Dept. of Turkish Literature - Ph.D. / Sc.D.

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https://hdl.handle.net/11693/13927

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19 yüzyılda Osmanlı toplumu ve basılı Türkçe edebiyat : etkileşimler, değişimler, çeşitlilik
(Bilkent University, 2009) Ayaydın Cebe, Günil Özlem; Mignon, Laurent
This dissertation is built on the proposition that the majority of literary histories hitherto written on 19th century Ottoman Turkish literature reflects a very limited part of the object of investigation, selected generally according to non-literary criteria. Consequently, it is asserted that most of the research and examination relying on these sources is inadequate in comprehending the true nature of Ottoman literary universe. In this study, in order to overcome this problem of short-sightedness about the object of investigation, it is deemed necessary to depict an accurate map of printed literary texts in Turkish and focus on the medium that creates literature. To achieve this, a database is formed comprising bibliographic data on texts printed in Turkish in Arabic, Armenian and Greek letters between the years 1800-1900, and a new method of classification and counting is developed according to the specific needs of the material collected. Afterwards, the chronological trends of literary genres and their production in ratios are revealed. Through this, various tools are created for questioning set periodizations and fixed judgements about the field. By interpreting these tools in tandem with the historical, political and socio-cultural developments of the era, and in comparison to literature in manuscript form, the following main observations and conclusions, among others, are made: First, it is demonstrated that literature is the key field to understanding the modernization venture of the Ottoman Empire. Secondly, it is observed that there had been a closer literary interaction and exchange among the Muslim and nonMuslim communities of the Empire than that is supposed in contemporary assumption. Thirdly, it is found out that the advancements in printing and publishing caused a dramatic shift from oral and written culture to print culture that gave rise to social and literary transformations. Lastly, the effects of this transformation on classical, traditional and modern literary forms are discussed, and fresh areas of research are presented.
Open Access
19. yüzyıl cep romanlarının beden-zihin denetimi ve romantik ilişkilenme biçimleri açısından modernleşmedeki yeri
(Bilkent University, 2019-09) Sezen, Güneş; Kalpaklı, Mehmet
Bu tez, 19. yüzyıl sonunda yeni bir format olarak ortaya çıkan cep romanlarının, Arakel ve Şems kitapçıları tarafından basılan örneklerinde iktidar söylemleri ile kurmaca arasındaki ilişkileri incelemektedir. Yeni Tarihselci perspektifin benimsendiği bu çalışma, 19. yüzyılın modern ailesini oluşturan “yeni insanının,” kadınlık ve erkekliklerinin nasıl inşa edildiğine odaklanmıştır. Osmanlı’nın özellikle son yüzyılında artan modernleşme endişesi, hukukî ve toplumsal açıdan bazı düzenlemelerin önünü açarken, sağlık ve nüfus politikalarını da şekillendirmiştir. Asrın sonunda Arakel öncülüğünde yeni bir türsel format olarak ortaya çıkan cep romanları, bu tarihsel seyrin izlenebildiği, önemli kurmaca örnekleridir. Cep romanları, çoğunlukla döneminin en velûd ve talep gören yazarları tarafından yazılmalarına rağmen edebiyat eleştirisi ve tarihlerinde yer bulamamıştır. Bu çalışmada romantik ilişkilere odaklanan cep romanları, olumlu ve olumsuz beden temsilleri bakımından mercek altına alınmaktadır. Satış stratejileri ve eğlendirerek okutma gayreti, cep romanlarının hem biçimine hem de içeriğine etki etmiştir. Bu romanlar, asır sonunda görünürlüğü artan gayrimeşru ilişkiler, frengi, kürtaj, histeri, obsesyon, cinnet, intihar, alkol kullanımı gibi zihinsel ve bedensel “bozulmaların” kontrolü ve disiplini için birer araç olarak konumlandırılmıştır. Bu nedenle, bu “toplum mühendisliği metinleri,” her an her yerde okunabilme pratikliklerine dayanarak, modern Osmanlı ailesinin imkânlarını ve farklı kadınlık ve erkekliklerin kamusal alanda nasıl kurulduğunun tartışılabilmesine olanak sağlamaktadırlar.
