Murathan Mungan'ın çağdaş masallarında cinsiyetçi geleneğin eleştirisi

Abstract

The Critique of Gender in Murathan Mungan’s Modern Tales Murathan Mungan (b. 1955), a prominent Turkish author of the late twentieth century, analyzes and interprets legends, myths, folk tales, and cultural archetypes of the East in his literary works. The links that Mungan establishes with traditional narratives intend to assess the cultural wealth of the land in which he lives. This specific orientation, which is one of the keystones of his understanding of art, helps us re-evaluate those patterns which have existed for ages in traditional works of culture. By examining cultural patterns evolving in time, Mungan succeeds in shedding light upon current social dynamics. In Mungan’s works, a gender-sensitive role-analysis come to prominence with respect to both the reader and the text. One of Mungan’s most noticeable themes is the question of “masculinity”. This recurrent theme offers Mungan various opportunities to question the role of society in imposing stereotypical gender roles on individuals. Patriarchal gender roles constrain the flourishing of individuals, inhibiting their creativity and freedom. Mungan’s works inhere powerful critiques of the patriarchal ideology of gender and its overt or covert influence over all aspects of life, ranging from politics to literature. Another significant theme in Mungan’s works is “loss of speech” or “diglossia”. It indicates a social handicap as well as an individual one, and provides us with multi-layered reading opportunities concerning individuals’ specific relationship with the language they use. Therefore, Mungan’s literary activity could be interpreted as giving a voice not only to one’s personal history but also to that of the east of Anatolia.