Browsing by Subject "Turkish fiction--History and criticism."

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Open Access
Cumhuriyet öncesi kadın yazarların romanlarında toplumsal cinsiyet ve kimlik sorunsalı (1877-1923)
(2012) Günaydın, Ayşegül Utku
Womanhood and gender relationships have been one of the first questions taken up as the natural extension of the modernization paradigm between the declaration of the First Constitution and the Republic. Even though womanhood was declared to be a project, the fact that gender issues were never re-examined in a fundamental manner led to new problems vis-à-vis gender and identity. Opened up by the press, the new public sphere offered women the opportunity to discuss the woman question through articles and novels, and the most significant examples of inquiries concerning identity were expressed through one of the branches of traditional literature and through women‟s novels, a sub-genre that newly came into existence. The questioning of the oppressive mechanisms working on women and created by the responsibilities of the new female identity that went beyond the limits of the family, along with the male point of view floundering in face of this new identity, reflects a common female sensibility and sets forth the essence of this literature. The new female identity emphasizes rationality and the resilience of women, taking certain values of womanhood as its basis, and the female viewpoint is used to demonstrate the consequences of the dissonance between this “new” identity and the expectations of the male identity that represented the mindset of society in general, as personified by husbands, lovers, fathers, and relatives. The image of the isolated and struggling girl, who becomes more profound as she becomes more educated, is the symbol of the newly emerging intellectual woman of the Ottoman society. Opposite this woman in transition are the Ottoman men who are either already “impressed” or ready to be impressed. In short, the female novelists of the era express the need for a social transformation that would have to start at the very foundations of society and restructure the relationship between woman and man, i.e., sexual identities. In discussing the common themes, motifs, and sensibilities of women‟s novels, the dissertation examines the following works: Aşk-ı Vatan (1877) by Zafer Hanım; Muhâdarât (1892), Levâyih-i Hayât (1897-98), Refet, (1898), Udî (1899), and Enîn (1910) by Fatma Aliye Hanım; Uhuvvet (1895) by Selma Rıza Feraceli; Terbiye-i Etfale Ait Üç Hikâye (1895), Hiss-i Rekabet (1896), Bîkes (1897), Mükâfat-ı İlâhiye (1896), Sefalet (1897), Muallime (1899-1901), and Gayya Kuyusu (1920) by Emine Semiye Hanım; Dilharâb (1896-97) by Fatma Fahrünnisa Hanım; Münevver (1905- 06), Ölmüş Bir Kadının Evrak-ı Metrukesi (1905), Yaban Gülü (1920) and Nedret (1922) by Güzide Sabri Aygün; Heyûlâ (1908), Raik’in Annesi (1909), Seviyye Talip (1910), Handan (1912), Yeni Turan (1912), Son Eseri (1913) and Mev’ud Hüküm (1918) by Halide Edib; Şebab-ı Tebah (1911) by Nezihe Muhiddin; Aydemir (1918) by Müfide Ferit Tek; Kara Kitap (1920) by Suat Derviş and Sisli Geceler (1922) by Halide Nusret Zorlutuna.
Open Access
Nahit Sırrı Örik'in romanlarında narsisist entrikalar
(2009) Dündar, Hülya
This study focuses on the novels of Nahit Sırrı Örik (1894-1960), one of the most significant authors of the 20th. century Turkish literature. The novels that have been analyzed are Kıskanmak (Jealousy, 1937), Yıldız Olmak Kolay mı? (Is it Easy to Become A Star?, 1944), Tersine Giden Yol (The Road Reversed, 1948), “Gece Olmadan” (Before The Nightfall, 1951) and Sultan Hamid Düşerken (The Demise of Sultan Hamid, 1957). The dissertation mainly investigates interpersonal, “love” and parent-child relationships depicted in the novels from a psychoanalytical perspective. It is observed that Nahit Sırrı had portrayed a “narcissistic” world in terms of the value system and the quality of the emotions involved in the interpersonal universe of his novels. It is also found out that narcissism had also shaped the literary components of the novels including the constitution of plot, characterization, setting, language, and style. The plots of the novels are based on “plotting”, which is also an integral part of narcissistic pathology, and almost all characters have certain narcisssistic qualities. The settings, too, can be related to narcissism in terms of their feeding characters’ need for admiration and being temporary in nature. Besides, the language and style indicate the existence of narcissistic narrators who give great importance to describing characters’ physical appearances, look down on most of them, abhor the indications of old age, and in contrast glorify youth and beauty. The study ultimately focuses on the biographical implications of Örik’s fictional world by taking a close look at the author’s childhood experiences, his relationship with his parents, his fantasies as reflected in his childhood plays, and so on. It is concluded that the author’s childhood experiences had been likely to give way to the development of a narcissistic personality and Örik, who is observed not to be reconciled with old age, tended to categorize people as beautiful or ugly, and look down on them, is very much like the narrators in his novels.