Open Access
Birinci ağızdan aşk mesnevilerinde duygusal ifade tarzları
(Bilkent University, 2022-01) Çiftçi, Aslı; Kalpaklı, Mehmet
Birinci ağızdan aşk mesnevileri, divan şiiri araştırmacıları tarafından çoğunlukla sergüzeşt-name türü altında tasnif edilmiştir. Bu sınıflandırma sebebiyle ilgili metinler üzerinde yapılan araştırmalar, dar bir inceleme alanıyla sınırlandırılmıştır. Ayrıca divan şiirinde aşk üzerine yapılan çalışmalar mercek altına alındığında, aşkın çoğunlukla ideal şekliyle alımlanması ve aşk duygusu incelenirken kullanılan iki boyutlu (mecazi-ilahi) yöntemler, alanının sınırlarını iyice daraltmıştır. Divan şiiri çalışmalarının sınırlarının genişletilmesi, dünya edebiyatında tartışılmaya devam eden farklı bakış açılarının kullanılmasıyla mümkündür. Buradan yola çıkılarak bu tezde, Osmanlı birinci ağız aşk mesnevilerinden Tacizade Cafer Çelebi’nin Hevesnâme’si, Celili’nin Hecr-nâme’si, Dai Mehmed Efendi’nin Nevhatü’l-Uşşâk’ı ve Enderunlu Fazıl’ın Defter-i Aşk’ı öz-anlatılar (self-narratives) kategorisi altında sınıflandırılmıştır. Berlin Araştırma Grubu araştırmacıları arasında yer alan Gabriele Jancke’nin öz-anlatılar üzerine oluşturduğu argümanlarından etkilenilerek oluşturulan söz konusu çalışmada, şairlerin birinci ağızdan kaleme aldıkları aşk mesnevilerinde öne çıkardıkları duygu ifadeleri vasıtasıyla, ait oldukları sosyal ağlarla iletişim kurdukları öne sürülmüştür. Yapılan incelemeler neticesinde duygusal ifadelerin birer kod / norm görevi görerek duygusal senaryo işlevi kazandığı ve ilgili senaryolar aracılığıyla şairlerin, ilişkide oldukları topluluklarla iletişimde oldukları; tersi biçimde şairlerin eserlerinde kendi duygu ifadeleri yerine, ait oldukları sosyal toplulukların belirlediği normları öne çıkararak, duygusal ifade tarzlarının sosyal ilişki ağları aracılığıyla inşa edildiği sonucuna varılmıştır. İfade biçimlerinde gözlenen bu farklılaşma ile aşkın ideal ölçütlerinin dışında farklı şekillerde de kurgulandığı ortaya konulmuştur. Ayrıca şairlerin öne çıkardıkları duygusal ifade tarzlarının farklı şairlerle ortaklaştığı ve ortaklaşan söz konusu duygusal ifadeler etrafında, ilgili şairlerin duygusal topluluklar oluşturdukları tespit edilmiştir.
Open Access
Cumhuriyet öncesi kadın yazarların romanlarında toplumsal cinsiyet ve kimlik sorunsalı (1877-1923)
(Bilkent University, 2012) Günaydın, Ayşegül Utku; Halman, Talât
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
Description of the visual art objects in Evliyâ Çelebi‘s book of travels: an ekphrastic approach
(Bilkent University, 2016-06) Kaya, Nilay; Tezcan, Nuran
As a part of the ancient Greek and Roman rhetorical practices, ekphrasis basically means the verbalisation of a visual object, and it has become a literary tool in time. Since the description of Achilles‘ shield in Homer‘s İlliad, ekphrasis has been a frequently used literary practice which writers, historians, art critics apply. Ekphrasis can be applied as the description of visual art objects through the fictional forms such as poetry and novel as well as it occurs in the prose concerning history, art criticism and travelogues; it is studied in order to analyse writer's handling with the description of the object. Ekphrasis studies enable to capture the writer's relationship between objectivity and subjectivity, the elements of his/her expressed subjectivity, through literary tools. This study will examine Evliyâ Çelebi's "ekphrastic" approach in describing mosques, churches and monasteries, paintings and sculptures in Seyahatnâme (The Book of Travels), especially focusing on how the subjective factors determining the writer‘s aesthetic appreciation occur in his literary practice. What kind of a fictive language does ekphrasis, which is essentially the act of making the silent image talk, show in Evliyâ Çelebi's representation? What are the characters of the new images created by this language, which is independent from the original objects, in other sense the images which Evliyâ created on his own way? How does the reflection of personal taste and cultural positioning affect aesthetic view of Evliyâ Çelebi‘s "ekphrastic" narrative? This questioning aims to observe how the aesthetic view of Seyahatnâme's author takes shape and to be a model of an approach to put forth the new literary qualities of Seyahatnâme's in the light of ekphrasis study. The problem of "ekphrasis" enables Seyahatnâme which has been already a study topic for various social sciences, to be evaluated in the discipline of fiction more widely. As the issue concerns basically the relationship between visuality and writing, it would bring a new interdisciplinary approach to Seyahatnâme studies.
