Nurullah Ataç

Born 1898 in Istanbul; died May 17, 1957, in Ankara. Turkish critic and literary scholar.

Nurullah Ataç graduated from the department of literature at the University of Istanbul in 1922. From 1921 to 1945 he taught literature and French. He began publishing as a poet in 1921, but subsequently turned to literary criticism.

Although he rejected the theory of “pure art,” Nurullah Ataç nonetheless defended in many of his articles the autonomy of art. In the 1940’s he undertook a campaign for the purity of Turkish and the reform of poetic style. His works greatly influenced the development of modern Turkish literature, primarily poetry. Nurullah Ataç translated works by Sophocles, Terence, A. de Musset, and other writers into Turkish. A literary prize bearing his name was instituted in Turkey in 1958.