Popular Turkish Love Lyrics & Folk Legends - (Middle East Literature in Translation) by Talat S Halman (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Popular Turkish Love Lyrics and Folk Legends is the first illustrated anthology of Turkish folk poetry and legends published in the United States. Talat Halman's eloquent, fluid telling of these engaging stories and his translations of the love lyrics, accompanied by Zeki Findikoglu's vibrant serigraphs, serve as a marvelous introduction to the rich world of Turkish folktales and lyrics.

This volume brings together three of the most beloved of Anatolian tales and legends with the life stories and selected poems of four great folk poets--Yunus Emre, Pir Sultan Abdal, Köroglu, and Karacaoglan. The seven sections of the book come alive with images of striking beauty and dramatic power by Findikoglu, a son of Anatolia. Each section features four "visual experiences"--extraordinary in their delineation of nature and human figures, teeming with moods stirring or sinister. They capture not only the splendor of nature in Anatolia but also the quintessential spirit of the legends and the lyrics. Cultural and literary historians as well as poetry lovers will enjoy this stunning union of art and literature.

About the Author

Talat S. Halman is professor and chairman of the Department of Turkish Literature at Bilkent University in Ankara. Halman is the author and editor of more than eighty books, including Nightingales and Pleasure Gardens, The Turkish Muse, and A Brave New Quest.

Jayne L. Warner is the director of research at the Institute for Aegean Prehistory in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Born in Iznik, Turkey, ZekI Findikoglu traveled through every region of the Anatolian peninsula as a child and young adult before moving to the United States in 1973. His paintings are exhibited widely in the United States, Turkey, Europe, and Asia. Findikoglu is chairman of the Department of Art and Computer Graphics at Montgomery College in Germantown, Maryland.