Open Access
Dil devrimi’nin erken Cumhuriyet dönemi’nde şiir ve çeviri bağlamında Türk edebiyatı’na etkisi (1932-1950)
(Bilkent University, 2016-03) Sert, Havva Hâle; Kalpaklı, Mehmet
This study analyses the influence of language policies implemented in the early Republican period on the Turkish literature in the context of poetry and translation. It first looks at language change policy that started with the Alphabet Reform and argues that its first impact was felt on displacement of semiotic associations of metaphorical words in the Ottoman poetry. When the debates covered in the First Turkish Language Congress Proceedings Records are analysed in the context of literature, it can be seen that a link between language, thought, mentality and civilization was established. Moreover, there was a determination to develop an easily understandable literature by replacing the Ottoman (Divan) poetry and Arabic and Persian originated words implying the old mentality and way of life with words taken from the public language/folk literature. The thesis examines the poems published in the leading newspapers of the era Cumhuriyet, Ulus and Akşam and the journals Servetifünun, Ülkü and Varlık as part of a campaign that has been launched after the 2nd Turkish Language Congress to write prose and poetry using “pure Turkish” words / neologisms. The deputies, bureaucrats, journalists and men of letters who wrote these poems were critically examined with Gramsci’s “organic intellectual” concept in the sense that they were the founders and re-producers of the language policy theory and had the ideal of making the people adopt “pure Turkish”. The language policies of the İnönü era are followed through the Tercüme journals published by the Translation Bureau (Tercüme Bürosu). The study presents its findings about the impact of the Language Reforms on the literature respectively in the 1940s and 1950s as follows: “New” and “old” words were used together in the translations and the sentence structure of the Western languages were tried to be adapted to this language. Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca, Ahmet Muhip Dıranas and Oktay Rifat replaced the “old” words they used in their poems in the 1930s with “new” words in the 1950s and beyond.
Open Access
Edebiyat sosyolojisi açısından Türk öykücülüğü : 1990-2005
(Bilkent University, 2007) Dündar, Leyla Burcu; Oğuzertem, Süha
In the 1990s, the emergence of a group of young short story writers was labeled as a “boom” in Turkish literature. This dissertation aims to reveal the connection between the recent changes in the short story writing and the transformations in the society by focusing on the period between 1990-2005, and examining 131 books written by 53 writers. In the thesis, the Turkish short story writing from the 1990s to the present has been discussed from a sociological point of view, employing both quantitative and qualitative research methods. First, a database has been formed in order to empirically specify the so-called boom. Next, sociological profiles have been drawn using the biographical information gathered about the selected group. Then, the period has been examined. Sociopolitical developments of the 1990s both in Turkey and the world have been summarized in order to provide a framework for the analysis. It is understood that there are astounding connections and disconnections between the texts and the period. Although the Turkish short story writing of the 1990s seems to be quite disinterested in the political agenda, it is determined that the outcomes of some incidents are indirectly reflected. The depolitization process following the 1980 coup d’état and the individualistic way of thinking stemming from that have strongly influenced the texts written in the 1990s. This individualistic approach shows itself in the personal aspects of dedications and epigraphs, and the widespread use of the first person narrative. The most remarkable feature of the recent short story writing is the employment of visual elements. In addition to the diversification of the texts by an assortment of fonts, the display of illustrations and graphics may be interpreted as the internalization of the visual culture by the literary public sphere. Apart from these formal innovations, the roots of such characteristics as thematic ambiguity, fragmentation and intertextuality can be traced back to postmodernism.
Open Access
Evliâ's voive the sultan's shadow: fiction in Evliâ Çelebi's Seyahatnâme
(Bilkent University, 2015-06) Öztürk Bitik, Başak; Tezcan, Semih
Despite some views regarding the existence of “untruthful” and “fabricated” historical data in Evliyâ Çelebi’s Seyahatnâme, this study puts forward that fictitious tales in the Seyahatnâme are constructed deliberately with the use of certain techniques and methods. By using close reading, Evliyâ Çelebi’s stories on Ottoman sultans are reviewed with their historical background. Research carried on several references, including Peçevî’s History which is frequently cited in the Seyahatnâme, revealed that Evliyâ constructed certain historical events as the way he “wanted” them to happen. Throughout Evliyâ’s work, an “ideal” Ottoman sultan image is depicted regarding several issues; from relations between the Palace and the Bektaşî, Mevlevî, Gülşenî, Melamî leaders and other religious orders whom Evliyâ regard as miraculous, to the propriety of building a sultan mosque. Examples have been found in the Seyahatnâme, where contradicting acts and behaviours of the sultan’s with this image are “corrected” or criticized by fictitious stories. Although there is coherence and consistency in the sultans’s tales throughout the ten volumes of the Seyahatnâme, it has been identified that certain changes and additions were made to some stories depending on the context. Evliyâ Çelebi, like a shadow play puppeteer, with his choices such as adding details and highlighting when or who gets attention in his text, turns a one dimensional Karagöz stage into a multi-dimensional literary masterpiece that is the Seyahatnâme.