Open Access
Orhan Pamuk'un romanlarında erkeğin iktidarı
(2014) Sağlam, Müzeyyen
Power of men in the novels of one of the most important representative of postmodernist Turkish novels, Orhan Pamuk has never been entirely addressed in any study before. However much the female characters and the way of depicting the female characters in the novels of Orhan Pamuk have been the subject of two theses and many articles, the masculine characters and the hegemony of these characters on the women have always been ignored. Thus, the main objective of this thesis, “Power of Men” is to fill this gap in literature studies. For the purpose of ensuring that this study is more encompassing and that it reaches more objective results, all novels of Orhan Pamuk (Mr. Cevdet and His Sons, the Silent House, the Black Book, New Life, My Name is Red, Snow and the Museum of Innocence) have been included in this study. Within the scope of the first chapter of the thesis “Theoretical Background”, the gender theory has been described and the development of this theory in the world and in Turkey has been addressed so as to ensure better understanding of discussions on “masculinity” and “hegemonic masculinity”. The main focus of the second chapter “Being a Man in the Novels of Orhan Pamuk”, is the male characters who have been ignored in the literature studies. In this chapter, the impact of traditional society and the family structure on the formation, development and transfer of the masculine identity and power; the practices in public area and the role of interaction between two genders in this process have been discussed. In addition, it has also been touched upon the positioning of the female characters in the development process of the masculine power in the novels and the roles of the female characters in the novels observed with regard to the hegemonic masculinity relations. As a result of all these observation it has been determined that Orhan Pamuk, despite introducing a different perspective to the Turkish novels, still follows the traditional way of writing about the development process of masculine identity and masculine power.
Open Access
Osmanlı-Türk romanında ulusal oryantalizm ve oryantalist uluslaşma
(2012) Erdem, Servet
The Ottoman-Turkish novel had been restricted to Istanbul for a quite long period of its relatively short history. When certain authors started to expand the fictive geography of texts towards Anatolia, this movement from the center to the periphery was under the influences of an “atmosphere of mind” (the general mentality of the time) that was determined by the overwhelming apprehensions of belated modernization and nationalization. The texts produced in this period, however, are rather problematical with regard to the representation of Anatolia, which is textualized as an internal Orient. Applying Orientalism, Edward Said’s influential and inspiring archeological analysis of the Western hegemony on Orient as the theoretical frame, this study aims to analyze the process of orientalization of Anatolia by the early Republican intellectuals and bureaucrats. The analysis will leave the question of whether these misrepresentations and, strongly manipulated knowledge and discriminative discourses had something to do with the truth of Anatolia or not aside. Rather, it will attempt to clarify the main motive behind Kemalists’ burden of modernization and reconstruction. The corpus of the texts that are discussed includes The Little Pasha (Küçük Paşa) by Ebubekir Hazim, Beat the Slut (Vurun Kahpeye) by Halide Edip, Savage (Yaban) by Yakup Kadri, The Smell of Earth (Toprak Kokusu) by