Who is Halide Edib Adıvar?

Halide Edib Adıvar (born 1882 or 1884 – died 9 January 1964), Turkish writer, politician, academician, teacher. Also known as Halide Onbaşı.

Halide Edib is a master orator who has made a name for herself with the speeches she made in 1919 to mobilize the people of Istanbul against the invasion of the country. Although he was a civilian who served alongside Mustafa Kemal at the front in the War of Independence, he was considered a war hero by taking the rank. During the war years, he also worked as a journalist by taking part in the establishment of Anadolu Agency.

II. Halide Edib, who started writing with the proclamation of the Constitutional Monarchy; With his twenty-one novels, four story books, two theater plays and various studies he wrote, he is one of the writers who wrote the most in Turkish literature in the Constitutional and Republican periods. His novel Sinekli Bakkal is his best known work. In her works, she specifically included the education of women and their position in society, and she advocated for women's rights with her writings. Many of his books have been adapted into movies and television series.

Since 1926, he has become the most well-known Turkish writer of his time in foreign countries, thanks to the lectures he gave during the 14 years he lived abroad and the works he wrote in English.

Halide Edib, a professor of literature at Istanbul University, is an academic who served as the Head of the English Philology Department; He is a politician who was a member of parliament in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, which he entered in 1950. She is the wife of Adnan Adıvar, who was the Minister of Health in the I. GNAT government.

Childhood and student years

He was born in 1882 in Beşiktaş, Istanbul. His father, II. Mehmet Edib Bey, who was the clerk of the Ceyb-i Hümayun (Sultan's Treasury) during the reign of Abdülhamit, and the Director of Ioannina and Bursa, is his mother, Fatma Berifem. He lost his mother from tuberculosis at a young age. He completed his primary education by taking private lessons at home. A year later, the Sultan II. She was removed by the will of Abdülhamit and started to take private lessons at home. The book he translated while learning English was published in 1897. This was "Mother" by American children's writer Jacob Abbott. In 1899, because of this translation, II. She was awarded the Order of Compassion by Abdülhamit. Halide Edib, who later went back to the high school of the college and started to learn English and French, became the first Muslim woman to receive a bachelor's degree from the Üsküdar American College for Girls.

First marriage and children

Halide Edib married Salih Zeki Bey, a mathematics teacher while she was in her last year of college, the year she graduated from school. Since his wife was the director of the observatory, their house was always in the observatory and this life was boring for him. In the first years of her marriage, she helped her husband to write his work, Kamus-ı Riyaziyat, and translated the life stories of famous English mathematicians into Turkish. She also translated several Sherlock Holmes stories. He became very interested in the works of the French writer Emile Zola. Later, his interest turned to Shakespeare and he translated Hamlet. In 1903, his first son, Ayatollah, was born, and sixteen months later, his second son, Hasan Hikmetullah Togo, was born. He gave his son the name of Admiral Togo Heihachiro, Commander of the Japanese Naval Forces, with the joy of the Japanese defeat of Russia, which was considered a part of Western civilization, in the Japanese-Russian War in 1905.

Entry into the writing area

II. The year 1908, when the Constitutional Monarchy was declared, was a turning point in Halide Edib's life. In 1908, she began to write articles about women's rights in newspapers. His first article was published in Tevfik Fikret's Tanin. Initially, she used the signature Halide Salih in her writings -because of her husband's name. His writings drew the reaction of conservative circles in the Ottoman Empire. He went to Egypt for a short time with his two sons, worried about being killed during the March 31 Uprising. From there she went to England and was a guest at the house of British journalist Isabelle Fry, who knew her for her articles on women's rights. His visit to England enabled him to witness the ongoing debates on gender equality at that time, and to meet intellectuals such as Bertrand Russell.

He returned to Istanbul in 1909 and began to publish literary articles as well as political articles. His novels Heyyula and Raik's Mother were published. In the meantime, she worked as a teacher in girls' teacher schools and as an inspector in foundation schools. His famous novel Sinekli Bakkal, which he would write in the future, was born thanks to his knowing the old and back neighborhoods of Istanbul due to these duties.

After his wife, Salih Zeki Bey, wanted to marry a second woman, he divorced her in 1910 and started using the name Halide Edib instead of Halide Salih in his writings. In the same year, he published the novel Seviyye Talip. This novel tells the story of a woman leaving her husband and living with the man she loves and is considered a feminist work. It was subjected to many criticisms at the time of its publication. Halide Edib went to England for the second time in 1911 and was there for a short time. When he returned home, the Balkan War had begun.

Balkan War years

During the years of the Balkan War, women began to take a more active role in social life. Halide Edib was among the founders of Teali-i Nisvan Society (Association to Raise Women) in these years and worked in charity works. Inspired by the life of her friend, painter Müfide Kadri, who died at a young age during this period, she wrote the romance novel Son Eseri. Since he was in the teaching profession, he directed to write a book about education and wrote the book called Education and Literature, using the work of American philosopher and educator Herman Harrell Horne, "The Psychological Principle of Education". In the same period, she met writers such as Ziya Gökalp, Yusuf Akçura, Ahmet Ağaoğlu, Hamdullah Suphi in the Turkish Hearth. Halide Edib, who adopted the idea of ​​Turanism as a result of her friendship with these people, wrote her work called Yeni Turan under the influence of this thought. His novels Ruined Temples and Handan were published in 1911.

