Kisakürek, Necip Fazil

(pseudonym of Ahmet Necip). Born May 26, 1905, in Istanbul. Turkish poet, playwright, and literary scholar.

Kisakürek studied in the department of philosophy at the University of Istanbul (1922–25) and at the Sorbonne (1925–26). He was a teacher and journalist. His collections of lyric poetry Cobwebs (1925) and Pavements (1928) ranked him as a leading symbolist poet. He expounded his creed in “Poetics,” which was appended to the poetry collection The Trial (1962). In the 1930’s he wrote symbolistic short stories. Kisakürek wrote such genre plays as Grain (1935), A Man Was Born (1938), and Money (1942). He also did scholarly research studies in literature.