<\/p>\n
THE TALE TELLER WHO KISSED MOUNTAINS AND MADE FISH SPEAK<\/p>\n
Mavisel YENER<\/p>\n
Translated by \u00dclk\u00fcn Tansel<\/p>\n
It is a sunny afternoon on a day in May of 1987 in \u0130zmir when there is a knock on<\/p>\n
the door of my clinic. As soon as the door is opened, the arriver starts shouting: \u201cHope,<\/p>\n
ahoy! Blue on the horizon. Fear no longer, my teeth!\u201d In order to understand what is<\/p>\n
going on one needs to have read O\u011fuz Tansel of course. Tansel has been visiting the<\/p>\n
clinic for the treatment of his teeth for a long time now. Each time he comes, there is<\/p>\n
jubilation. He is disappointed; because, shortly after his arrival I invite some other<\/p>\n
patient for treatment. He says: \u201cWe have not come all this way merely to have our teeth<\/p>\n
treated. Won\u2019t there be any splashing of words. So tell me, blue girl\u2026\u201d Later on I<\/p>\n
reduced the number of patients on the days he is to come. I know that he cannot do<\/p>\n
without drinking \u201cstrong blue tea.\u201d I know that he is the only \u201cpatient\u201d I cannot help allow<\/p>\n
smoking and that he will want to chat in the bluest tones. Reminiscences are endless.<\/p>\n
Let us slowly move on. Let this be a promenade through life and works of the maestro<\/p>\n
who said, \u201cI crammed myself full with blue.\u201d Tansel was born in 1915, in the village of<\/p>\n
Meyre, on the Western portion of the Torus mountain range. He makes a point of<\/p>\n
pronouncing it \u201cTorus\u201d rather than the generally used \u201cToros,\u201d by explaining that in the<\/p>\n
Turkish language one does not find the wovel \u201co\u201d in two consecutive syllables in<\/p>\n
accordance with the speech sounds rules. By pronouncing it \u201cTorus,\u201d this proper noun<\/p>\n
thus assumes a Turkish character. He attended the primary school in the close by<\/p>\n
Bozk\u0131r township and studied further to graduate from \u0130stanbul Davutpa\u015fa Middle school<\/p>\n
and Pertevniyal high school in \u0130stanbul. Following studies at the Faculty of Literature he<\/p>\n
took up teaching (1938) which lasted until 1969. His first poems were published in the<\/p>\n
periodicals Servet-i F\u00fcnun and Varl\u0131k. He studied under Prof. Pertev Naili Boratav. He<\/p>\n
recorded Turkish folk tales. Those folk tales which he recorded in the Amasya province<\/p>\n
did get references in the Catalog of Turkish Folk Tales prepared by Prof. Boratav and<\/p>\n
Prof. Eberhart. He demonstrated the richness of the Turkish language in all his works of<\/p>\n
folk tales, poetry as well as in the Dervish Bektashi Gems which he poetized jointly with<\/p>\n
Metin Elo\u011flu. In 1977 he was awarded the Children\u2019s Literature Award given by the<\/p>\n
Society of the Turkish Language. His works have been translated into English, French,<\/p>\n
German, Danish, and Korean. In his poems as well as in his folk tales one notes a keen<\/p>\n
sense of economy on words and a mathematical approach to language and a<\/p>\n
meticulous workmanship of narration. O\u011fuz Tansel passed away in 1994 leaving behind<\/p>\n
ten volumes.<\/p>\n
Those folk tales which he recorded in the Amasya province are much valuable<\/p>\n
with regards to Turkish folklore and tale narration. He is an intellectual of the Republican<\/p>\n
era who has reflected his folkloric research upon his works. In the folk tales which O\u011fuz<\/p>\n
Tansel recorded for the children he reflected enlightenment, benevolence and beauty<\/p>\n
onto the mirror of his words. He nourished himself and his reader from the purely and<\/p>\n
transparently running river of the Turkish language. The Turk\u0131sh language offered him<\/p>\n
shelter and he, in turn, provided shelter for the Turkish language.<\/p>\n
O\u011fuz Tansel, this unique voice among the generation of poets of the 1940\u2019s, has<\/p>\n
a heart full of \u201clove\u201d and \u201cblue.\u201d He reflects this \u201dlove\u201d and \u201cblue\u201d in his narratives for the<\/p>\n
children. He begins narrating his tales by the introduction saying, \u201cOnce upon a blue<\/p>\n
time, ever since time eternal,\u201d The expression, \u201cblue,\u201d along with other usual metaphors,<\/p>\n
heralds revolutionary change in Tansel\u2019s works. For instance, in his tale titled The Blue<\/p>\n
Bride, \u201cdays chase after months along the blue time; three white pigeons sail down from<\/p>\n
the blue sky; the blue bride and the blue groom,\u201d finally converge. In his tale The<\/p>\n
Talking Fish and the Lonely Girl, watch how the tale begins: \u201cIn blue time with no<\/p>\n
beginning, in the midst of deepest blue, in one of those blue years, there was a land of<\/p>\n
sun.\u201d In this tale, the man \u201cwith blue hair and blue moustache speaking the fish<\/p>\n