Open Access
Evliyâ Çelebi'nin acayip ve garip dünyası
(Bilkent University, 2012) Özay, Yeliz; Tezcan, Nuran
Evliyâ Çelebi,in his work Seyahatnâme (Book of Travels), draws the reader’s attention to certainnarratives by repeated recourse to specificnarrative genres. One such genre, which is important for appreciating Evliyâ Çelebi as a storyteller and understanding the fictional dimensions of his work, is that of “marvels and wonders” (acayib ü garayib). In this study, “Evliyâ’s world of the strange and wondrous”is analyzed through the mentality of this storyteller who feeds on and is fed by oral culture, considering the epistemological standards of the 17th -century Ottoman world.Indoing so, the study proposes to approach Evliyâ Çelebi as a storyteller based on Walter Benjamin’s work “The Storyteller” and on the oral character of Seyahatnâme.Focusing on acayib ü garayib, evaluations will also be made of suchconcepts as “true and untrue”, “reality and fiction”, “context”, “experience”, and “knowledge”. Considering the long-standing history of Acâ’ib in the tradition of travel narratives, Evliyâ’s use of this category seems to be a conscious decision based on the Islamic tradition of travel writing.To fully understand what Evliyâfinds to be “strange and wondrous” and why he does so, the narratives in question can be classified under certain concepts, such as talismans and spells, magic and witchcraft, dreams and prophecies, adventures, physical appearances, animals, different beliefs or cultures, landforms, architectural structures, and so on. These include most of the basic concepts in Evliyâ’s travels, and indeed in his life. Thus, it is difficult to say that the narratives of “marvels and wonders” in the Seyahatnâme focus on certain restricted topics. The common characteristic of these texts is that they all evoke a feeling of “astonishment”. Besides this, Evliyâ rarely places a totally fictitious, supernatural, or fantastic story under the title of acayib or garayib. Rather, in the majority of thetexts, these terms refer more than anything else to the realm of reality, rather than to that of fantasy.
Open Access
Fictions of masculinites in Ottoman literature (17th, 18th, 19th centuries)
(Bilkent University, 2016-06) Gökpınar, Bahar; Tezcan, Nuran
The primary purpose of this dissertation is to understad the changing fictions of masculinites in Ottoman literature, especially poems of 17th , 18th, 19th centuries. In this way, 7 literary works which reflects the social alternations were chosen. The critical elements and altering factors related to masculinities were evaluated. In these elements, there are desire, love, power, rulership, acknowledgment of sex, physical beauty, concern of aesthetics, obscenity, fatherhood, being a husband and social roles. Homoerotic love had an important place in this study while the fictions of masculinites were searching. In the first chapter of this theses the masculinity studies were elucidated. In the second chapter, the masnavis written before 17th century were investigated. Thereby a path was formed for changing fictions of masculinites. Third chapter was composed of texts analysis. In the last part of the study the existence of women poets in Ottoman poetry and their masculinization process in literary tradition was debated.
Open Access
Gazavâtnâme türünün romans-epikten biyografiye dönüşümü
(Bilkent University, 2015) Kurtuluş, Meriç; Tezcan, Semih
Because war and heroic deeds constitute the main themes of gazavâtnâmes, they are classified as epic narratives in the Turkish literary canon. Gazavâtnâmes were applied for shedding light on the foundation process of the Ottoman Empire by prominent scholars such as Paul Wittek, the pioneer of them. These narratives became the primary sources of the Ottoman historiography, therefore their fictional and aesthetic characteristics, and relationship with the tradition of oral storytelling were neglected for a long time. In this dissertation, the prose manuscripts of Battalnâme, Dânişmendnâme, Saltuknâme and Gazavât-ı Hayreddin Paşa were analysed with a comparative literary approach and the similarities and differences between the narrative structures of the four texts were revealed. The similarities between motifs, characters and plots of the four narratives constitute the focal point of this attempt of comparative reading. The revealing of these parallelisms in the narrative structure of the four manuscripts makes easier to find out the epic and romance characteristics of them. The intertextual figures and motifs found in Battalnâme, Dânişmendnâme and Saltuknâme demonstrate that gazavâtnâme narrators were influenced from Arabic and Persian epic narratives. Therefore in this dissertation the literary relationship between these texts with Arabic and Persian epic narratives such as Şehnâme and Zü’l-himme was searched through intertextual references. In this thesis, the similarities of the gazavâtnâme genre with epic and romance, originally European literary genres, were discussed. However this way of comparison was suggested only as an alternative critical viewpoint. The aim of this comparative attempt of reading was to demonstrate the romance-epic characteristics of Battalnâme, Saltuknâme and Dânişmendnâme and the emergence of biographical characteristics in Gazavât-ı Hayreddin Paşa, which was asserted as a transformation of the genre.