World War I years

The Balkan Wars had ended in 1913. Halide Edib, who resigned from teaching, was appointed as the General Inspector of Girls' Schools. He was in this post when World War I began. In 1916, upon the invitation of Cemal Pasha, he went to Lebanon and Syria to open a school. He opened two girls' schools and an orphanage in the Arab states. While he was there, he got married to Adnan Adıvar, their family doctor, in Bursa, with the power of attorney he gave to his father. While in Lebanon, he published the libretto of the three-act opera called The Shepherds of Canaan, and his work was composed by Vedi Sebra she. This work, which is about the Prophet Yusuf and his brothers, was staged 3 times by orphanage students despite the war conditions in those years. She returned to Istanbul on March 13, 4, after the Turkish armies evacuated Lebanon and Syria. The author described the part of his life up to this point in his book Mor Salkımlı Ev.

The years of the National Struggle and the US mandate thesis

After Halide Edib returned to Istanbul, she started teaching Western literature at Darülfünun. He worked at the Turkish Hearths. He was inspired by the Narodniks (Towards the People) movement in Russia and became the head of the Villagers' Association, which was founded by a small group within the Turkish Hearths to bring civilization to Anatolia. After the occupation of İzmir, the “national struggle” became his most important work. He took part in the smuggling of weapons to Anatolia by joining a secret organization called Karakol. He became the permanent writer of Vakit Newspaper and the editor-in-chief of the Büyük Magazine published by M. Zekeriya and his wife Sabiha Hanım.

Some of the intellectuals who support the National Struggle were thinking of cooperating with the USA against the invaders. Halide Edib was among the founders of the Wilson Principles Society on January 14, 1919, with intellectuals such as Refik Halit, Ahmet Emin, Yunus Nadi, Ali Kemal and Celal Nuri. The association closed down two months later. Halide Hanım explained her American mandate thesis in a letter dated 10 August 1919 she wrote to Mustafa Kemal, the leader of the National Struggle, who was preparing for the Sivas Congress. However, this thesis would be discussed at length in the congress and rejected. Years later, in his book, Mustafa Kemal Nutuk, under the title of "Propoganda for the American Mandate", he included the letter of Halide Edib and criticized the mandate, as well as the telegraph talks with Arif Bey, Selahattin Bey, Ali Fuat Pasha.

Years later, when Halide Edib returned to Turkey, she said in an interview that "Mustafa Kemal Pasha was right!" he said.

Istanbul rallies and death sentence

After the Greek occupation of Izmir on May 15, 1919, protest rallies were held in Istanbul one after the other. Halide Edib, a good orator, was the first speaker to take the stage at the Fatih Meeting, which was the first open-air meeting held by the Asri Women's Union on May 19, 1919 and where women orators were speakers. Üsküdar rally on 20 May, 22 May Kadıköy attended the rally. This was followed by the Sultanahmet rally, in which Halide Edib became the protagonist. "Nations are our friends, governments are our enemies." sentence became a maxim.

The British occupied Istanbul on March 16, 1920. Halide Edib and her husband, Dr. Adnan was also present. In the decision approved by the sultan on May 24, the first 6 people sentenced to death were Mustafa Kemal, Kara Vasif, Ali Fuat Pasha, Ahmet Rüstem, Dr. Adnan and Halide Edib.

struggle in Anatolia

Before the death sentence was issued, Halide Edib had left Istanbul with her husband and joined the National Struggle in Ankara. Halide Hanım, who left her children at the boarding school in Istanbul and set out on horseback with Adnan Bey on March 19, 1920, took the train with Yunus Nadi Bey, whom they met after reaching Geyve, and went to Ankara on April 2, 1920. She arrived in Ankara on April XNUMX, XNUMX.

Halide Edib worked at the headquarters in Kalaba (Keçiören) in Ankara. While he was on his way to Ankara, he started working for the agency when he received approval from Mustafa Kemal Pasha to establish a news agency called Anadolu Agency, as agreed with Yunus Nadi Bey, at Akhisar Station. He was working as a reporter, writer, manager, legislator of the agency. Compiling news and transmitting information about the National Struggle by telegram to places with telegrams, ensuring that they are pasted as posters in the courtyard of mosques in places where there is not, communicating with Western journalists by following the European press, ensuring that Mustafa Kemal meets with foreign journalists, translating in these meetings, Mr. Yunus Nadi. Helping the newspaper Hâkimiyet-i Milliye, published by the Turkish Press, and taking care of Mustafa Kemal's other editorial works were Halide Edib's work.

