Cemil Kavukçu öykücülüğünde kent, taşra ve modernlik

Date
2001
Editor(s)
Advisor
Oğuzertem, Süha
Supervisor
Co-Advisor
Co-Supervisor
Instructor
Source Title
Print ISSN
Electronic ISSN
Publisher
Bilkent University
Volume
Issue
Pages
Language
English
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Series
Abstract

One of the changes that occurred during the transition from orality to literacy was the rise of new styles of expression in literature. As a new genre the short story conributed to literacy as well. The role of modernization in the rise of the short story is significant proof of the relationship between social structure and literature. Hence, the first works in the field of the short story in Turkish literature were produced in the Tanzimat period in which the society began to go through a modernization process. From that time onward, many stories have been published, but in the 1990s the short story as a genre was paid much more attention than before especially because of the publication of many journals devoted to the genre alone. Cemil Kavukçu, whose works have been published since the 1980s, occupied an important place in the world of literature in the second half of the 1990s. Kavukçu has published collections of stories entitled Bilinen Bir Sokakta Kaybolmak (1997), Dört Duvar Beş Pencere (1999), Gemiler de Ağlarmış (2001), Pazar Güneşi (1983), Temmuz Suçlu (1990), Uzak Noktalara Doğru (1995) and Yalnız Uyuyanlar İçin (1996) as well as a novel, Dönüş (1998). The attitude of individuals living in cities and in provinces vis-à-vis the modern society is at the center of Kavukçu’s stories. As a writer of a society which is struggling to modernize, Kavukçu shows that modernity cannot be experienced in the same way everywhere. The sociological and psychological world of Kavukçu’s stories finds its corollary in his literary style. The role of intertextuality and fantastic elements in his stories and Kavukçu’s use of language are the basic signs of the consistency between his story-telling and his story world. Kavukçu’s short stories are open to new techniques on the one hand and follow the tradition on the other; his story-telling techniques suggest an important idea for literary criticism: A literary work should not be critically evaluated without considering the conditions under which that work emerges. Consequently, the criteria of success in the genre of the short story in Turkish literature should be based not only on the standards of Western literatures but also on the conditions and the tradition of short story writing in Turkish.

Course
Other identifiers
Book Title
Citation
Published Version (Please cite this version)