Tomris Uyar (15 March 1941 – 4 July 2003) was a Turkish writer and translator. She was born in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, the daughter of two lawyers and granddaughter of

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...

politician Süleyman Sırrı Gedik. She was educated at the British Girls' Secondary School and at

Arnavutköy Arnavutköy ( ' Albanian village'; ) is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Beşiktaş, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population is 3,574 (2022). It is renowned for its wooden Ottoman mansions and seafood restaurants, as well a ...

American Girls' College, now called

Robert College The American Robert College of Istanbul ( or ), often abbreviated as Robert or RC, is a Selective school, highly selective, Independent school, independent, mixed-sex education, co-educational, Education in Turkey#Private schools, private Second ...

(1961). She graduated from the Journalism Institute affiliated to the Faculty of Economics of Istanbul University (1963). The grave of the author, who died in 2003 due to

esophageal cancer Esophageal cancer (American English) or oesophageal cancer (British English) is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include dysphagia, difficulty in swallowing and weigh ...

, is in Zincirlikuyu Mezarlığı.

Life and career

Uyar, who is one of the founders of ''

Papirüs ''Papirüs'' () was a literary magazine which was published in Istanbul between 1960 and 1981 with some interruptions. The magazine is known for its founder and editor Cemal Süreya who was a poet and its well-known contributors. History and pro ...

'' magazine together with

Cemal Süreya Cemâl Süreya (born Cemâlettin Seber; 1931 – 9 January 1990) was a Turkish poet and writer of Kurdish– Zaza descent. Biography Süreya and his family were deported to Bilecik, a city in the Marmara Region of Turkey after the Dersim R ...

and

Ülkü Tamer Ülkü Tamer, (20 February 1937–1 April 2018) was a Turkish poet, journalist, actor and translator. Biography Born in Gaziantep, the artist is the eldest of three sons (Ülkü, Aykut, Tankut) of Hasan Tahsin Bey, one of the first weavers of ...

, has published her essays, criticisms and book introductions in magazines such as '' Yeni Dergi'', and '' Varlık''. She won the Sait Faik Story Award in 1979 with Yürekte Bukağı and in 1986 with Journey to Summer from her ten short story collections. Uyar's diaries, of which more than 60 translations have been published, have been published under the general title of "Gündökümü". Completing her undergraduate study at İstanbul University at the Department of Journal, she continued her writing career with translation, stories and articles in various journals. In her own writings, Tomris Uyar used the techniques of “interior monologue-dialogue” and “stream of consciousness”, and made experimental innovations. By using stream of consciousness, she not only reflected the inner worlds of their characters but also worked on thefluency by omitting certain punctuation marks to catch her readers’ attention. Uyar was a prolific writer of short stories, of which eleven volumes were published. She translated into Turkish works by authors including

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, vicomte de Saint-Exupéry (29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), known simply as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ), was a French writer, poet, journalist and aviator. Born in Lyon to an French nobility, aristocratic ...

and

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...

. In 1975 she and her husband Turgut Uyar won a Turkish Language Society (''Türk Dil Kurumu'') prize for their translation of

Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus ( ; ; – October 15, 55 BC) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem '' De rerum natura'', a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, which usually is t ...

' natural encyclopedia ''

De rerum natura (; ''On the Nature of Things'') is a first-century BC Didacticism, didactic poem by the Roman Republic, Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius () with the goal of explaining Epicureanism, Epicurean philosophy to a Roman audience. The poem, writte ...

'' (Evrenin yapısı, Istanbul 1974). In 1980 and 1987 she was one of two Turkish authors who were awarded the

Sait Faik Short Story Award The Sait Faik Short Story Award is a prize given annually by the Sait Faik Museum to the best collection of short stories in Turkish. The award has been given annually since 1955 and was started by the mother of Sait Faik Abasıyanık Sait Fa ...

