Oğuz Atay (October 12, 1934 – December 13, 1977) was a pioneer of the modern novel in Turkey. His first novel, Tutunamayanlar (The Disconnected), appeared in 1971–72. Never reprinted in his lifetime and controversial among critics, it has become a best-seller since a new edition came out in 1984. It has been described as “probably the most eminent novel of twentieth-century Turkish literature”: this reference is due to a UNESCO survey, which goes on: “it poses an earnest challenge to even the most skilled translator with its kaleidoscope of colloquialisms and sheer size.”

In fact, four translations have so far been published: into Dutch, as Het leven in stukken, translated by Hanneke van der Heijden and Margreet Dorleijn (Athenaeum-Polak & v Gennep, 2011); into German, as Die Haltlosen, translated by Johannes Neuner (Binooki, 2016); into English, as The Disconnected, translated by Sevin Seydi (Olric Press, 2017): an excerpt from this won the Dryden Translation Prize in 2008 (Comparative Critical Studies, vol. V (2008) 99); into Greek, as ΑΠΟΣΥΝΑΓΩΓΟΙ, translated from Turkish by Νίκη Σταυρίδη, poetry sections by Δημήτρης Μαύρος, Gutenberg Editio Minor 34, 2022. ISBN 978-960-01-2397-5.