Kemal Tahir started out writing poetry. His first poems were published in
İçtihad magazine in 1931. Later, his poems were published in the
Yeni Kültür,
Geçit,
Var and
Ses magazines. His first major work was a four-part novella published in
Tan newspaper and later published as
Göl İnsanları (
People of The Lake) in 1955. In 1955, he became well known for his novel
Sağırdere (
Deaf River). Published in 1956,
Esir Şehrin İnsanları (People of the Captive City) was the first of his city novels in which he took İstanbul as a frame within which to observe the Turks' transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic. İn this novel, Tahir described İstanbul under occupation after the
World War I.
Esir Şehrin Mahpusu (
Prisoner of the Captive City), published in 1961, and Yol Ayrımı (
Parting of the Ways), published in 1971, were sequels to this novel. At first, Kemal Tahir focused on the problems of the peasantry. Then, he dealt with Turkish history, especially the events of recent history. In his novel
Devlet Ana (
Mother State) he described the governmental and social structure of Ottoman society in its beginnings; in
Kurt Kanunu (
Law of the Wolf), he narrated the
İzmir assassination incident, a failed attempt to kill
Atatürk; in
Rahmet Yolları Kesti (
Rain Closed the Roads) he analysed the banditry phenomenon; and in
Yedi Çınar Yaylası (
Seven Plane Tree Plateau)," he explored the
ağa" system. İn his historical novel
Yorgun Savaşçı (
Tired Warrior), Tahir described the period when the leaderless national resistance forces in Anatolia came together and started the
Turkish Independence War. Due to financial difficulties, Kemal Tahir also wrote pulp fiction using pseudonyms. He also translated
Mike Hammer novels and even wrote original new novels for that series. Some of his novels (like
Karılar Koğuşu,
Haremde Dört Kadın,
Esir Şehrin İnsanları and
Kurt Kanunu) were later adapted into movies. == Complete list of fiction ==