Nazim Hikmet (1902–1963), generally acclaimed as the greatest Turkish poet of the 20th Century, was imprisoned in 1938 on a charge of attempting to incite the Turkish navy into rebellion and spent the next 13 years in prison, from which he wrote some of his greatest poetry. A year after his release he managed to escape from Turkey in a tiny motorboat on a stormy night, was picked up by a Rumanian cargo ship, and made his way to Russia where he lived out the rest of his life in exile. However brutally he had been persecuted by the Turkish state for his Marxist views, he was and remains revered by the Turkish people for his humanity, compassion, personal heroism, and literary brilliance. Hikmet died of a heart attack in Moscow on June 3, 1963. “Faust’s House” is from Poems of Nazim Hikmet, published by Persea Books, and is reprinted by permission.
Nazim Hikmet (1902–1963), generally acclaimed as the greatest Turkish poet of the 20th Century, was imprisoned in 1938 on a charge of attempting to incite the Turkish navy into rebellion and spent the next 13 years in prison, from which he wrote some of his greatest poetry. A year after his release he managed to escape from Turkey in a tiny motorboat on a stormy night, was picked up by a Rumanian cargo ship, and made his way to Russia where he lived out the rest of his life in exile. However brutally he had been persecuted by the Turkish state for his Marxist views, he was and remains revered by the Turkish people for his humanity, compassion, personal heroism, and literary brilliance. Hikmet died of a heart attack in Moscow on June 3, 1963. “Faust’s House” is from Poems of Nazim Hikmet, published by Persea Books, and is reprinted by permission.