Oğuz Atay: Google doodle on famous Turkish author on his 86th birthday

Happy Birthday Oğuz Atay!!!

Today Google celebrates the 86^th birthday of Oğuz Atay with a mesmerizing doodle. Oğuz Atay was a pioneer of the modern novel in Turkey. He was a Turkish author, playwright, engineer and professor.

The first novel of Oğuz Atay was Tutunamayanlar (The Disconnected) that appeared in 1971-1972. It is widely acclaimed as one of the most significant Turkish novels of the 20^th century. With his reliance on shifting narrative perspectives and blend of dreams and reality, Oğuz Atay was among the first Turkish writers to explore the postmodern style known as metafiction.

 Oğuz Atay’s Tutunamayanlar has become a best-seller since a new edition came out in 1984. It has been described as “probably the most eminent novel of twentieth-century Turkish literature.”

Oğuz Atay was born on October 12, 1934 in the Turkish town of İnebolu, in the province of Kastamonu. His father, Cemil Atay was a judge and also a Member of Parliament from Republican People's Party (Turkey). He received a top education and went on to pursue a career in the field of civil engineering. In 1960, Atay became a lecturer at the Istanbul State Engineering and Architecture Academy, but it was the fiction he wrote in his downtime that came to define his legacy.

The literary works of Oğuz Atay include Topoğrafya (Topography), Tehlikeli Oyunlar (Dangerous Games), Oyunlarla Yaşayanlar (Those who Live by Games), Eylembilim (unfinished fiction: Science of Action), Oyunlarla Yaşayanlar (Those who Live by Games) to name a few.

Oğuz Atay entered the limelight of Turkish literature with the publication of Tutunamayanlar in 1972, a towering literary achievement which he followed up with a rapid string of novels through the 70s. All the while, he continued his teaching career and in 1975 was made an associate professor.

The work of Oğuz Atay titled Tutunamayanlar was identified by UNESCO in 2002 as an important literary work in need of an English translation. It has since been translated into English, Dutch, and German, opening Atay’s seminal novel to non-Turkish readers around the world.  

Oğuz Atay died on December 13, 1977 at the age of just 43. Google today dedicates a beautiful doodle to him on his 86^th birthday.

Also Read: Mary Ann Shadd Cary turns 197, Google doodle on anti-slavery activist, journalist