Oğuz Atay, Turkish engineer and author (d. 1977)
Oğuz Atay (October 12, 1934 – December 13, 1977) was a pioneer of the modern novel in Turkey. His first novel, Tutunamayanlar (The Disconnected), appeared in 1971–72. Never reprinted in his lifetime and controversial among critics, it 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”: this reference is due to a UNESCO survey, which goes on: “it poses an earnest challenge to even the most skilled translator with its kaleidoscope of colloquialisms and sheer size.” In fact three translations have so far been published: into Dutch, as Het leven in stukken, translated by Hanneke van der Heijden and Margreet Dorleijn (Athenaeum-Polak & v Gennep, 2011); into German, as Die Haltlosen, translated by Johannes Neuner (Binooki, 2016); into English, as The Disconnected, translated by Sevin Seydi (Olric Press, 2017: ISBN 978-0-9955543-0-6): an excerpt from this won the Dryden Translation Prize in 2008 (Comparative Critical Studies, vol. V (2008) 99).