides literary works. Due to his interest in the
theater
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
in the future, he took the
Dârülbedayi exams but could not continue despite his success. During the times of
the First World War, he started working in the Post Office to help his mother.
Later, he was appointed as a teacher to the Rehber-i İttihad School in Boğaziçi (1917) and worked for a while in the
Düyûn-ı Umûmiye Administration (1918).
Armistice and the Republican Era
Peyami Safa, who left his teaching position at the Rehber-i İttihad School during the armistice period in
1918, started publishing the newspaper Twentieth Century (Yirminci Yüzyıl) with his brother. In this newspaper, he drew attention with the stories he published under the heading "Stories of the Century". He also made his first pen fight against
Cenap Şahabettin's adaptation play (1919). When he received a degree in the story contest organized by Alemdar newspaper, he was encouraged to write by the leading writers of the period. After ''Yirminci Yüzyıl'' was closed, they lasted his profession in journalism in places such as
Tercüman-ı Hakikat
''Tercüman-ı Hakikat'' ( en, Interpreter of Truth) was a daily newspaper published in Constantinople (today-Istanbul), Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and ...
and
Tasvir-i Efkâr (1922) after the declaration of the Republic. In addition, he published his first novel, ''
Sözde Kızlar'' (So-called Girls), for his livelihood. By
1924, He published his several works including ''Mahşer'', ''Bir Gece'' (One Evening), ''Süngülerin Gölgesinde'' (In the Shadow of the Bayonets) and ''Istanbul Hikayeleri'' (the Stories of Istanbul). In
1925, he published a short-lived newspaper called Büyük Yol with
Halil Lütfü Dördüncü. Also in these years, he wrote in
Cumhuriyet
''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: " Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Pr ...
newspaper with the signature of "Server Bedi" and "Peyami Safa". He went on his relationship with the newspaper as a columnist and literature manager (1928-1940). His article titled "New Literary Circles" published in Hilal-i Ahmer magazine led to a pencil fight with
Ahmet Haşim
Ahmet Haşim (also written as Ahmed Hâşim; 1884? – 4 June 1933) was an influential Turkish poet of the early 20th century.
Biography
Ahmed Hâşim was born in Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Ira ...
(1928).
In the early years, under the influence of
Abdullah Cevdet
Abdullah Cevdet ( ota, عبدالله جودت; tr, Abdullah Cevdet Karlıdağ; 9 September 1869 – 29 November 1932) was a Kurdish intellectual and physician in the Ottoman Empire. He was one of the founders of the Committee of Union an ...
, he wrote articles in
Ijtihad magazine with positivist and materialist thoughts. In particular, he participated in the discussion between Abdullah Cevdet and Celal Nuri Ileri. During the period of Armistice, he generally gave both a westernist and a nationalist appearance. He approached
Turkish Letter Revolution, which took place during the time of
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, anxiously considering that it would cause cultural disconnections between generations, but in the following periods he became one of the complementary of this revolution and participated in language congresses.
Relations with Nazım Hikmet
![Nazim Hikmet (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Nazim_Hikmet_%28cropped%29.jpg)
When
Nâzım Hikmet
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 ...
returned to Turkey benefiting from the amnesty law, Safa published a poem entitled "Volcano", written by Nazım for the forgiveness of him in ''
Cumhuriyet
''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: " Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Pr ...
''. The next day, ''Cumhuriyet'' published a statement that the signature under the poem did not reflect its own views and missions. After this announcement, Safa left the newspaper and started writing in the journal ''
Resimli Ay'', published by
Sabiha Sertel
Sabiha Sertel (1895–1968) was the first professional female journalist and publisher in modern Turkey.
Her articles and columns advocated for reforming the rights of women and workers and criticized state oppression, imperialism, fascism and ...
and
Zekeriya Sertel
Zekeriya Sertel, also known as Mehmet Zekeriya Sertel, (1890–1980) was a Turkish journalist. He is the first director of state press department and founder and editor of various periodicals. From 1950 to 1980 Sertel lived in exile.
