Modern detective story in Turkey: stages of development

Abstract

The article focuses on detective genre in Turkish literature. Detective story is a literary form describing the process of criminal investigation in order to reveal its mystery. In Turkey the detective stories were at first called “the police novels” (Turkish: polis pomanı or polisiya). The first detective stories were, as a rule, translations from the European languages. The first Turkish detective translations can be divided into two periods: 1881–1908 and 1908–1928 (up to the reform of alphabet from Arab script into Latin). The first period is characterized with translations from French, while the second is characterized with translations by English and American detective writers. The first Turkish detective story is “The Mystery of crime” by Ahmet Mithat Efendi (1884). Later Turkish detective literature developed in different genres: stories, dramatic plays and novels in all its variety. The golden age of the Turkish detective stories came in 1980–1900. In 1999 a special detective literature competition “Cafe cactus” was held for the first time. The most popular modern Turkish detective writer is Ahmet Umıt. Eniz Batur, the author with a unique style, is also well known in Turkey as well as other Turkish detective writers. In today’s Turkey various types of detective literature are very popular: police, historical, fantastic (mystical) stories, thrillers and other detective books. It is necessary to point out that they do not yield European and American standards.

Keywords:

detective genre, Turkish literature, history of translations, Ahmet Mithat Efendi, detective story in Turkey today