Namık Kemal
Namık Kemal , actually Mehmed Kemal (born December 21, 1840 in Tekirdağ , † December 2, 1888 in Chios ), was a Turkish poet and writer who is known for his great influence on the Young Turkish movement and Turkish patriotism and liberalism.
Life
Kemal, who belonged to an aristocratic family and had an Albanian mother, received private tuition as a child, with whom he learned Arabic, Persian and French. His language skills earned him the position of interpreter for the Ottoman government between 1857 and 1858 .
His poems were first written in the classical Ottoman style. Later he was influenced by Şinasi , who was enthusiastic about western ideas and the western way of life. After Şinasi had to flee abroad in 1865, Kemal took over his job as editor of the newspaper Tasvir-i Efkâr . Soon Kemal and the co-authors of the Tasvir-i Efkâr also had to flee to the West because of their political convictions. There he devoted himself to studying and translating the works of authors such as Victor Hugo , Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Charles-Louis Montesquieu into Turkish. At times he also published the newspaper Hürriyet . After he and his friends were allowed to return from exile, he published the newspaper İbret and wrote articles for the satirical magazine Diyojen ("Diogenes") founded by Teodor Kasap in 1870 .
It was around this time that he wrote his famous play, which was about the siege of Silistra and was named after it. Another name for the piece is "Vaterland". Since the play was shaped by the ideas of patriotism and liberality, it was banned in 1873, just like all satirical magazines. Like many other writers and journalists, Kemal was then arrested and imprisoned in Famagusta , Cyprus. In 1876 he was released and rehabilitated. In 1888 he was appointed governor of Chios.
According to the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Turkey , Kemal was a Freemason .
Works in German translation
- Fatherland or Silistria! A play in four acts . Manzara Verlag, Darmstadt 2010, ISBN 978-3-939795-04-9 .
literature
- Ömer Faruk Akün : Nâmık Kemal. In: Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi , Vol. 32 (2006), pp. 361–378 ( online , PDF, 435 kB) (Turkish).
- Wolfgang Günter Lerch : The exile from Famagusta - the life of the Turkish poet Namik Kemal. A biographical novel . Edition Noack & Block, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-86813-030-0 .
- Nermin Menemencioğlu: Namık Kemal Abroad: A Centenary . In: Middle Eastern Studies , Vol. 4, No. 1 (October 1967), pp. 29-49.
- Ischtiraki (Friedrich Schrader): The spiritual life in Turkey and the current regime , In: The new time. Review of intellectual and public life . Vol. 18 (1899–1900), 2nd vol. (1900), issue 45, pp. 548–555 Online article at FES Bonn , there pp. 550 ff.
Web links
- Literature by and about Namık Kemal in the catalog of the German National Library
- edebyahu.com: Information on Namık Kemal (Turkish)
- tekirdagefsanesi.com: Information on Namik Kemal (Turkish)
Sources and Notes
- ↑ a b Encyclopedia Britanica: Biographical information on Namik Kemal (English)
- ↑ Grand Lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons of Turkey: Famous Turkish Freemasons ( Memento of July 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (Turkish)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kemal, Namık |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kemal, Mehmed |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Turkish author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 21, 1840 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tekirdağ |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 2, 1888 |
| Place of death | Chios |