Early life ...
. Nâzım Hikmet,
Sabahattin Ali
Sabahattin Ali (25 February 1907 – 2 April 1948) was a Turkish novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist.
Early life
He was born in 1907 in Eğridere township (now Ardino in southern Bulgaria) of the Sanjak of Gümülcine (n ...
,
Vâlâ Nureddin and
Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı
Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı (17 April 1890 – 13 October 1973; born Musa Cevat Şakir; pen-name "The Fisherman of Halicarnassus", tr, Halikarnas Balıkçısı) was a Cretan Turkish writer of novels, short-stories and essays, as well as a ke ...
were among the most well-known contributors of this magazine. [Peyami Safa and Nâzım Hikmet worked together in the journal ''Hareket''in the following periods. The friendship between them continued with Peyami Safa's dedication to ''Dokuzuncu Hariciye Koğuşu'', to Nâzım Hikmet. Nâzım Hikmet, on the other hand, used the following expressions about the novel in ''Resimli Ay'' by referring to Reşat Nuri Güntekin's Çalıkuşu:
Safa published an article entitled ''Varız Diyen Nesil'' (The Generation who says We Exist) in the first issue of the journal ''Hareket''. Although it reflected the views of young literary writers and the new generation, it was criticized by Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu in ''
Milliyet'', the famous pencil fight called ''Saman Ekmeği Kavgası'' (The Fight of Straw Bread) started in the history of Turkish press. Safa was accused of being
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
for participating in the discussions titled ''Putları Yıkıyoruz'' (We Are Destroying the Idols), which started in ''Resimli Ay'', together with Nâzım Hikmet and writing articles in the left-wing newspaper ''
Tan
Tan or TAN may refer to:
Businesses and organisations
* Black and Tans, a nickname for British special constables during the Irish War of Independence. By extension "Tans" can now also colloquially refer to English or British people in general, es ...
''. But he always denied these allegations. The friendship of the two continued after the closing of ''Resimli Ay''. In time, Nâzım Hikmet's desire to bring him to
communism
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 ...
and as a result of his efforts to discourage Nâzım Hikmet from this ideology, this friendship turned into a great hostility. Nâzım Hikmet accused Peyami Safa in his article titled ''Coffee and Casino Intellectuals'' written in ''Tan'' under the pseudonym Orhan Selim. Peyami Safa also responded to Nâzım Hikmet under the series titled ''Biraz Aydınlık'' in the magazine ''Hafta'', which he published with his brother. From this point on, Peyami Safa adopted an anti-communist worldview until the end of his life. In the following process, Peyami Safa's works with the signature of
Server Bedi and
Cingöz Recai typing became the main subject of the discussions between the two.
After ''Resimli Ay''
World War II and afterwards
the Democratic Party period
Death
![Peyami Safa's grave](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Peyami_Safa%27s_grave.jpg)
He died on June 15, 1961 in Istanbul at the age of 62 after couple of months his son Merve died, as he was serving his time in the military. Peyami Safa was laid to rest at the
Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery
The Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery ( tr, Edirnekapı Şehitliği), one of the largest burial grounds of Istanbul, Turkey, is located in the neighborhood of Edirnekapı of Eyüp district, in the European part of the city. It consists of an old ...
. He was the editor-in-chief of the daily ''Son Havadis'' as he died.
Diseases in his family
Literary life
Most of his novels were created before 1940. In these novels, he stressed on the west-east conflict in the Turkish society during the early years of the
Turkish Republic
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
. His novel ''Dokuzuncu Hariciye Koğuşu'' gained much interest. In 1931, he wrote his only historical novel about ''Attila the Hun''. Besides these novels, he wrote many serial stories and novels in newspapers, among them in ''
Cumhuriyet
''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: " Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Pr ...
'' and ''
Milliyet'', under the pseudonym "Server Bedii". Some of these are about a
gentleman thief
A gentleman thief, gentleman burglar, lady thief, or phantom thief is a stock character in fiction. A gentleman or lady thief is characterised by impeccable manners, charm, courteousness, and the avoidance of physical force or intimidation to ...
named Cingöz Recai.
