Novel
Yalnız Efe
Not translated into English
Ömer Seyfettin · 1918
Synopsis
Yörük Hoca, a respected villager, has lent his savings to Eseoğlu, a moneylender who seizes the peasants' lands; when he comes to claim what is owed him, the moneylender's men kill him. His daughter, Kezban, asks the authorities for justice and gets nothing. She then takes to the mountain and becomes an outlaw, under the name Yalnız Efe, the lone efe. According to Hülya Argunşah, she subsequently protects the weak, the poor and orphans.
Context
According to Hülya Argunşah, the text first appeared as a short story in the journal Yeni Mecmua, on 25 April 1918; the author then set about turning it into a novel, whose serialisation began in 1919 in Büyük Mecmua but stopped after the fifth chapter, for an unknown reason. The heroine's name appears only in this longer version. The Küre encyclopedia ranks the work among his unfinished attempts at the novel.
Who it is for
A short narrative in simple Turkish, now published for young readers; no French translation has been found.
Prizes and reception
Work of an author who in 1911 laid the foundations of the simplified literary language, according to the Küre encyclopaedia.
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