Oğuz Atay’s 86th Birthday

Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Istanbul-based guest artist Enes Diriğ, celebrates the 86th birthday of Turkish author, playwright, engineer, and professor Oğuz Atay. His 1972 novel “Tutunamayanlar” (“The Disconnected”) is widely acclaimed as one of the most significant Turkish novels of the 20th century. With his reliance on shifting narrative perspectives and blend of dreams and reality, Atay was among the first Turkish writers to explore the postmodern style known as metafiction. 

Oğuz Atay was born on this day in 1934, in İnebolu, a coastal town on the Black Sea in the Kastamonu Province of Turkey. Raised in a well-connected family, he received a top education and went on to pursue a career in the field of civil engineering. In 1960, Atay became a lecturer at the Istanbul State Engineering and Architecture Academy, but it was the fiction he wrote in his downtime that came to define his legacy. 

Atay entered the limelight of Turkish literature with the publication of “Tutunamayanlar” in 1972, a towering literary achievement which he followed up with a rapid string of novels through the ‘70s. All the while, he continued his teaching career and in 1975 was made an associate professor.

Atay’s “Tutunamayanlar” was identified by UNESCO in 2002 as an important literary work in need of an English translation. It has since been translated into English, Dutch, and German, opening Atay’s seminal novel to non-Turkish readers around the world.   

Happy birthday, Oğuz Atay!

Guest Artist Q&A with Enes Diriğ 

Today’s Doodle was illustrated by Istanbul-based guest artist Enes Diriğ. Below, he shares his thoughts behind the making of this Doodle:

Q: Why was this topic meaningful to you personally? 

A: Oğuz Atay is one of the best recent Turkish writers. What I like most about his work is that he tells the truth ironically. I also love that he is naive and clear, and he lived life in a way that was unique to his personality.

Q: What were your first thoughts when you were approached about the project?

A: I got excited about the idea that my work would appear on the Google homepage. Lack of information about Oğuz Atay's private life also led me to come up with new ideas. This was also a source of motivation.
 

Q: Did you draw inspiration from anything in particular for this Doodle?

A: I was mostly inspired by photographs of Oğuz Atay's life and the workspaces of other Turkish artists of that period.

Q: What do you hope people take away from your Doodle?

A: I hope that the fact that he was able to continue his production despite the complex period and environment he lived in will inspire people.