>Jj Plant wrote:
> >In-Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Thanks to all who have contributed to the bibliographical information. >Can
>
> >any list-comrade with knowledge of the left in Turkey provide any >data on
> >the life of Hilary Sumner-Boyd ? He was a significant figure in the UK
> >Trotskyist movement for some years, and Secretary of the UK Trotsky
> >Defence Committee. We know very little of his later life, but old >comrades
>
> >interviewed by Revolutionary History told us he went to live in Turkey >and
>
> >was important in founding a theatre group which imported Western
> >approaches into Turkish theatre. We have appealed for information >on
> >newsgroups about Turkey and about drama history with no result. >Any small
> >indications would be very welcome.
>
Comrade, here is a small history of Turkish drama that may be useful for your
inquiry. Note that it is the only available information I was able to find in
English. If you understand Turkish, I can recommend you some other books. This
summary traces the origins of modern Turkish drama to westernization movement
and the adaptation of western style drama to Turkish traditional drama in
1859. Then, it discusses the influence of French romanticism, realism and
naturalism on Turkish writers and their use of these currents as instruments
of cultural criticism during the rapid modernization of the late Ottoman and
early Kemalist (Republican) periods. Extensive historical intro on Turkish
modernity and its reflections in art.
If we are talking about the same Hilary Sumner Boyd, my recollection of him is
that he co-authored a book with John Freely, which was a guide to the
Byzantine and Ottoman antiquities of Istanbul. The title of the book must be
_Strolling Through Istanbul_. The information I have encountered on the net
says that "Hilary Sumner-Boyd was also extremely influential in the
development of the modern Turkish theater, with a number of his students going
on to distinguished careers as
actors, directors and
playwrights"(http://www.fans.boun.edu.tr/~fef/hist.html). What is most
striking for me to see is that Hilary Sumner Boyd seems to be among the
distinguished members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in Robert College--
the predecessor of Bogaziçi (Bosporus) University I graduated from. I can not
predict the year at the moment. I was unaware of this, since I can hardly
imagine a Trotkist among the intellectual/academic establishment in Bosporus.
Specialists on Ottoman and modern Turkish art, old timer Prof. Apdullah Kuran
of the same faculty, must know the specifics about him, I assume.
Here is the summary, and other useful web-sites on Turkish Drama. The summary
is quite long, so I am sending in pieces.
Other useful sites:
http://students.washington.edu/rbarlas/bibliography.html
translated texts:
http://courses.washington.edu/mtle/trans.html
---
***TURKISH DRAMA
Sevda Sener
http://interactive.m2.org/Theather/SSener.html
Turkish drama has inherited three main traditions: the traditional folk plays
whose origin can be traced back to ancient primitive rituals, remmants of
which can still be discovered in rural entertainments, the tradition of
spectacular plays which has flourished during the reign of the Ottoman Empire
in cities and came to an end by the introduction of theater in Western style,
and the tradition of Western drama which become the main theatrical source of
modern Turkish drama since the middle of the nineteenth century. Both the folk
plays and the traditional spectacular plays are of improvisational character.
The main structure
of the plot was used to be elaborated according to the needs of the time by
the actors who were experts in improvisation. Since this interrupted artistic
culture remained in disuse for more than a hundred years, the content of this
plays is far from satisfactory even for the most naive spectator today. For
the present time these plays belong to a cultural heritage of historical
value. Yet some formal and stylistic elements which still retain their
popularity today can be a useful source for present formal experiments.
When Western drama was first introduced to Turkey during the first half of the
nineteenth century by visiting European companies, the traditional spectacular
plays such as improvisational arena plays called Ortaoyunu and shadow plays
called Karagöz were popular kinds of entertainment. But with the increase of
the theaters that produced plays in European style, modern drama developed at
the expense of the traditional spectacular plays. Novelists, poets, essayists
began to form write for the theater imitating the and style of contemporary
Western drama and gradually achieving originality as well. Spectators’ habit
of spectacular entertainment has adapted itself to this new form of drama in
time.
The first original Turkish play The Marriage of the Poet by Ibrahim Sinasi
(1871-1849) marks the beginnings of the Turkish drama in Western drama in
Western style in 1859. In this play the traditional and modern elements of
drama are combined successfully. Other Turkish playwrights welcomed the new
trend and the modern Turkish drama developed as an organic part of Western
drama.
The Development of the modern Turkish drama is studied in three succeeding
periods which mark the main changes in political life. The first period is
called the Period of Reform Regulations which began in 1839 with an official
declaration of Sultan Abdülhamit for a more liberal order and was carried
through the installation of a constitutional state government in 1876. The
first constitutional order lasted only a year to be revived thirty years later
by the Restoration of Constitution in 1908. The third is the Period of
Republic which began in 1923, just after The War of Independence and has
become the official recognition of a new state, reflected the public opinion
of political affairs in each period and therefore is studied according to the
main changes in social and political life.
The Theater of the Period of Reform Regulations was under the influence of
French Romanticism. The aspiration of young generation for liberation against
the strict rule of the Sultan was expressed metaphorically by dealing with the
subject in historical context. The famous patriot and poet Namik Kemal’s
(1840-1888) play Fatherland or Silistria is a typical example of such trend.
In this play a brave young women follows her beloved, who has gone to war to
defend his country, in disguise and dressed like a soldier to join the army.
Under the protection of an old, humorous soldier and a good- hearted commander
who later is discovered to be the long lost father of the young girl, she
proves to be a good soldier, revealing her true identity marries the young man
she loves. When this play was first produced in 1873, patriotic feelings of
the spectators and their long repressed hopes for a more liberal order were
excited. They demonstrated after the performance, shouting slogan. The Sultan
was so alarmed that to overcome his anxiety he ordered the play to close and
sent the poet-playwright to exile.
The other significant dramatic productions of this era were the adaptations of
Moliere plays to Turkish customs and manners; so successfully done that they
still retain their place in classical repertoire of the Turkish theater. These
adaptations may well be
regarded as the first serious attempt to create a synthesis of foreign and
native elements of drama.
Unfortunately the playwrights of the succeeding period failed to achieve a
similar harmony in their plays. They imitated the play of the European
playwrights so closely and wrote so clumsily that among hundreds of play
written between 1908-1923 only a few are worthy of notice. Historical material
has become a suitable medium to express the excitement of newly obtained
freedom. Exaggerated sentimentality and elevated style was also the typical
quality of the most of the plays of that period. Musahipzade Celal
(1870-1959), who started writing for the theater before 1923 and continued to
write till the fifties is one of
the most the fruitful and renowned playwrights of Turkish authors. He
criticized Ottoman institutions making clever allusions to the present day
problems. His careful study of customs, habits, attitude and attire of people
representing various social classes and groups presented such a colorful
picture of social life that this picture gained significance by the critical
approach of the writer to his historical material. The spectacular quality of
traditional entertaining plays is so well adapted to the classical structure
of Western Comedy of Manners that this unique adjustment can be a model for
present day attempts to combine traditional and modern elements to render to
the contemporary Turkish theater a national flavor.
> >BTW - a couple of years ago I got a pamphlet from Freedom Bookshop >in
> >London on the history of anarchism in Turkey. As soon as I find it I'll
> >post the details here for anybody who wants it.
>
Please, post!
>
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--
Mine Aysen Doyran
PhD Student
Department of Political Science
SUNY at Albany
Nelson A. Rockefeller College
135 Western Ave.; Milne 102
Albany, NY 12222
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