Ayaşlı ile Kiracıları'nda anlatıcı sorunsalı

Abstract

As a writer who witnessed the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, Memduh Şevket Esendal (1884-1952) rose to prominence as the author of Ayaşlı ile Kiracıları (Ayaşlı and His Tenants), which is considered one of the most important novels of the Republican era in Turkish literature. The novel, after being serialized in the newspaper Vakit, was published in book form in 1934. Ayaşlı ile Kiracıları attracted the attention of many writers and critics after it won the fifth place in the Novel Competition of Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (the Republican Party) in 1942. So far, appraisals of it have been centered on its usage of plain language and its accurate reflection of societal transformation during the early Republican period. However, the position of the narrator, which is highly decisive in shaping the novel, has been scarcely explored in criticism. In this thesis, the function of the narrator as a character will be analyzed in terms of his cultural distinction, class position, and narrative practices. In the novel, a bank officer writes his memories about the people he has lived with and the events he has witnessed in the nine-room flat of an apartment building. The narrator, who writes his memories in a seemingly sincere manner, as he comes to know the other tenants more closely, starts to feel uneasy about living in this place, a kind of boarding house. As the story develops the narrator introduces and scrutinizes many new characters, but at the same time, these characters begin to reveal their serious ethical shortcomings. Throughout the novel the narrator witnesses the moral deterioration of the environment which is rampant with drug addiction, gambling, material greed, gossip, selfishness, irresponsibility, and a general lack of love and care. Characters such as unfaithful couples and neglected children present an atmosphere that is unacceptable to ordinary citizens and average readers. On the other hand, it is understood upon close examination that the narrator himself epitomizes the hard-working, honest, and respectable citizen with egalitarian values. Among the people of questionable moral standards he stands out as a high bureaucrat and intellectual. The occasion of his happy and respectable marriage towards the end of the novel once again underscores his difference from the other tenants and the values they represent. The narrator mainly employs two narrative strategies throughout the novel. Firstly, he presents his world ostensibly as a passive spectator. Secondly, he presents a critique of this world without excessively accentuating his different value system. Therefore, he gives the impression that he is not imposing any value judgments upon his fellow tenants, who are in fact characters created by him. He tries to persuade the reader that he is in fact objective and acquiescent. Thus, a close examination of the narrative construction of the novel brings to light the difference between the narrator and the other people boarding the apartment house in terms of ethical standpoint and cultural status.