Turkish novelist, film writer, and dramatist; pseudonym of
Mehmet Rasit Ogutcu. For political reasons his father, a
lawyer and politician, took the family from Adana to Syria,
and Ofhan Kemal had little formal education. Returning to
Turkey in 1932, he worked as a laborer and factory hand.
From 1938 to 1943 he was imprisoned, and it was in there
that he came to know Nazim Hikmet. After 1951, he settled in
Istanbul. He died during a visit to Bulgaria in 1970. See
Nazim Hikmet (Ran).Orhan Kemal is primarily a novelist
and short-story writer. His life both in prison and out
brought him Into contact with Turkey's underprivileged
people, and It was from that milieu that he drew his rich
material. All his plays are adaptations of his novels and
short stories. His Cell Block No. 72 (72. Kogus, 1967) is a
realistic portrayal of prison life. In it he argues that
crime prevention can be brought about not by imprisoning
people but only by changing the social system that breeds
crime. The focus of the play is a ship captain whose
goodness, sincerity, love, and tragic death teach the other
inmates a lesson In brotherhood. This man is contrasted with
the head jailer, who seems determined to increase the
sufferings of his prisoners. The Chaffinches (Ispinozlar,
1964), adapted from his novel Sweet Bird of fortune (Devlet
Kusu) depicts the lives of a poor family whose only hope
lies in the possibility that the son will marry the enamored
daughter of a rich, vulgar neighbor. Though he Is in love
with a poor girl, he consents to this marriage in order to
rescue his family from poverty. This arranged marriage
results in unhappiness for all concerned. The play was
revised as The Mayor of Hicksville (Yalova Kaymakami in
1968. Shoemender's Shop (Eskici Dukkanı, 1970) was adapted
for the stage from the playwright's novel. The Shoemender
and His Sons. A poor lame cobbler—a patriarchal father and a
descendant of a feudal lord—dreams of making rich marriages
for his children, but they choose spouses from their own
class. In the end the old man is forced to sell his shop.
Destitute, he finds some hope in his neighbors, who unite to
help him.
Share and Share Alike (Kardes Payi, 1969), his last play,
highlights the tragic situation of workers from rural areas
who come to big towns to find work. It realistically depicts
their struggle against a cruel tabor racketeer who exploits
them and threatens to replace them with unemployed workers
when they complain. Finally, through the efforts of a brave
young woman worker and the man she loves, the workers manage
to rebel.
Orhan Kemal's novel Murtaza (1968) was adapted by the
author, but another stage version was done by the playwright
Orhan Asena. A grim comedy, it centers around Murtaza. who
works in a cotton mill and acts as a watchdog for his
bosses. To avenge themselves against him, the other workers
arrange for him to catch his own daughter napping on plant
time. Murtaza beats her so cruelly that she dies. See ASENA,
Orhan.
 METIN
AND
Share and Share Alike deals with rural people in the big
city. (Metin And Collection.)
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