Open Access
Genç edebiyatın gençleri: Geç dönem Osmanlı romanında gençlik, gelecek ve idealler
(Bilkent University, 2015) Demir, Meryem; Tezcan, Nuran
This study presents an analysis of five texts which are thought of as examples of late Ottoman novels and which focus on the change and transformation from early Ottoman novels to novels of the late period. Into the novels which the narrative of European snobbery gave its place to the narratives of future depending on the crisis period that Empire was going through, the idealist youth is at the core of narratives.. The “youth,” united under the question of what they will face in future, are in an instrumental position in the discussion of the extent of appropriate Westernization. The first part of this thesis, in the chapters titled “From the Apprehension of Fatherlessness to the Apprehension of Deficiency in Certain Generation”, “From the Act of Reading to the Act of Writing” and “From the Miserable Man to the Respected One" identifies changes in Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil's novels written between 1890 and 1911; Bir Ölünün Defteri (1890), Mai ve Siyah (1897), Nesl-i Ahîr (1909), Mehmed Murad’s Turfanda mı Yoksa Turfa mı? (1890) and Ali Kemal’s Fetret (1911). One of the important changes examined in the second part of the thesis is the involvement of adults and fathers in terms of representation. These characters are used as instruments to express idealism in the work of late period Ottoman intellectuals. In the third part, population growth of the appropriate characters is confirmed in the novels which the European snob type lost its appearance. In the analysis, the use of these positive characters separate two parts as either “reformist” and “idealist” in the discussion of extent of appropriate westernization. Because this thesis defends the position that the undefined future narrative forms a common aspect among these novels, the fourth chapter focuses on the differentiation, diversification and disappearance of the place; so it is revealed that narratives end up with the loss of the places in parallel with dystopia.
Open Access
Going beyond borders: an analysis of the novels that include adulteress within the context of turkish modernity
(Bilkent University, 2016-04) Erginer, Ayşe; Tezcan, Nuran
This study examines the Ottoman-Turkish novels in which the focus of the plot is female adultery. In this thesis marriage is considered as a contract that guarantees the sexual intercourse will be between only spouses and adultery is regarded that transgression of the marriage contract. The thesis focuses on the Aşk-ı Memnu (1900) by Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil, Sevda Peşinde (1910) by Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar, Sabir Efendi’nin Gelini (1921) by Ercüment Ekrem Talu, Zaniyeler (1924) by Salâhaddin Enis Atabeyoğlu and Ölmeye Yatmak (1973) by Adalet Ağaoğlu. These novels are a product of different historical contexts and this thesis questions the attitude towards adulteresses with regards to the reasons for and results of adultery and whether they differ or not in different novels according to the modernization periods. The first chapter examines the novels Aşk-ı Memnu by Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil and Sevda Peşinde by Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar. The chapter argues that even though these authors present different characteristics in their writings in terms of their perception about novel, their attitude towards adulteress is similar. The second chapter examines the novels Sabir Efendi’nin Gelini by Ercüment Ekrem Talu, Zaniyeler by Salâhaddin Enis Atabeyoğlu and Ölmeye Yatmak by Adalet Ağaoğlu. The novels examined in the first chapter relates adultery with the human nature. However, the novels examined in this chapter relates adultery with cultural factors. Thus, this chapter points out that during the nationalization period the narration of adulteress experienced a transformation. The third chapter focuses on the male characters in the adulterous triangle. It has been observed that despite the changes in the image of adulteresses, the image of their husbands stayed stable. Husbands are always fictionalized in a weakness that makes their wife rightful. Other men make their weakness more visible. The image of the husbands and other men are analyzed according to the concept of “hegemonic masculinity” by R. W. Connell.
