Oğuz Tansel

Oğuz Tansel (b. February 15, 1915, Meyre, Konya - d. October 30, 1994, Ankara) was a Turkish poet and folklorist.

Early life and career

Tansel graduated from Davutpaşa junior high school and Pertevniyal high school in İstanbul. He took up teaching as a profession as early as 1938 while studying at the Department of the Turkish Language and Literature of the Faculty of Literature at the University of İstanbul and gave it up in 1969 when he retired for health reasons. He taught and held administrative positions in the junior high schools and high schools in Mardin, Akhisar, Eskişehir (Çifteler Village Institute), Amasya and Konya. He was a member of the Turkish Writers’ Union and honorary member of the Literary Society.

Writing career

His early poems employing rhyme and rhythm were published in the periodicals Servetifünun and Varlık and his first article appeared in Halk Bilgisi Haberleri (1937). After 1940 he was seen to turn to free verse and was noted among Turkish poets of the 1940s generation. He gained recognition with the poems and articles published in numerous literary periodicals such as Varlık, Aydınlık, Yelken, Yeditepe, Kaynak, Dost, Güney, Türk Sanatı, Kıyı, Türk Dili. In his poems where he treated themes of humanism, love, struggle for peace and freedom, equality and socialism he arrived at a plain style of poetry.

Alongside poetry, Tansel was the scholar of Turkish folk tales which he had recorded during 1942-1948 in the province of Amasya. He made the highest contribution of over forty types of Turkish folk tales, to the Typen Türkischer Volksmarchen catalog prepared by professors Pertev Naili Boratav and Wolfram Eberhard. With the mastery and meticulousness derived from his poetic skill, he formed his own unique, fluent narrative style in writing down those tales for children. He was the first author to receive the Children’s Literature Award in 1977 given by the Turkish Linguistics Society for his two volume collection of folk tale books titled “Al’lı ile Fırfırı”.

His poems were composed to music by the American composer Prof. Bruce Reiprich. And recorded live on a CD titled Salkım Söğüt, or The Weeping Willow. On the first anniversary of his death in 1995, his friends had a book The Mythical Bird with Three Wings: Oğuz Tansel (Üç Kanatlı Masal Kuşu: Oğuz Tansel) published for him.

Death and after

Following his death, his family donated Tansel’s library to the Department of Turkish Language of the Middle East Technical University in Ankara to give rise to the Oğuz Tansel- Kalbiye Tansel Library.

His family together with Ankara Aydınlığı Girişimi instituted a poetry award to commemorate him. His family together with Ankara Aydınlığı Girişimi, Folklor/ Edebiyat Dergisi and Troya Folklor Dernegi also instituted a folkore award to commemorate his achievements in folklore. These awards are given one year to a work of poetry and the following year to a work of folklore.

Works

Poetry

• Savrulmayı Bekleyen Harman (1953)
• Gözünü Sevdiğim (1962, published by Dost Yayınları)
• Sarıkız Yolu (Complete Poems, 1986, published by Yaz Yayınları)
• Bektaşi Dedikleri (Bektashi Gems) (with Metin Eloğlu. Drawings by Abidin Dino. Published by: İş Bankası Kültür yayınları 1970; *Sander Yayınları 1977; Miyatro Yayınları 1983; Adam Yayınları 2004; Evrensel Basım Yayın 2007)
• Dağı Öpmeler (ed. Aysıt Tansel, published by Yapı Kredi Yayınları 1999 and 2006)
• Mutluluk Peşinde (In Pursuit of Happiness) (Selected poems published by Evrensel Basım Yayın, 2005)

Folk Tales

• Altı Kardeşler (Six Siblings) (published by Dost Yayınları in 1959; Ministry of Education in 2003)
• Yedi Devler (Seven Giants) (1962; Ministry of Education 2003)
• Üç Kızlar (Three Girls) (Dernek Yayınları, 1963; Ministry of Education 2003)
• Mavi Gelin (Blue Bride) (Yaz Yayınları 1966; Ministry of Education 2003)
• Al’lı ile Fırfırı (2 volumes; 1976; was given the Children’s Literature Award by the Turkish Linguistics Society in 1977; published again by Elips Kitap in 2009)
• Bir de Varmış İki de Varmış (A collection of Tales by Oğuz Tansel, A. Özyalçıner and others, published by Boyut Yayın in 1979 and 2006)
• Çobanla Bey Kızı (The Shepherd and the Chief’s Daughter) (1985)
• Konuşan Balıkla Yalnız Kız (Talking Fish and the Lonely Girl) (1985)

Awards

Oğuz Tansel was the first to receive the Children’s Literature Award given by the Turkish Linguistics Society in 1977.

Persondata
Name	Tansel, Oguz
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 15, 1915
Place of birth
Date of death	October 30, 1994
Place of death