Nazim Hikmet: The Life And Times Of Turkey's World Poet (Karen and Michl Braziller) Hardcover – Import, 7 May 2013

This is a fantastic book. Hikmet was not only a Nobel Prize winner and the finest Turkish poet of the twentieth century, but he was a remarkable person - a committed Communist and an ardent Turk, champion of the poor, imprisoned for many years on trumped-up charges and eventually released into exile in the USSR. The author has a deep knowledge of Hikmet's writings, and explains not only that Hikmet was squarely behind the change (instituted by Ataturk) from Arabic script to Roman, but used his poetry to demonstrate how modern poetic ideas could be transmitted in modern, post-Ottoman Turkish. Blasing demonstrates the complexity of Hikmet the man, places him in his political context, paints a deft picture of the society in which he lived and the future Turkey he envisaged, and creates a complete portrait of the whole man. Essential reading for anyone interested in C20th literature, or modern Turkey, or in the lives of truly great writers.

Like new! Great book