Open Access
Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar'ın romanlarında ahlak sorunsalı
(Bilkent University, 2007) Serdar, Ali; Oğuzertem, Süha
Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar’s (1864-1944) first article titled “İstanbul’da Bir Frenk” (A European in Istanbul) was published in 1884 and from that time onwards his 41 novels, 9 story books, 4 plays, and 6 collection of essays composed of his articles and polemics have been published. In this study, Gürpınar’s ten novels, namely Bir Sevda Denklemi (An Equation of Love, 1899), Metres (The Mistress, 1899), Acı Gülüş (Bitter Laugh, 1923), Ben Deli miyim? (Am I Mad? 1925), Kokotlar Mektebi (The School of Cocottes, 1929), Gönül Bir Yeldeğirmenidir (The Heart is a Windmill, 1943), Dünyanın Mihveri Kadın mı, Para mı? (What Is the Axis of the World, Woman or Money? 1949), Kaderin Cilvesi (Turn of Fortune, 1964), Can Pazarı (A Matter of Life and Death, 1968), and Namuslu Kokotlar (The Virtuous Cocottes, 1973) have been analyzed within the framework of ethical criticism, especially with regard to the repeated themes, the interference of the author and the narrator, and the intellectual sources of Gürpınar’s thought. Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar had adopted a moral discourse in his writings and created his fictional world around the themes of struggle for existence, starvation, moral decline, and infidelity, which are among significant notions in the field of ethics. The intrusion of the author and the narrator in fictional worlds are other salient and constitutive features of Gürpınar’s fiction. Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, and social Darwinist ideas, to which he had frequently referred, also played substantial roles in the formation of his fictional world. That is why it is vital to understand the system of values that lies beneath the author’s thought while analyzing his works. In this context, the criticisms regarding Gürpınar’s idea of the novel have been reconsidered; his works have been examined from the perspective of ethical criticism; and the system of values that shape his fictional world has been portrayed through a text-centered reading.
Open Access
II Selim dönemi sonuna kadar Osmanlı Edebî hâmîlik geleneği
(Bilkent University, 2006) İsen-Durmuş, Tûbâ Işınsu; Kalpaklı, Mehmet
This study explores the Ottoman tradition of patronage of the literary arts up to the era of Selim II. It analyzes the definition of patronage, as well as its emergence and development, which coincided with the development of the empire, and compares disparate and similar views of patronage as it existed before and after the establishment of the Ottoman State. The main sources drawn upon in the chapters, “An Overview of the Founding of the Ottoman Tradition of Patronage of the Literary Arts,” “Patrons and Critics: The Presentation and Evaluation of Poetry during the Ottoman Empire’s Foundation,” “The Benefits of the Patronage System as Enjoyed by the Artist, the Patron and Society in General,” and “An Evaluation of Criticism of the Patronage System,” are poets’ biographies (tezkire) and original documents acquired from Topkapı Palace’s Treasury Archive. This study illustrates the crucial role that the Ottoman system of patronage played in the development of Ottoman poetry, and argues that the richness of the Ottoman poetic repertoire is due, in part, to its patrons’ double role as patrons and critics. At first glance, this system’s first benefit for the artist appears to be the câize, or reward given to the poet for a laudatory poem. However, when one considers the polemics surrounding this reward system, which point to its ceremonial nature, it becomes obvious that such material benefits were of lesser importance than the values of “protection and authority” which the patronage system ensured both patrons and artists.
