Yaşar Kemal'in İstanbul'una çevreci bir yolculuk

Abstract

Yaşar Kemal (b. 1923), probably the most eminent novelist of modern Turkish literature, is commonly recognized as the writer of Çukurova. However, in order to thoroughly comprehend his universal perspective revealing the connectedness of humans and nature, it is essential to look at his works on Istanbul, primarily the novel Deniz Küstü (1978 [The Sea-Crossed Fisherman 1985, trans. Thilda Kemal]), which are often overlooked by the critics. This thesis examines in depth how Yaşar Kemal constructs the embeddedness of his characters in their environment in his novel by taking into consideration the theoretical approaches developed by ecocriticism, ecopsychology, ecofeminism, and Deep Ecology. Other works of the writer that are discussed intertexually pertaining with Deniz Küstü are his novella Kuşlar da Gitti (1978 [The Birds Have Also Gone 1987, trans. Thilda Kemal]), his short stories “Ağır Akan Su” (1970 [“Still Waters” 1980, trans. Robert Finn and Thilda Kemal]), “Hırsız” (1987 [The Thief]), “Kalemler” (1987 [The Pens]) and “Lodosun Kokusu” (1981 [“The Scent of the South-west Wind”], the compilation of his interviews Allahın Askerleri (1978 [Soldiers of God]) and Bir Bulut Kaynıyor (1974 [A Cloud is Seething]) and his essays “Anadoludan Gelenler” (1959 [They Come from Anatolia] and “Menekşenin Balıkçıları” (1982 [The Fishermen of Menekşe]). In this thesis, I have tried to demonstrate how Yaşar Kemal deals mainly with the alienation process of his characters from themselves and their environment, and underlines the reciprocity of the relationship between humans and nature. Deniz Küstü propounds the idea that human beings make life possible through their power to imagine and their ability to empathize with others, including non-human forms of life. Thus, Yaşar Kemal utilizes some of the techniques of traditional oral literature, transforming them into defamiliarization devices affecting the readers’ position vis- à-vis the text, namely inviting their participation.