Midhat Cemal Kuntay – a man of many parts

Abstract

Midhat Cemal Kuntay (1885 – 1956) was born in Istanbul and spent most of his life there working as a lawyer and Notary Public. He was also a prolific writer whose life-span was almost equally divided between the late Ottoman and early Republican periods of modern Turkish history. With his background in Arabic, Persian and Turkish in addition to French, he left no area of Turkish literature untouched or unadorned. He wrote poems – mainly with a patriotic viewpoint, two plays, essays, made translations from the French, and even published an outstanding novel called Üç ?stanbul [Three Istanbuls]. He was the author of three major published biographies: those of the important 19th century poet, playwright and novelist Nam?k Kemal, the journalist, writer and activist Ali Suavi, and the national poet Mehmed ‘Âkif. Especially in later life, Midhat Cemal Kuntay was also a regular contributor of articles and columns to daily newspapers.