Open Access
III. Ahmed devri Osmanlı şiirinde sosyal ağlar ve edebî prestij
(Bilkent University, 2022-01) Onay, Ebru; Kalpaklı, Mehmet
Bu tez, sosyal sermayenin Osmanlı şairlerinin edebî prestiji (kazanılması, korunması, birikimi, kaybı vb.) üzerindeki etkilerini araştırmaktadır. İncelemenin temel amacı, Osmanlı şairlerinin edebî prestijini ve görünürlüğünü etkileyen temel edebî, sosyal, siyasi, kurumsal, kişisel ve tarihî dinamikleri anlamaktır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda tezde, XVIII. yüzyıldan seçilmiş birtakım edebî tür ve metinler (divan, vekaletname, tezkire, şiir ve nazire mecmuaları vb.) incelenmiş ve III. Ahmed döneminde aktif olarak şiir üreten bir grup şaire odaklanılmıştır. Örneklem kümesi olarak seçilen şairler şunlardır: Tırsî (öl. 1140/1727?), Nedîm (öl. 1143/1730), ve Vahîd/Mahtûmî (öl. 1145/1732-33), Arpaemînizâde Sâmî (öl. 1146/1734), Râşid (öl. 1147/1735), İzzet Ali Paşa (öl.1147/1735), Sâkıb Dede (öl. 1148/1736), Seyyîd Vehbî (öl. 1149/1737), Ârifzâde Asım (öl. 1150/1738), Nahîfî (öl. 1151/1739), Âtıf-ı Defterî (öl.1155/1742), Mirzâzâde Sâlim (öl. 1156/1743), Rıza Neccarzâde (öl. 1159/1746), Neylî (öl. 1161/1748) ve Eğrikapılı Râsim (öl. 1169/1756). Bu doğrultuda tez çalışması; saray, medreseler, benzeri kurumsal ve sosyal çevrelerde kurulan edebî ilişkilere ve bağlara (intisap ve himaye vb.) özel bir bakış açısıyla yaklaşmakta ve XVIII. yüzyıl Osmanlı şiirinin alternatif bir resmini sunmaktadır. Bu resmi çerçevelemek ve anlamak için; “sosyal sermaye” ve “sosyal ilişki ağları”, “edebî prestij” ve “edebiyat alanı” gibi belirli teorik yaklaşımlar ve kavramlardan yararlanılmıştır. Araştırmanın temel bulgularından biri şudur: Üçüncü taraf aktörler, yani aracılar, Osmanlı şiir alanında her daim etkin olmuş; şair ile hamisi veya övdüğü kişi/ler arasındaki ilişkilerde, birleştirici ve destekleyici bir rol oynamakla kalmamış şiirlerin sipariş edilmesini, dolaşımını, hatta geleceğini bile etkileyebilmiştir.
Open Access
İmparatorluk ve roman : Ermeni harfli Türkçe romanları Osmanlı
(Bilkent University, 2010) Cankara, Murat; Mignon, Laurent
In this dissertation the early Turkish novels in the Armenian script are focused on. These novels are Hovsep Vartanyan’s Akabi Hikâyesi (1851), Hovhannes H. Balıkçıyan’s Karnig, Gülünya ve Dikran’ın Dehşetlü Vefatleri (1863) and Hovsep Maruş’s Bir Sefil Zevce (1868). Being written by Ottoman Armenians and published in Istanbul, all three appeared before the early Turkish novels in the Arabic script. The following are the primary aims of the dissertaion: 1) An evaluation and critique of the Ottoman/Turkish and Armenian literary historiographies both of which have overlooked or looked down upon the texts in question; 2) a contribution to and a theoretical and conceptual analysis of the cultural encounter between Ottoman Muslim/Turks and Armenians supported by new empirical evidence; 3) a comparison of early Turkish novels in the Arabic and Armenian scripts and, through this comparison, a questioning of the existing approaches to the latter which have also been called the “Tanzimat novel” and a contribution to the debate on to what extent the literatures produced by Ottoman millets had or could have common features. These are among the major findings that have been emphasized throughout the dissertation: 1) As far as literature is in question, the cultural encounter between Ottoman Muslim/Turks and Armenians should not only be discussed through a limited number of canonic literary texts but also by taking into account non-literary and non-textual means of encounter; 2) the authors of the early Turkish novels in Armenian and Arabic scripts appropriated different and at times conflicting features of European romanticism.
Open Access
İzlek ve biçem ilişkisi açısından Suat Derviş romanlarının Türk edebiyatındaki yeri
(Bilkent University, 2010) Uluğtekin, Melahat Gül; Halman, Talât
This study analyzes the novels of Suat Derviş (1905-1972) by exploring theme and style interrelatedness and discovering how to contextualize her within the history of Turkish literature. Although thirteen Suat Derviş novels were referred to in this study, three of them, Fosforlu Cevriye, Çılgın Gibi , Sınır serialized 1943 - 1945, were chosen for close reading. The analyses draw from Georg Lukács’ contributions to the fields of realism, the concept of reification and the theory of the novel. As the study of these works of popular fiction progressed, the question of popular literature versus high literature arose . In this context, however, it was more pertinent to focus on the feuilleton as a form of popular literature rather than on popular literature versus high literature. The study of all Dervis’ novels emphasized the lines of continuity from the writer’s earlier period versus the novels of her mature period. As a result, a leitmotiv, “alienation”, was found to recur in all her novels. Regarding style, romantic elements are dominant in her earlier novels whereas the structure of her later novels reflects a tension between romantic and realistic elements. In these novels, love is the tool that promises totality by overcoming alienation. However, love, while transforming the characters, is not enough to bring them happiness. The popular elements of her novels, their romantic and realistic style, and the themes of alienation and love were scrutinized to shed light on the writer’s relation to the Turkish tradition of novel-writing in terms of continuity and transformation. This perspective enabled a focus on her non-existence in literary history and also demonstrated that Suat Derviş is a forerunner in Turkish novel-writing in two areas: themes of “horror” in the Turkish novel in the 1920s and the first examples—in Turkish literature—of proletarian novels in the 1930s. Her contribution to the Turkish novel, however, was ignored because her non-appearance in literary histories and her being labelled as a popular fiction writer.
