In his well-known poem “The Possibility of Living”, which is included in the book “Handsome of the Lost City”, Yılmaz Erdoğan describes his childhood as “We had Kemalettin Tuğcu / And the opportunity to write on the mist of the windows…”.
Indeed, Kemalettin Tuğcu, who deserves to be remembered as one of the important writers of Turkish literature today, is a writer who left his mark on a period with his works and contributions to the literary world. Today, Kemalettin Tuğcu should be remembered not only as a memory from his childhood years, but also for his place in literature and as an Istanbul lover from Çengelköy.
Kemalettin Tuğcu was born in Istanbul in 1902. Due to a problem with his feet, he could not train for a long time. Tuğcu, who was self-taught, so to speak, started writing poems and stories at the age of 13. He was especially known for his novels with melodramatic plots. Tuğcu’s novels reached many readers in the 1960s, when Turkey was undergoing rapid change, cities were growing shapelessly, especially with the migration from villages to cities, historical wooden houses were being demolished in city centers and multi-storey apartments were being built, and slums were forming around the cities. More than 300 novels of Kemalettin Tuğcu, mostly read by children and young people, have been published.
Tuğcu, whose many novels such as Baba’s House, Stepfather, Little Feeding, Mercan Kolye, My Father’s Sin and Golden Haired Girl were adapted into films or television series, generally dealt with moral values and human relations in his novels. Themes such as family values, honesty and helpfulness are the cornerstones of Tuğcu’s works. These themes were especially appreciated because they served as life lessons for young readers and encouraged them to grow sensitive to human values.
In his works, Tuğcu deals with original characters and portrays them in a realistic way. This ensures that the stories he tells attract attention with their sense of experience. Characters inspired by real life made it easier for readers to identify with these characters. With his simple and fluent narrative, he has become a preferred author for readers from different age groups.
This unique city features prominently in the works of Kemalettin Tuğcu, who was born and raised in Istanbul. As a writer born and raised in Çengelköy, the streets, districts and beauties of Istanbul inspire his works. The historical and cultural riches of Istanbul are frequently reflected in his writings. This city forms the background of its characters and stories. The main characters in Tuğcu’s works, who go through many troubles and depress the reader with their experiences, usually live in the fascinating atmosphere and historical texture of Istanbul. This enables Tuğcu to build a bridge between Istanbul’s past and present and encourages readers to get to know this magical city more closely. The fact that Tuğcu lived in Çengelköy and the beauties of this district and the Bosphorus added even more depth to his works.
Tuğcu, who lost his life on October 18, 1996, in the Çengelköy district of Üsküdar, where he lived, lives today not only with his works, but also with the name given to the street extending from the house where he lived for a long time to the Çengelköy Cemetery where he was buried. During your travels to Istanbul, where two continents meet, if you stay at Aspera Hotel Altunizade, at the most central point of the Anatolian side, next to the transportation lines, you can reach Çengelköy in a very short time and see the places where Kemalettin Tuğcu, who left his mark on Turkish literature, lived, and visit Istanbul. You can watch the sea and the Bosphorus just like in the novels he wrote.
Kemalettin Tuğcu, who was once criticized as “depressing young people” and “depressing those who read it with sadness” and whose melodramatic works he wrote were almost banned, once again found the place he deserved with the broadcast of his works as long-running series on private televisions, and today he is an important name of Turkish literature. It is accepted as.
