Short stories
Otlakçı
Not translated into English
Memduh Şevket Esendal · 1946
Synopsis
Twenty-five stories, first published as the first of two volumes, then reissued in 1958 under the name of one of them. In “Otlakçı”, according to Kitap Diyarı, a man who thinks it pointless, even foolish, to pay for his tobacco draws on the jokes of the smokers around him. “Gençlik” shows, on a summer afternoon in a large konak in Istanbul, a young bride, Hayriye, who watches her sleeping husband and looks for a pillow for him. Other stories deal with family, marriage, illness and social ties, and “Yirmi kuruş” with the injustice done to the weak.
Context
According to İletişim publishers, the book appeared in 1946 under the title Hikâyeler (first volume), at the same time as a second one, and the two were reissued in 1958, after the author's death, under titles taken from their stories; the second is now called Mendil Altında. The Küre encyclopedia says that from 1921 he followed the manner of Chekhov, and that he wrote about two hundred stories; turkedebiyati.org lists sixty-nine gathered in his complete works of 1983-1984.
Who it is for
Twenty-five short stories in Turkish, to be read separately; no French translation has been found.
Prizes and reception
The work of a master of the short narrative, who gave the short story of the Republic a distinctive character according to turkedebiyati.org.
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