Resat Enis, Our Village (Bizim Köy) by Mahmut Makal and If the Soil Wakes (Toprak Uyanırsa) by Sevket Sureyya Aydemir. Since the process of orientalization that is examined in this study is not an inter-national/cultural one, but rather a domestic one, and since this phenomenon is intrinsically related to the rise of nationalization, I decided to conceptualize it as “national orientalism”. After discussing Orientalism and its effects in the first chapter, I examine the textual politics and strategies from the perspective of “national orientalism”. In the last chapter my aim is to reveal the nexus between orientalization of Anatolia and Turkification of it by reversing the point of view and textual politics concerning “national orientalism”. That is why the last chapter is entitled as “Orientalist Nationalization”. According to the analyses within the scope of this study, by orientalizing Anatolia, the re-constructist cadre’s goal in the Republic was to alleviate the oppression resulting from the confrontation with the West. In addition, it was to gain control over a community (Anatolians and/or villagers) that comprised nearly 85 percent of the population at the time –a community that could have potentially posed an obstacle to the Kemalist revolutions and transformation. These goals were related to the early Republican politics and practices regarding the creation of a new collective identity: the Turkification of homo-Ottomanicus, which aimed to maintain social solidarity and the prevention of the development of social classes. The process produced a militarist community that would voluntarily die and kill for the symbols, rituals and borders of the nation-state. Thus, on the basis of the novels that are analyzed in this study, my thesis is that in Turkey during the construction of nationhood, the nation-state produced its own texts and the texts produced their own nation-state.
Open Access
Tanzimat romanlarında erkek narsisizmi
(2011) Yılmaztürk, Müge
In this thesis, Ahmet Mithat Efendi's Felâtun Bey and Râkım Efendi (1876), Namık Kemal's Awakening (1876) and Recaizâde Mahmut Ekrem's The Carriage Affair (1895) are analyzed in the context of narcissism, both by presenting readings of each novel in itself, and by elaborating comparative aspects between the subject-matter novels. Dominant male characters in the work of male authors of the Tanzimat period, and narrators that reflect male-dominance in their viewpoints seem to reveal narcissistic traits. Given this aspect, the subject-matter narcissism is taken to be rather gendered. These novels, acknowledged as the founding texts of the Tanzimat literature, embed narcissistic structures not only regarding their dominant male characters and narrators, but also with their fictional configurations and theses. After establising this claim, the question of why narcissism is an encompassing and distinctive paradigm that is come across in every aspect of Tanzimat novels is taken up. The narcissistic pattern in the novels, which were written when the (self)- westernization/modernization process took off, is claimed to be the reflection of the arrogant attitude serving as a defense mechanism against the negative self-image, which was created by the retrogressing Ottoman Empire. The grounding facts for this conclusion are that the narcissistic character, which reveals itself by attitudes relating to vanity and arrogance, is in fact due to a deep resentment, that the arrogant attitude is not the cause for narcissism but the effect of it, and that this attitude actually is employed as a means of self-defense against the feeling of unworthiness.
