2021-01-15 Fri

Nazim Hikmet Ran was a Turkish poet, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director and memoirist. He was one of the most important and influential figures in 20th-century Turkish literature.

The son of an Ottoman government official, Nazim Hikmet grew up in Anatolia; after briefly attending the Turkish naval academy, he studied economics and political science at the University of Moscow.

He was acclaimed for the "lyrical flow of his statements". Described as a "romantic communist" and "romantic revolutionary", he was repeatedly arrested for his political beliefs and spent much of his adult life in prison or in exile. His poetry has been translated into more than fifty languages.

His mastery of language and introduction of free verse and a wide range of poetic themes strongly influenced Turkish literature in the late 1930s. Many of his works have been translated into English, including Selected Poems (1967), The Moscow Symphony (1970), The Day Before Tomorrow (1972), and Things I Didn’t Know I Loved (1975). Nazim Hikmet is also known for his plays, which are written in vigorous prose and are also mainly Marxist inspired.

To celebrate his 114th birthday special commemorative stamp was issued in the denomination of 1.40 Turkish Lira. It depicts his portrait on the foreground.

Image Source: colnect.com