MEHMET ZAMAN SAÇLIOĞLU

Mehmet Zaman Saçlıoğlu is one of the prominent contemporary authors of Turkey.  He usually writes short stories, but poems also. His two collections of short stories, "Yaz Evi" (Summer House) and "Beş Ada" (Five Islands) are considered as among the best examples of contemporary short story writing in Turkey.  "Rüzgar Geri Getirirse - alt başlık:  Eşikli Öyküler" (If The Wind Brings Back- sub-titled: Stories With Threshold”), the third collection of his short stories was published in 2002. This work of short stories is unique in its kind in the contemporary Turkish literature and perhaps in the world literature as well, by being the first short story book with an entry text before each story. "Threshold" is a concept meaning expansion to the construction, style and context of the book. In these threshold texts, like the thresholds of our homes and rooms, functional and frequented, poems and essays are molded within each other.  His "Summer House" in 1993 received the "Yunus Nadi Short Story Award", which is the most important literary prize in Turkey in the category of short stories. The very work, a year later, 1994, was awarded with the Sait Faik Award.  "Five Islands" is a group of short stories which are founded on human existence and an examination of the essence of this existence. "Topaç" (The Top), a short story, won him the Haldun Taner Short Story Prize.  ("The Top" is one of the stories which are within the context of "Rüzgar Geri Getirirse" (If The Wind Brings Back). His latest work, "Güneş Umuttan Şimdi Doğar" (The Sun Rises from Hope Now) published in 2004, is a book of conversations. Fear, punishment, reward, love, duty and solidarity are the frequently encountered themes in M. Z. Saçlıoğlu's short stories. Some of his short stories have been translated into German and English.  M. Z. Saçlıoğlu, continues with his academic career which started in 1977 at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Marmara University, Istanbul.

 Some recognition of M. Z. Saçlıoğlu's work by literary critics:

 “After” 1980s many novelist made their names heard but whenever “young novelist” is pronounced one can not help but think of Orhan Pamuk. The number of young story writers during the recent years are not a few but there is not a name which strıkes the mind when we think of a “young story writer”.  Actually there was not one.  Now there is a name for me as I have read Yaz Evi by Mehmet Saçlıoğlu for which he shared the award of “ Yunus Nadi Yayımlanmamış Öykü Ödülü”  with Vüs’at O. Bener.  I will be recalling Mehmet Saçlıoğlu whenever I hear “young story writer” mentioned.  In our country, where there are many of those who write hastily just to be writing there is a writer who evidently knows the importance of the language and works meticulously over each sentence. Saçlıoğlu in his stories which signify that he benefits from a strong cultural background  forces the borders of the traditional story; his stories  from time to time mysterious and from time to time with a  humoroustic base, indicate that he is always after the new. Always finds new similes, creates new phchological situations, likes extraordinary events and situations expressing them with an extraordinary style. His purpose is clear: Not to fall into the trap of being ordinary, to grasp the language – always giving the pleasure of literature..  After reading stories such as “Bir Yaz Evi”, “Pencere Önümün Yolcusu”, “Kızım” - (quoting from Ataç), I am rolling my dice for Saçlıoğlu.”   FETHİ NACİ – Literary Critic (1993)

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          POETRY

• Poems by Mehmet Zaman Saclioglu

          STORIES

• The Big Eye

• The Four Horsemen of Brandenburg