Open Access
Tanzimat ve metatarih : Namık Kemal'in tarih anlatılarının poetikası
(2011) Pelvanoğlu, Emrah
In addition to being one of the most important agents of Turkish modernity, Namık Kemal (1840–88) is also among the founding figures of Turkish literature. Namık Kemal‘s historical narratives, written before İntibah, have generally been accorded a lesser place by the novel-centric historians of Turkish literature. The current work, however, argues that the aforementioned texts actually had a determining effect on the author‘s prose. In order to fully appreciate the formative role of these texts, this dissertation seeks to contextualize Namık Kemal‘s historical narratives within the Ottoman Empire‘s transformation during its own ―Long Nineteenth Century‖. In addition, it suggests that Ottoman history writing, whose roots date back to the 15th century, should be considered as a new field of research within the discourse of Turkish literature. This suggestion utilizes the theoretical framework of ―metahistory‖, which was laid down by Giambattista Vico and by Hayden White, whom Vico influenced. In this context, the first chapter, ―Poetics of Historical Narrative: Vico and White‖, discusses the ―Philological History Theory‖, developed by the Italian philosopher and historian Giambattista Vico in his monumental work New Science, through the assessments made by Erich Auerbach and Hayden White. It also offers a close analysis of Hayden White‘s poetic methodology, which was inspired by Vico and was discussed in White‘s Metahistory (1973). The second chapter, ―Poetics of Politics: Ottoman History Writing‖, aims to show the universal applicability of certain parts of White‘s Vico-inspired methodology. On the one hand, this chapter draws attention to the “foundational value‖ of history writing in Ottoman prose. On the other hand, it also examines the 19th -century Ottoman reform mentality, along with its history, dating back to the second half of the 16th century, in the context of the theory of tropes, making use of reliable secondary sources. The third chapter, entitled ―The Metahistory of a Hero‖, offers a biography of Namık Kemal that is separate from the usual novel-centric approach, focusing instead mainly on his ―historical narratives‖. Though this chapter makes use of the empirical features of the texts in order to construct a biography of Namık Kemal, it operates from an understanding of the fact that these texts are themselves historical narratives and evaluates these sources on a metahistorical level. The final chapter, ―A Wishful Writing of History‖, puts forward the following argument in historicizing our knowledge of Namık Kemal: the author‘s historical narratives between 1866 and 1876 were written optimistically, ―hoping‖ for an auspicious future for the Ottoman state. In this context, four of Namık Kemal‘s books, all of which had been published before Namık Kemal‘s exile in Magosa – Devr-i İstila (1866), Barika-i Zafer (1872), Evrak-ı Perişan (1873), and Vatan Yahut Silistre (1873) – were analyzed. These narratives, which have not been taken into consideration in novel-centric studies of ―prose‖, in fact play an important determining role in the context of 19th -century Ottoman prose.
Open Access
Tanzimat'tan Cumhuriyet'e Ressentiment'in dönüşümü : Nezihe Muhddin ve Leylâ Erbil
(2012) Dik, Tuba
Leyla Erbil, in addition to her handling the social and political facts in her literal work, has a unique place in Turkish literature because of her expression techniques. Nezihe Muhiddin, on the other hand, has reflected the problems of her own era to her works; critized the institution of slavery and concubinage. The facts that both Leyla Erbil and Nezihe Muhiddin adapt the sociological aspects of the life to literary texts, and they focus on woman issues make them significant to consider in this work. The aim of this paper is to make comparisons of these two writers who both examine the social events. This comperative work aims to evaluate/explain the problems occured due to the social statue of women, and how these problems are concluded; thus how these conclusions are reflected on literature. Considering the social statue of women; Nietzche's technical term "ressentiment", for which he uses to explain the slavery ethics, will be highlighted in the paper. In the first chapter, some background the information is presented about the identity of writers and their works which are examined in this paper. The works studied are Benliğim Benimdir!(I Am The Master!), Güzellik Kraliçesi(Beauty Queen), Sus Kalbim Sus(Hush Now Hush) which are written by Nezihe Muhiddin, and Leyla Erbil's Tuhaf Bir Kadın(A Strange Woman), Karanlığın Günü(The Day of Darkness), Üç Başlı Ejderha(Three Headed Dragon), Mektup Aşkları(Love in Letters), Cüce(The Dwarf) and Kalan (Remains). After the second chapter, titled as "The Notions that can be Associated with Modernism" which includes the explanation of the "ressentiment and triangular desire" , the modernisation process in Turkey is historically examined in the third chapter, titled as " The Critical view on Turkish Modernisation Project." A new perspective is brought by means of hegemonical menhood and gender. The emergence of ressentiment and the transformation of ressentiment in women's modernization process are examined and explained with the examples from the chosen works, in the last chapter titled as " The Ressentiment of Women on Literal Level".
