Mîna Urgan

Mîna Urgan (14 May 1916 – 15 June 2000) was a Turkish academic, translator, author and socialist politician.

Early life

Mîna Urgan was born to poet Tahsin Nahit and his wife Şefika in

She translated works of Thomas Malory (c. 1415–18 – 1471), Henry Fielding (1707–1754), Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), Aldous Huxley (1894–1963), Graham Greene (1904–1991), William Golding (1911–1993), John Galsworthy (1867–1933) and Shakespeare (1564–1616) into Turkish.^[4] Urgan gained fame with her autobiography Bir Dinozorun Anıları ("Memoirs of a Dinosaur"). The 1998 published book remained several weeks on the best seller list.^[2][5] Upon this success, she wrote another autobiography Bir Dinozorun Gezileri ("Travels of a Dinosaur"), which was published in 1999.^[6]

In politics

Urgan entered politics in 1960.

Urgan was married to poet and actor Cahit Irgat (1916–1971). The couple were divorced later. She was mother of a son Mustafa Irgat (1950–1995), a poet and painter, and a daughter Zeynep Irgat, an actress.[2] She died at the age of 84 in Istanbul on 15 June 2000.^[1] She was interred at Aşiyan Asri Cemetery following a memorial ceremony at the Istanbul headquarters of ÖDP, where the anthem of the international socialism The Internationale was played, a marching through the entire İstiklal Avenue was performed, and the religious funeral at Teşvikiye Mosque attended by renowned authors and artists.^[9]

Awards

She was honored with the "Golden Book Award" in 1993. For her work Virginia Woolf, she received the "Sedat Simavi Literature Award" in 1995, and the "Association of People of Letters Honor Award" in 1996.^[2]

Works

She translated the following books into Turkish:^[10]

1. Moby Dick
2. Utopia
   (co-translated with Vedat Günyol, Sabahattin Eyuboğlu)
3. Death of Arthur
   ")
4. Henry Fielding: Tom Jones
5. Graham Greene: Meselenin Kalbi ("The Heart of the Matter")
6. Aldous Huxley: Ses Sese Karşı ("Point Counter Point")
7. William Golding: Sineklerin Tanrısı ("Lord of the Flies")
8. Clive Bell: Uygarlık ("Civilization") (co translated with Melih Cevdet Anday and Vedat Günyol)

The following are her own books. (Mostly biography):

1. Macbeth (1965)
2. Shakespeare ve Hamlet ("Shakespeare and Hamlet") (1984)
3. İngiliz Edebiyatı Tarihi ("History of English Literature") (5 volumes, 1986–1993)
4. Virginia Woolf (1995)
5. D. H. Lawrence (1997)
6. Edebiyatta Ütopya kavramı ve Thomas More ("Concept of utopia in literature and Thomas More")
7. Bir Dinozorun Anıları ("Memoirs of a Dinosaur", autobiography) (1998)
8. Bir Dinozorun Gezileri ("Travels of a Dinosaur", autobiography) )1999)

References