A Leaf About to Fall: Selected Poems

by İlhan Berk, George Messo (Translator)

Poetry. Translated from the Turkish by Onder Otcu and Murat Nemet-Nejat. Ilhan Berk stands at the apex of modern Turkish literature. Considered to be one of the great innovative poets of his generation, he has at times drawn on traditional Turkish poetry for his work yet remains firmly within the modernist camp. Born in 1918, Berk published his first book in 1935, establishing himself at the cutting edge of Turkish letters. He was and, as Onder Otcu notes in the introduction, still is considered to be "the bad boy of Turkish letters." The author of more than two dozen books and an acclaimed visual artist as well as a poet, he lives today in Bodrum on Turkey's Aegean coast.

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

İlhan Berk was a leading contemporary Turkish poet. He was a dominant figure in the postmodern current in Turkish poetry (termed, "İkinci Yeni"; "The second new generation") and was very influential among Turkish literary circles.
Berk was born in Manisa, Turkey in 1918 and received a teacher's training in Balıkesir. He graduated from the French Language Department of Gazi University in Ankara. Between 1945-1955, Berk served as a teacher. He later began to work for the publishing office of Ziraat Bank as a translator (1956–1969). He became specialized in translation of poetry notably by translating into Turkish works by Arthur Rimbaud and Ezra Pound. In his later years, Berk resided in Bodrum where he died on 28 August 2008.
Berk's poetry evolved from the approach of an epical socialist to the dreamy vision of a lyrical and erotic individual. He made the "object" visible in its glory and aimed to break down the meaning. Berk's poetry takes its roots from the mythology, and a synthesis of Western and Eastern poetry traditions, yet he accomplishes to create a unique and postmodern approach.
History, geography, visual arts, cities such as Istanbul, Paris and Ankara, feed Berk's poetry and, his themes are supported by a sizable vocabulary that includes colloquial words as well as very specific ones, such as musical terms and local names of plants.
A significant body of Berk's work is now available in English, most notably A Leaf About To Fall: Selected Poems (2006), Madrigals (2008) and The Book of Things (2009), all translated by George Messo.

Reviews

[feyza]

"Şiir gerisinde gizli bir tarih bırakır. Bu bütün şiirlerin başına gelir. Bu gizlilik nereden mi geliyor? Oluşumun bilinmemesin­den. Gerçekten de şiirin oluşum serüveni bilinmez. Öyle ki bu yaratıcısına bile kapalıdır. Kapalıdır, çünkü şiir bu serüvenini tek başına yaşar. Kimseyi karıştırmaz. Bir ağaç gibi. Tıpkı bir ağaç gibi oluşur şiir. Şair onu sonradan görür. Görür dediğimiz de bir labirentin görünümüdür. Bir labirente girip çıkmıştır şair, bütün bildiği de budur."

‘Zor olan, diyor, şiirin hayatını yaşamaktır.
Yazmak sonra gelir hep.’

[Kadri · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5