In 1921, he became the head of the Ankara Red Crescent. In June of the same year, she worked as a nurse in Eskişehir Kızılay. In August, he telegraphed his request to join the army to Mustafa Kemal and was assigned to the front headquarters. He became a corporal during the Sakarya War. He was assigned to the Investigation of Atrocities Commission, which is responsible for examining and reporting the harm done to the people by the Greeks. The subject of his novel Vurun Kahpeye was formed in this period. Turk's memoir book titled Ateşle İmtihanı (1922), Ateşten Shirt (1922), Heart Pain (1924), Zeyno'nun Son owes his ability to realistically express different aspects of the War of Independence to his experiences in the war.

Halide Edib, who served at the front headquarters throughout the war, went to İzmir with the army after the Dumlupınar Pitched Battle. During the march to Izmir, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant major. He was awarded the Medal of Independence for his usefulness in the war.

After the War of Independence

After the War of Independence ended with the victory of the Turkish army, he returned to Ankara. When his wife was appointed as the Istanbul representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they went to Istanbul together. He described the part of his memories up to this point in the work Türk'ün Ateşle İmtihanı.

Halide Edib wrote for the newspapers Akşam, Vakit and İkdam after the proclamation of the republic. Meanwhile, he had political disagreements with the Republican People's Party and Mustafa Kemal Pasha. As a result of his wife Adnan Adıvar's participation in the establishment of the Progressive Republican Party, they moved away from the ruling circle. When the one-party period started with the Progressive Republican Party's abolition and the approval of the Law of Reconciliation, she had to leave Turkey with her husband Adnan Adıvar and went to England. He lived abroad for 1939 years until 14. 4 years of this period were spent in England and 10 years in France.

While living abroad, Halide Edib continued to write books and gave conferences in many places in order to introduce Turkish culture to the world public opinion. Cambridge, Oxford in England; He was a speaker at Sorbonne universities in France. He was invited to the United States twice and once to India. On her first trip to the United States in 1928, she attracted great attention as the first woman to chair a roundtable conference at the Williamstown Institute of Politics. She was able to see her sons, who are now living in the USA, for the first time during this trip, 9 years after she left them to join the National Struggle in Anatolia. In 1932, upon the call from Columbia University College Of Barnard, he went to the USA for the second time and toured the country with serial conferences as in his first visit. She gave lectures at the universities of Yale, Illinois, Michigan. As a result of these conferences, his work Turkey Looks to the West emerged. He taught at the universities of Delhi, Calcutta, Benares, Hyderabad, Aligarh, Lahore and Peshawar when he was invited to India in 1935 to join the campaign to establish the Islamic university Jamia Milia. She collected her lectures in a book, she also wrote a book containing her impressions of India.

In 1936, the English original of Sinekli Bakkal, his most famous work, “The Daughter of the Clown” was published. The novel was serialized in Turkish in Haber newspaper the same year. This work received the CHP Award in 1943 and became the most printed novel in Turkey.

He returned to Istanbul in 1939 and was assigned to found the chair of English Philology at Istanbul University in 1940, and he chaired the chair for 10 years. His opening lecture on Shakespeare had a great impact.

In 1950, he entered the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as an İzmir deputy from the Democrat Party list and served as an independent deputy. On January 5, 1954, he published an article titled Political Vedaname in Cumhuriyet Newspaper and left this position and took office at the university again. In 1955, he was shaken by the loss of his wife, Adnan Bey.

Death

Halide Edib Adıvar died on January 9, 1964 in Istanbul, at the age of 80, due to kidney failure. He was buried in Merkezefendi Cemetery, next to his wife Adnan Adıvar.

Art

Adopting the narrative genre in almost every work of hers, Halide Edib Adıvar is best known for her novels Ateşten Shirt (1922), Vurun Kahpeye (1923-1924) and Sinekli Bakkal (1936) and is considered one of the pioneers of the realistic novel tradition in the literature of the Republic period. His works are generally examined in three groups in terms of content: Works that deal with women's issues and seek the place of educated women in society, works that describe the National Struggle period and personalities, and novels that deal with the wider society they are in.

In his works in line with the traditions of the English novel, he exhibited the evolution of Turkish society, the conflicts in this evolution process, based on his own experiences and observations. The river can be described as a novel because the events and people are mostly the continuation of each other. Halide Edib, who tries to create ideal female types in her novels, in which she deals with the psychology of women in depth, wrote her novels in a plain language and style.

works

Roman
Ghost (1909)
Raik's Mother (1909)
Level Talip (1910)
Handan (1912)
His Last Work (1913)
New Turan (1913)
Mev'ud Hüküm (1918)
Shirt of Fire (1923)
Hit the Whore (1923)
Heartache (1924)
Zeyno's Son (1928)
Fly Grocery (1936)
The Yolpalas Murder (1937)
Midge (1939)
The Endless Fair (1946)
Rotating Mirror (1954)
Akile Hanım Street (1958)
Kerim Usta's Son (1958)
Love Street Comedy (1959)
Desperate (1961)
Pieces of Life (1963)

Story
Ruined Temples (1911)
The Wolf on the Mountain (1922)
From Izmir to Bursa (1963)
Pleasant Seda Remaining in the Dome (1974)

Moment
The Test of the Turk by Fire (1962)
Violet House (1963)

Game
The Shepherds of Canaan (1916)
The Mask and the Spirit (1945)