Sait Faik Abasıyanık: Turkey's first modern author

Turkey on May 11 commemorated Sait Faik Abasıyanık, a pioneer in modern Turkish literature, on the 66th anniversary of his death.

Abasıyanık was born on Nov. 18, 1906 in northwestern Sakarya province to businessman Mehmet Faik and Makbule Hanım.

Attending primary school in Sakarya, Abasıyanık continued his education at Istanbul Boy's High School and then in northwestern Bursa province.

He wrote his first short story titled Silk Handkerchief and two other pieces as a student.

After graduating in 1928, Abasıyanık returned to Istanbul and submitted his short stories to various newspapers and magazines.

On Sept. 9-23, 1923, some of his stories were published in the Hür newspaper.

His short story titled Kites was published in the Milliyet newspaper on Dec. 9, 1930. Abasıyanık did not collect any of these pieces into a book.

He enrolled in the Turcology Department of Istanbul University in 1928 but under pressure from his father went to Switzerland to study economics in 1930. He left school and lived in France from 1931-1935.

After returning to Turkey, he taught Turkish at the Halicioglu Armenian School for Orphans. Following his father's wishes, he went into business but was unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, his memories of France were published in Varlık magazine in 1936. He also published his first storybook titled Semaver the same year with financial support from his father.

In 1939, Abasıyanık published his second book titled Cistern, consisting of 16 stories. In the book, he wrote about his childhood and adolescence in Adapazarı and Bursa and observations in his life both in Istanbul and abroad.

Spending fairly idle years, Abasıyanık wrote a few pieces between 1940 and 1948.

In 1948, he...