Encyclopedia of Islam

Turkish language and literature

  

675  J

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The earliest written Turkish is found in the form 

of inscriptions on stone monuments in Mongolia 

dating from the eighth century 

c

.

e

. Artistic produc-

tion in the language, however, was predominantly 

in oral form, including epics such as that of Dede 

Korkut, which were later written down. A com-

parative dictionary of Turkic dialects was prepared 

in the 11th century by Kashgarli Mahmud. Written 

literature began to proliferate in the Islamic era, 

and many early works were of a religious nature, 

such as the mystical poetry of y

UnUs

 e

mre

, Ashik 

Pasha, and Kaygusuz Abdal, along with religious 

and mystical prose works. During the Ottoman 

period (14th–18th centuries), poets such as Pir 

Sultan Abdal, Karacaoglan, and Erzurumlu Emrah 

continued to compose works in vernacular Turk-

ish, while in Ottoman court circles a sophisticated 

literature developed, heavily influenced by classical 

Persian poetry, and represented by such poets as 

Baki, Fuzuli, Nedim, Nefi and Shaykh Galib. Dur-

ing the t

anzimat

 reform period of the 19th century, 

European literature began to exert an influence 

on the form and subject matter of Ottoman lit-

erature, and it was in this period that the Turkish 

novel began to develop as a genre. Inspired by the 

French Revolution, Ottoman writers developed 

an Ottoman patriotism, best exemplified by the 

works of Namik Kemal (1840–88). After the 1908 

revolution, this sentiment developed into a Turk-

ish nationalist movement, which was reflected in 

the literature of the period, especially in the short 

stories of Omer Seyfettin (1884–1920).

Literature after the foundation of the Republic 

of Turkey in 1923 dealt with themes relevant to 

the period: progress, the promotion of Turkish 

culture, the recent war of independence, and 

the gap between Ottoman intellectuals and rural 

Turks. Notable writers from this period included 

the novelists Halide Edip Adivar (1884–1964) and 

Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoglu (1889–1974). The 

poet Nazim Hikmet (1902–63) broke from metri-

cal conventions while dealing with social themes, 

and he is credited with modernizing Turkish 

poetry. Writing about everyday life in a simple 

style, Orhan Veli Kanik (1914–50) is one of the 

many popular poets of modern Turkish literature. 

Many Turkish novelists have had their works 

translated into English, most notably Aziz Nesin 

(1915–95), Yashar Kemal (1922–  ). In 2006 the 

novelist Orhan Pamuk (b. 1952) was awarded the 

Nobel Prize in literature.

See also a

rabic

 l

angUage

 

and

 

literatUre

; o

tto

-

man

 

dynasty

; p

ersian

 

langUage

 

and

 

literatUre

.

Mark Soileau