Haldun Taner

Taner, Haldun 

Born Mar. 16, 1916, in Istanbul. Turkish writer.

Taner graduated from the faculty of political science at the University of Heidelberg in 1938. In 1950 he graduated from the faculty of literature at the University of Istanbul and subsequently taught there. He made his literary debut in the 1940’s as a writer of short stories about the democratic intelligentsia. Taner wrote his first play in 1956. His most popular plays include The Tale of Ali from Keşan (1964), Şaban, the Savior of the Homeland (1967), and The Idiot’s Shrewd Wife (1971; prize of the Turkish Linguistic Society, 1971).

Taner focuses on important problems of modern Turkish life and seeks to democratize the Turkish theater by drawing on the traditions of folk art and on the dramaturgy of Brecht. Taner was president of the Writers’ Union of Turkey from 1964 to 1966.

WORKS

Hikâyeler, vols. 1–2. Ankara, 1970–71.
Bu şehr-i Stanbul ki. Istanbul, 1972.
Ask u sevda. Istanbul, 1973.
In Russian translation:
Bez odnoi minuty dvenadtsat’. Moscow, 1965.
Rasskazy. Moscow, 1971.

REFERENCES

Al’kaeva, L., and A. Babaev. Turetskaia literatura: Kratkii ocherk. Moscow, 1967.
Alangu, T. Cumhuriyetten sonra hikâye ve román, vol. 3. Istanbul, 1965.
Kurdakul, Ş. Şairier veyazarlar sözlüğü, 2nd ed. Ankara, 1973.