Teneke is a novel by the Turkish author of Kurdish origin Yaşar Kemal, appeared in 1955 by Varlık Yayınları after its first publication in 1954 as an episode in the newspaper Cumhuriyet. It is Kemal's second novel. Teneke reached its 23rd edition, published 2004 by Yapı Kredi Yayınları. The novel was published in Turkish language1962 in Bulgaria, and was translated into various languages since 1964.
Plot summary
In Teneke, Kemal depicts the tragic conditions, under which the landowners in the region Çukurova in southern Anatolia of Turkeylive and the way in which the rice planters exploit them. A young and idealistic district governor, who is newly appointed there, tries to back the landowners struggling against oppression and injustice by a rice planter.
Major characters
Fikret Irmaklı – Kaymakam. A young and inexperienced district governor appointed to his first post.
Resul Efendi – Office secretary. An old and incapable but honest man.
Okçuoğlu Mustafa Bey – Arrogant and corrupt rice planter.
Osman Ağa – Agha, rich landowner, who can not oppose his land is being overflooded.
Memed Ali the Kurd – peasant, who does not surrender to Okçuoğlu, who intends to flood the village for planting rice.
Zeyno Karı – Old activist woman of Kurdish origin, who incites Memed Ali to rebel against Okçuoğlu.
Nermin – Kaymakam's fianceé, a university studentfar away, inspiring him to fight for the law to be respected.
Awards
The theatrical adaption of Teneke brought Kemal the "İlhan İskender Award" in Turkey and the first prize at the Nancy International Theater Festival in 1966.
Adaptations
Theatre
It was adapted into a theater play in two acts, and was staged by Gülriz Sururi-Engin Cezzar Theatre in Istanbul in 1965. The play was staged in Göteborg, Sweden,, where it played for almost a year.
The Drumming-Out , Collins and Harvill Press, by Thilda Kemal
The Drumming-Out , Dodd, Mead and Co., by Thilda Kemal 160pp
Teneke,
Trumslagarna , Gidlunds Förlag, by Tora Palm
Ar'ita, Editura univers, by Valeriu Veliman
Blikdaserne, Gyldendal. by Jens Juhl Jensen
Blikdaserne, Samlerens Bogklub, by J.J. Jensen
Anatolischer Reis, Verlag Heinrich Scheffler, by Horst Wilfrid Brands
Anatolischer Reis, Societäts-Verlag, by H.W. Brands
Anatolischer Reis DTV, by H.W. Brands, 112pp
Teneke, Giovanni Tranchida Editore. by Antonella Passaro
Teneke , Giovanni Tranchida Editore
Teneke. Biblioteca Tranchida
Calor amarillo , Ediciones del Oriente y del Mediterraneo, by Gül Alkac e Fernando Garcia Burillo
Alteration of text
Leyla Burcu Dündar, an academic at Bilkent University in Ankara, compared the 4th edition of Teneke by Ararat Yayınevi with the latest publication of 2004 by Yapı Kredi Yayınları in a research work. She found out that the script has been significantly altered by the editors and the publishers in between without the knowledge of the author. The text was changed essentially to purify its language from non-Turkish words. In the latest edition, the grammar has been changed, regional sayings were replaced and even some sentences were dropped. Yaşar Kemal was highly astonished as he became aware of that fact.