. In 1987 she received the Theater Art Development Foundation's annual award in memory of actor Avni Dilligil, and in 2002 the '' Dünya'' award for the best narrative volume of the year. In the same year she was awarded the

Sedat Simavi Literature Award The Sedat Simavi Literature Prize is a Turkish literary award presented annually. It was established in 1977 by Sedat Simavi Foundation, in memory of author and journalist, Sedat Simavi. The prize is given also in nine different areas in sport, TV ...

Private life

The marriage of Tomris Uyar, who made his first marriage to the poet

in 1963, ended in 1964 after their daughter Ekin was drowned in milk. Tomris Uyar married the poet Turgut Uyar in 1969 and they had a son named Hayri Turgut Uyar. Hayri Turgut Uyar is now a lecturer at ITÜ(Istanbul Teknik Üniversitesi).

Edip Cansever Edip Cansever (pronounced ; 1928 – 1986) was a Second New Movement Turkish poet. Talât Sait Halman referred to Cansever as in the light of surrealist Asaf Halet Celebi and Orhan Sarıkaya characterized him as a nonconformist. Biography Bo ...

is also in love with Tomris Uyar, who was in love with

while he was married. In fact, at a raki table where he sat alone with Tomris, Cansever wrote on a napkin, "Tomris used to love rakı, and I used to love her..."

Tribute

In 2020, Google celebrated her with a

Google Doodle Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running annual Bu ...

Selected works

; Short stories and other writings * ''İpek ve bakır'' (Silk and Copper) – 1971 * ''Ödeşmeler'' (Paybacks) – 1973 * ''Dizboyu papatyalar'' (Kneehigh Daisies) – 1975 * ''Yürekte bukağı'' (Heartbreak) – 1979, winner of the 1980 Sait Faik prize * ''Yaz düşleri / Düş kışları'' (Summer Dreams / Dream Winters) – 1981 * ''Gecegezen kızlar'' (Girls Wandering at Night) – 1983 * ''Yaza yolculuk'' (Journey to Summer) – 1985, winner of the 1986 Sait Faik prize * ''Sekizinci günah'' (The Eighth Sin) – 1990 * ''Otuzların kadını'' (Woman of the Thirties) – 1992 * ''Aramızdaki şey'' (What is between us) – 1998 * ''Şiirde dün yok mu: Turgut Uyar üzerine yazılar'' (No yesterday in poetry? Articles on Turgut Uyar) – 1999 ; Diaries * ''Gündökümü 75'' (Dayscript 75) – 1976 * ''Sesler, yüzler, sokaklar'' (Voices, Faces, Streets) – 1981 * ''Günlerin tortusu (1980–1984): bir uyumsuzun notları'' (Sediment of the Days – Notes of a Misfit) – 1985 * ''Yazılı günler (1985–1988)'' (Written days) – 1989 * ''Tanışma günleri / anları: (1989–1995)'' (Meeting days / moments) – 1995 * ''Yüzleşmeler: bir uyumsuzun notları, 1995–1999'' (Confrontations: Notes of a Misfit) – 2000 ; Compilations * ''Gündökümü (1975–1980): bir uyumsuzun notları'' (Dayscript – Notes of a Misfit) – 1990 * ''Rus ruleti'' (Russian Roulette) – 1985 * ''İki yaka iki uç'' (Two Sides Two Ends: Short Stories) – 1992

Bibliography

* Tayfun Demir: ''Türkische Literatur in deutscher Sprache. Eine Bibliographie mit Erläuterungen''. Sekretariat für gemeinsame Kulturarbeit in NRW, Duisburg 1995, , S. 80. (German) * Luis Mitler: ''Contemporary Turkish writers. A critical bio-bibliography of leading writers in the Turkish Republican period up to 1980''. Indiana University Press, Bloomington (Indiana) 1988, , S. 259.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uyar, Tomris 2003 deaths 1941 births Translators from Turkish Translators from French Translators from English Translators from German Writers from Istanbul 20th-century Turkish journalists Deaths from throat cancer in Turkey Deaths from esophageal cancer 20th-century Turkish women writers 20th-century Turkish translators Turkish magazine founders