language,\u201d is none but O\u011fuz Tansel himself.<\/p>\n
His special vocabulary is based on the Anatolian vocabulary. In the tale titled The<\/p>\n
Three Fairies he ties the knots of a carpet with such skill that one feels admiration: \u201cAll<\/p>\n
the different carpet designs such as karag\u00fcnd\u00fczl\u00fc, benlikara, \u00e7akmakl\u0131, elib\u00f6\u011fr\u00fcnde,<\/p>\n
dall\u0131ayak, g\u00f6nl\u00fcorta, parmakl\u0131, kocaoya, ayl\u0131g\u00fclizar, sevi\u00e7engeli, toramanl\u0131, kurtizi were<\/p>\n
displayed on this carpet.\u201d Many of the words we have placed in \u201cintensive care\u201d breathe<\/p>\n
in his works. It is imperative that we go through all his woks and carry out an intensive<\/p>\n
research. I shall here be content with pointing out to the necessity of young researchers<\/p>\n
focusing on his language and quote some of the words which he used frequently:<\/p>\n
Korkalamak, giyit, yontu, sak\u0131rga, us, esenlik, k\u0131ndam, sur, uruk, iye, tez, zeyrek,<\/p>\n
esenek, tozak, sayr\u0131, eneze, duyarga, sevi, \u0131nlamak, \u0131rlamak, nen. O\u011fuz Tansel is a<\/p>\n
laborer of language who in his works, creates unique venues. His extraordinary<\/p>\n
expressions shine like diamonds in our Turkish.<\/p>\n
His two volumes of folk tales titled Al\u2019l\u0131 ile F\u0131rf\u0131r\u0131 which was given the award for<\/p>\n
Children\u2019s Literature by the Society of the Turkish Language in 1977 was also sighted<\/p>\n
among the 100 Basic Works of the Turkish Literature. These two volumes of Al\u2019l\u0131 ile<\/p>\n
F\u0131rf\u0131r\u0131 were published again by the Publisher Elips. The original Foreword written by<\/p>\n
O\u011fuz Tansel has been preserved. The foreword to the new edition is written by his<\/p>\n
daughter Prof. Dr. Ays\u0131t Tansel. Ays\u0131t Tansel says: \u201cAt all ages we were allowed to<\/p>\n
explore our parents\u2019 library and thumb through or read any book that interested us until<\/p>\n
we were bored. If we were bored and gave up reading it was not due to any fault of<\/p>\n
ours\u2026That is what our Dad told us.\u201d For the first edition which appeared among Yaz<\/p>\n
Publications Al\u2019l\u0131 ile F\u0131rf\u0131r\u0131 was the title used. The first volume was subtitled \u00c7obanla Bey<\/p>\n
K\u0131z\u0131 and the second volume was subtitled Konu\u015fan Bal\u0131kla Yaln\u0131z K\u0131z. O\u011fuz Tansel\u2019s<\/p>\n
essay concerning his work and the sources of the folk tales is included in the end. The<\/p>\n
decision to Include drawings by Seniye Fenmen in the first edition, once again in the<\/p>\n
new edition is proper and fitting; however, it is difficult to say the same for the book<\/p>\n
covers. Cemil Eren is an important artist; but, drawing for a children\u2019s book requires a<\/p>\n
different approach. The book covers of the 1980\u2019s and those of 2009 have been<\/p>\n
included for the reader to compare them. The reader should decide as to which would<\/p>\n
please the child reader and create an aesthetic awareness. What would you say?<\/p>\n
With a feeling of blue, I would like to commemorate the researcher, the writer and<\/p>\n
the poet O\u011fuz Tansel, sensitive to humanity and language use, who depended on the<\/p>\n
refined Turkish language to make fish speak, kiss the mountain, and fight the witches.<\/p>\n
Cumhuriyet Kitap (2009) no. 1020, September 3, p. 24.<\/p>\n
Tansel, O\u011fuz (1976) \u0130stanbul: Yaz Yay\u0131nlar\u0131; (2009,20012) \u0130stanbul: Elips Kitap.<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE TALE TELLER WHO KISSED MOUNTAINS AND MADE FISH SPEAK Mavisel YENER Translated by \u00dclk\u00fcn Tansel It is a sunny afternoon on a day in May of 1987 in \u0130zmir when there is a knock on the door of my clinic. As soon as the door is opened, the arriver starts shouting: \u201cHope, ahoy! Blue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[66],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oguztansel.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13326"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oguztansel.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oguztansel.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oguztansel.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oguztansel.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13326"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.oguztansel.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13480,"href":"https:\/\/www.oguztansel.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13326\/revisions\/13480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oguztansel.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oguztansel.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oguztansel.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}