Safa also contributed to ''
Yedigün'' magazine.
Biography Writing
Server Bedi
Novels
*Sözde Kızlar (1922, ''So-called Girls'')
*Şimşek (1923, ''Lightning'')
*Mahşer (1924, ''Armageddon'')
*Bir Akşamdı (1924, ''One Evening'')
*Süngülerin Gölgesinde (1924, ''Shadows of the Bayonets'')
*Bir Genç Kız Kalbinin Cürmü (1925, ''The Crime of the Young Girl's Heart'')
*Canan (1925,)
*Dokuzuncu Hariciye Koğuşu (1930, ''The Ninth External Ward''))
*Fatih-Harbiye (1931)
*Bir Tereddüdün Romanı (1933, ''The novel of the Hesitation'')
*Matmazel Noraliya'nın Koltuğu (1949, ''The Armchair of Mme Noraliya'') *
*Yalnızız (1951, We are Alone))
*Biz İnsanlar (1959, ''We, Humans'')
Diseases in his novels
Women in his novels
Short stories
Understanding of Art and Literature
Art and literary movements
Novel and poetry
World of Thought
Nationalism
Conservatism
Thoughts about language
East-West Synthesis
Thoughts about religion
Thoughts about foreigners and foreign developments
Legacy
Bibliography
He wrote 15 novels, excluding those written under pseudonym. He also wrote 17 non-fictions and 9 textbooks mostly about literature.
* Şimşek (1923) (Lightning)
* Sözde Kızlar (1923) (So-called Girls)
* Mahşer (1924) (Armageddon)
* Bir Akşamdı (1924) (It Was an Evening)
* Süngülerin Gölgesinde (1924) (In Shadow of Bayonets)
* Bir Genç Kız Kalbinin Cürmü (1925) (The Crime of a Young Girl's Heart)
* Canan (1925)
*
Dokuzuncu Hariciye Koğuşu (1930) (Ninth External Ward)
*
Fatih-Harbiye (1931)
* Atilla (1931)
* Bir Tereddüdün Romanı (1933) (The Novel of a Hesitation)
*
Matmazel Noraliya'nın Koltuğu (1949) (The Armchair of Mademoiselle Noraliya)
*
Yalnızız (1951) (We Are Alone)
* Biz İnsanlar (1959) (We People)
Play
* Gün Doğuyor (1932) (The Day Is Coming)
Other Works
* Cumhuriyet Mekteplerine Alfabe (1929) (Alphabet to Republic Schools)
* Cumhuriyet Mekteplerine Kıraat (1929) (Reading to Republican Schools)
* Yeni Talebe Mektupları (1930) (New Student Letters)
* Büyük Mektup Nümuneleri (1932) (Great Letter Examples)
* Türk İnkılâbına Bakışlar (1938) (Perspectives on Turkish Revolution)
* Büyük Avrupa Anketi (1938) (Great Europe Survey)
* Felsefî Buhran (1939) (Philosophical Crisis)
* Türk Grameri (1941) (Turkish Grammar)
* Fransız Grameri (1942) (French Grammar) (It was expanded in 1948 as "Türkçe İzahlı Fransız Grameri" )
* Millet ve İnsan (1943) (Nation and Human) (It was expanded in 1961 as "
Nasyonalizm")
* Mahutlar (1959)
*
Mistisizm (1961)
*
Sosyalizm (1961)
* Doğu-Batı Sentezi (1963) (East-West Synthesis)
* Objektif Serisi (8 Books) (1970–1976) (Objective Series)
* Hikâyeler (1980) (Stories)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Safa, Peyami
1899 births
Writers from Istanbul
Turkish non-fiction writers
Turkish novelists
Turkish columnists
Cumhuriyet people
Milliyet people
1961 deaths
Burials at Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery
Akbaba (periodical) people
20th-century novelists
Turkish autobiographers
20th-century journalists
Vefa High School alumni