Adalet AGAOGLU one of the most important writers of 20th century Turkish literature
ADALET AGAOGLU who is one of the most important writers of 20th century Turkish literature, was born in nallıhan in 1929. After completing her primary education in Nallıhan, she settled in Ankara with her family in 1938. She graduated from Ankara Girls’ High School and graduated from the French language and Literature Department of Ankara University’s Faculty of language and history and geography in 1950.
Her interest in literature dates back to her high school years, when she produced many kinds of works including plays, stories, essays, memoirs and novels.
She started writing in 1946 by publishing theatre reviews in the Ulus newspaper and published her poems in the KAYNAK magazine between 1948 and 1950. In 1951, She served as director of radio theatre, program specialist and head of department at TRT Ankara radio until she resigned in 1970. She wrote her first radio play, “Love Song”, the year she started working for Ankara Radio.
While working at Radio, she founded “Meydan Stage”, Ankara’s first private theater, together with four friends from theater; Kartal Tibet, Üner Ilsever, Çetin Köroğlu and Nur Sabuncu. She wrote several plays that were staged during those years.
The first novel of AGAOGLU who focused on short story and novel writing starting 1970s, was published in 1973. This very vocal novel forms a trilogy with the novels “A Wedding Night” (1979) and “No” (1989). Her first novel and subsequent works became subject of intense controversy, and she won many awards with the trilogy.
Her first story book, “High Tension”, was published in 1974. Her second novel “The Thin Rose of My Mind” (1976) was collected in its fourth edition. The case against her in 1981 for her novel “The Thin Rose of My Mind”, on charges of “defaming and defaming military forces,” lasted two years, and the author was eventually cleared. The writer who also published short story books, essays, memoirs and novels, returned to playwriting in 1991 with “Too Far Too Close”.
She married engineer Halim Ağaoğlu in 1954. Ağaoğlu was one of the founders of the Human Rights Association, founded in 1986, but resigned in July 2005 on the grounds of disagreements. AGAOGLU, who lived in Istanbul starting 1983, had a serious road accident in 1996 and spent two years in hospital. While walking in Sarıyer, she was hit by a car and suffered a brain hemorrhage.
In her works, AGAOGLU draws attention to social problems and their impact on individuals with internal monologues and subtle sarcasm. She received many awards in the genres of theatre, short story and novel.
Her works include “End Of Summer, Three or Five Persons, High Tension, The First Voice of silence” and more. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Boğaziçi University with a ceremony in 2018. She had irreplaceable contributions and works in the development of Turkey’s culture and literature for over 70 years. What makes these works valuable is her efforts and work for the social problems of Turkey with her common sense, conscientious and intellectual identity.
The author passed away on 14 July 2020. (14.O7.2020)