Open Access
Madness and women in turkish literature through the lens of gender and aesthetic autonomy
(Bilkent University, 2014-12) Aydın, Hilâl; Tezcan, Nuran
In this study, I examine why and how madness—an overarching concept that is positioned as the opposite of rationality and functions as a way of showing what is abnormal—has been associated with femininity in Turkish literature. Beginning with the 19th century, I will discuss genderized forms of madness in literature in conjunction with the paradigmatic changes these forms underwent in connection to the Turkish modernization process. In this manner, I will clarify in periodical terms the effects on literature of norms determined by such closely interrelated social variables as political conditions, the development of modern psychiatry, the women’s movement, and the transformation of gender-related social policies. Beginning in the 1890s, and particularly in the works of male authors, there is a notable prevalence of female characters who go mad as a result of free love and unrestrained sexuality, characters who were drawn under the influence of such contemporary psychiatric notions as hysteria and degeneration. In this context, it is clear that this oft-repeated image is a literary reflection of tacit patriarchal anxieties concerning a loss of authority in the face of women’s struggles for equality and basic rights, struggles that had become an important issue of the Ottoman project of modernization and that took center stage in contemporary debates on societal change. At the same time, those female authors of the period who dealt with the subject of female madness in their works approached the issue differently than male authors in that they took up the matter in terms of women’s place(s) in society. It can also be observed that, in more general terms, the connection made between female madness—as opposed to male rationality and willpower—and the supposed danger to the social order of a female sexuality characterized as “sedition” continued to rear its head through the social gender roles that were given shape under the emergent nationalism of republican modernization. Moreover, in the period after the establishment of the republic, in opposition to the ostensibly new type of woman that emerged as women became “rationalized,” as well as becoming more masculine and losing their aura of mystery, traditional female beauty and sexual attraction became an object of nostalgia for male desire and, once again, came to be resurrected in the form of madness. In the post-1960 period, a social realist aesthetic became dominant in literature in parallel with the rise of leftist politics. Modernist enterprises that defended aesthetic autonomy came to be criticized within the framework of psychopathology, and female authors—who were among the pioneers of this anti-aesthetic that was medicalized as a bourgeois disease—came face to face with a double dilemma in terms of having to prove themselves as a result of the gender hierarchy that was in place. However, even as female authors who sought autonomy both aesthetically and intellectually as well as individually were highly praised, they also came to be associated with madness in a romanticized manner that ultimately rendered their literary originality quite indistinct. As a result, the work of Leylâ Erbil, Sevim Burak, and Tezer Özlü—whose names are often connected with madness and at the same time taken as exemplars for contemporary female authors—have remained little studied by critics. In this study, I conduct detailed analyses that focus on one work by each of these authors in which they are considered to have, in different ways, pushed the limits of literature. In this manner, the study will question the specific aesthetic relationship each of these authors and works establishes with madness.
Open Access
Melodram ve komedi : Osmanlı'da Türkçe ve Ermenice modern dramatik edebiyatlar
(Bilkent University, 2011) Uslu, Mehmet Fatih; Mignon, Laurent
Modern theater in the Ottoman Empire had a spectacular development, lead by Ottoman Armenians, in the 19th century and it drew a large audience. At the same time many Ottoman intellectuals became playwrights and they produced a great number of plays. This thesis tries to understand the political and social implications of dramatic literature by comparatively analyzing plays written in Ottoman Turkish and Armenian in the period. The thesis has two main arguments: First, I claim that we can analyze the whole dramatic-literary area in three genres (melodrama, historical drama, comedy) and every different generic area discloses and represents a main dynamic in the empire. Melodramas represent dominant political-moralistic tendencies, historical dramas show the search for national identity, and comedies disclose developing market relations and changing economy. Second, by reading texts in Turkish and Armenian together and comparatively, I endeavor to understand mutual relations between Ottoman subjects and negotiationconflict paths these three genres demonstrated. In this perspective, I claim that melodramas and historical dramas on the side of conflict and comedies on the side of negotiation disclose an inexorable struggle. This struggle is the evidence of the empire’s future collapse and the possibility of a peaceful solution at the same time.