Safiye Erol (2 January 1902 – 7 October 1964) was a Turkish novelist. She is one of the writers of the Republican Era.
Early life
Safiye Erol was born to Sami and Emine İkbal in
Uzunköprü
Uzunköprü is a town in Edirne Province in Turkey. It is named after a historical stone bridge, claimed to be the world's longest, on the Ergene River. It is a strategically important border town, located on the routes connecting Turkey to the B ...
town of
Edirne, then
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, on 2 January 1902.
Her father was a clerk in the Municipality of Uzunköprü, and her mother was a member of the
Bektashi Order
The Bektashi Order; sq, Tarikati Bektashi; tr, Bektaşi or Bektashism is an Islamic Sufi mystic movement originating in the 13th-century. It is named after the Anatolian saint Haji Bektash Wali (d. 1271). The community is currently led by ...
lodge in
Keşan. The family moved to
Üsküdar
Üsküdar () is a large and densely populated district of Istanbul, Turkey, on the Anatolian shore of the Bosphorus. It is bordered to the north by Beykoz, to the east by Ümraniye, to the southeast by Ataşehir and to the south by Kadıköy; w ...
,
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, ...
in 1906.
She was schooled in Üsküdar for primary education. Later, she attending the French Missionary School a while. Then, she entered the
Deutsche Schule Istanbul
Deutsche Schule Istanbul ( en, German School of Istanbul, shortened as DSI), with formal Turkish name Özel Alman Lisesi ( en, Private German High School) or İstanbul Alman Lisesi ( en, German High School of Istanbul) or simply Alman Lisesi ( en, ...
for secondary education.
In 1917, she went to
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
through a scholarship granted by the "German-Turkish Friendship Association". She completed her secondary education at the Private Falkanplatz High School in
Lübeck in 1919. Due to some events in Germany, she returned home. In 1921, she went to Germany again, and enrolled in the
University of Marburg, but moved to the
University of Munich in 1923 to continue her education in philosophy and literature.
In 1926, she earning a
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
degree with the thesis ''Die Pflanzennamen in der altarabischen Poesie'' , about the plant names in the Arabian language poetry. She returned to
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, ...
the next year.
Writing career
She told in her memoires that "one of her professors in Germany said that she would be the
Selma Lagerlöf of the Turks in the future" as she likes writing very much.
In the beginning of her writing career, she used the
pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
s "Sami" for articles and translations, as well as "Dilara" for short stories.
She wrote short stories and made translations for the magazines such as ''Milli Mecmua'' ("National Magazine") and ''Her Ay'' ("Every Month").
Her first novel ''Kadıköyü'nün Romanı'' was serialized in the newspaper
''Vakit'' in 1935,
which was published as a book in 1938. Her next novel ''Ülker Fırtınası'' was published in 1944 after it appeared in as a serial in the daily ''
Cumhuriyet'' in 1938.
Her favorite novel was the 1946-published ''Ciğerdelen'', Turkish for
Štúrovo
Štúrovo (before 1948: ''Parkan''; hu, Párkány, german: Gockern, tr, Ciğerdelen) is a town in Slovakia, situated on the River Danube. Its population in 2018 was 10,279.
The town is situated opposite the Hungarian city of Esztergom. The Már ...
on the
River Danube.
She translated the 1914-novel
''Kejsarn av Portugallien'' of Swedish Selma Lagerlöf (1858–1940) as ''Portugaliye İmparatoriçesi'' (1941) and German
Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué
Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte, Baron Fouqué (); (12 February 1777 – 23 January 1843) was a German writer of the Romantic style.
Biography
He was born at Brandenburg an der Havel, of a family of French Huguenot origin, as evidenced in ...
's (1777–1843) 1811-novel ''
Undine
Undines (; also ondines) are a category of elemental beings associated with water, stemming from the alchemical writings of Paracelsus. Later writers developed the undine into a water nymph in its own right, and it continues to live in modern li ...
'' as ''Su Kızı'' (1945). In 1951, her three-part philosophical review of the
Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
thinker Kenan Rıfai was published in ''Kenan Rıfai ve Yirminci Asrın Işığında Müslümanlık '' ("Kenan Riffai and Islam in the Light of the Twentieth Century"). Her last novel ''Dinyeri Papazı'' was serialized in the daily ''
Tercüman
''Tercüman: Halka ve Olaylara'' was a Turkish daily newspaper. It was founded in 1955 by Kemal Ilıcak (1932–1993), and associated with the center-right. The newspaper closed after Ilıcak's death, and the name was acquired by the Çukur ...
'' in 1955.
During the Islamic fasting month of
Ramadan
, type = islam
, longtype = Religious
, image = Ramadan montage.jpg
, caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...
in 1962, she wrote the serial ''Çölde Biten Rahmet Ağacı'' in the newspaper
''Yeni Istanbul'', which narrated the phases of the life of Prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
in the desert.
Many articles of her published in various newspapers and magazines were collected in a book titled ''Makaleler '' in 2002. Her short stories were published post-mortem in the book ''Leylak Mevsimi'' in 2010.
Private life
She married in 1931. She served as city councilor in 1943. In her later years from 1961 on, she was active in cultural events as a member of the "Development and Culture Association of Üsküdar".
Safiye Erol died at the age of 62 in Istanbul on 7 October 1964,
and was buried at the
Karacaahmet Cemetery
The Karacaahmet Cemetery ( tr, Karacaahmet Mezarlığı) is a 700-year-old historic cemetery, located in Üsküdar, the Asian side of Istanbul. Karacaahmet cemetery is the oldest and largest in Istanbul at , and the largest burial ground in Turkey ...
.
Works
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References
External links
Safiye Erol website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erol, Safiye
1902 births
People from Uzunkol District
Deutsche Schule Istanbul alumni
University of Marburg alumni
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni
20th-century Turkish women writers
20th-century Turkish writers
Turkish women novelists
1964 deaths
Burials at Karacaahmet Cemetery