Open Access
Tanzimat'tan Servet-i Fünûn'a anneliğin kaybı ve çocuksuzluk
(2012) Başer Çoban, Seda
From Tanzimat till to destination of Servet-i Fünûn literature, not only the fact that the character of ‘the mother’ did not take a central role in Tanzimat novels, but also the fact that the loss of the mother character and childlessness was frequently observed in the novels about forbidden love starting with the Servet-i Fünûn, allow for studying under this title, in the Turkish literature course. After the proclamation of Tanzimat, while the importance of motherhood was increasing with the effect of the modernization process and the number of writings highlighting this importance was rising, motherhood was dealt with in the literature very limitedly. In this context, as the mother characters in Tanzimat novels were represented with a low-authority, the married women who were in a forbidden love were carried to the reader by releasing from the role of mother, in Servet-i Fünûn novels. In Ottoman, on the one hand, many terms directing the social and individual life -like sexuality, love, family or child- taking some new meanings and meanwhile, along with these new meanings, the life of the women got changed apparently, on the other hand, the holiness of the motherhood survived under the outcome of the traditional perspectives. Accordingly, in this thesis, the loss of motherhood and childlessness is discussed in company with the effects of the modernization by means of the some novels from the Tanzimat and Servet-i Fünûn era and in a supplement part, the same context is tracked in the literature of the republic era.
Open Access
Teselliyi eşyada aramak : Türkçe romanda nesneler
(2012) Uçar, Aslı
This study examines the literary roles of material objects in nine Turkish novels and seeks to develop an original framework for analysing things. Theories of the novel still lack an analytical frame for the study of objects. The first chapter deals with a number of theoretical approaches with regard to the things and lays down the bases of five original categorical constructs for analysing the fictional objects: Objectcharacters (personified things), character-objects (Thingified characters), quasiobjects (spatialised objects), metonymical objects and metaphorical objects. The second chapter focuses on character and object relations in three novels, namely Araba Sevdası (Carriage Affair), Udî (The Lutist) and Aşk-ı Memnu (Forbidden Love) published between 1850-1900. The roles of objects in Tatarcık (Sandfly), Çamlıcadaki Eniştemiz (Our Uncle in Çamlıca) and Huzur (A Mind at Peace) are scrutinized in the third chapter. The fourth chapter explores the poetics of objects in Fikrimin İnce Gülü (The Slender Rose of My Desire), Sonsuzluğa Nokta (A Dot to Eternity) and Masumiyet Müzesi (The Museum of Innocence) that are published after 1950. The final chapter is devoted to the discussion of textual findings. Except two, all selected novels share a similar pattern: The main characters seek the comfort of material things in an attempt to reduce emotional deprivations, which in turn leads to the personification of objects. Objects not only play a role as metonymical parts of the characters and settings, but also function as characters and space themselves in the narratives.
Open Access
"Ulusal alegori"den imparatorluk eğretilemesine : Osmanlı romanında çok-katmanlı anlatı yapısı
(2008) Başlı, Şeyda
Early Ottoman novels are simple “imitation”s of the French realism from the point of post-Republican critical discourse that establishes a direct relationship between the birth of the novel and the Ottoman modernisation process of the nineteenth century. Combining this claim with the “fact” that Ottoman novelists merely instrumentalised the genre in order to pursue their political aims, the birth of the Ottoman novel is assumed to be a process of technical “inferiority”. The main source of such inferiority, hence, is supposed to be the influence of the Ottoman Classical (Divan) poetry. On the other hand, this study essentially claims that a different theoretical paradigm is necessary to be able to evaluate both the process of social transformation that determines the emergence of the novel as a literary form and the novels produced in this process. Then, the source of such degrading viewpoint is not the novels themselves but the Eurocentric theoretical perspective of the post-Republican critical discourse. This study provides the literature survey on the post-Republican critiques about the Ottoman novels and the analysis of their multi-layered narrative structure to prove its basic claim. The multi-layered narrative structure is the result of the transformative synthesis of the narrative techniques of both the French realism and the Divan poetry. The novels are interpreted in a way that would reveal the political discussions on the transformation of the power structure of the empire and the aesthetical evaluation of the novel as a literary genre. The love narrative provided on the literal level acts as the basis of this multi-layered structure and carries two different narrative layers by synthesising the metaphorical narrative structure of the Divan poetry with technical narrative tools of the French realism.