Suchergebnisse

AbstractThe Turkish novel became a national chronotope proper with the founding of the Republic in 1923 and the emergent conception of the national geography following the War of Independence (1919-1922). This was the Anatolian territory, with Ankara as the new capital of the nation instead of İstanbul which had been the Ottoman Empire's center for almost five centuries. Anatolia became the motherland on which the national consciousness of the new nation would be inscribed. In the novels of the republican era, Anatolian iconography and mythography illustrate how this setting became a persistent element of narrative structure as a significant topos in both senses of the word: as place and theme. An inquiry into the permutations of the theme of Anatolia since the War of Independence will reveal the changing attitudes and ideas related to Turkish nationalism and its most outstanding component, the cult of the father personified by Atatürk. This essay, however, does not only aim at a survey of an ideology's history via literature; it also investigates the Anatolian iconography and mythography, as they figure in the Turkish novel of the republican era, and touches upon the various narrative strategies that major Turkish novelists have employed in their search for the right form for this important content, the right form to either reinforce or undermine a sacred story.

AbstractLiterary narratives offer their audience opportunities to surpass existing monolithic social and cultural identities through reflecting on and representing the past from new perspectives. This article aims to elaborate this argument by a discussion of multi-ethnicity, multiculturalism, reflective nostalgia, and cultural intimacy in the portrayals of Diyarbakir's "Infidel Quarter" in two literary works: Mıgırdiç Margosyan's Gavur Mahallesi and Mehmed Uzun's Nar Çiçekleri. Both works, the former as a short story collection and the latter as a collection of essays, share autobiographical features and reflect the multiculturalism of Diyarbakır in the 1940s and 1950s from the point of view of an Armenian and a Kurd with similar sensitivities. Margosyan and Uzun's works indicate a cultural pluralism in Diyarbakır where different religious cultures used to exist side by side. The intermingling of languages in this neighborhood shows a kind of "inclusive multiculturalism." Svetlana Boym's differentiation and discussion of two kinds of nostalgia as restorative and reflective, the former as nationalist and the latter as individual or collective memory oriented, help us to evaluate Margosyan and Uzun's works as alternatives to nationalist narratives. Both of these works, dealing with reflective nostalgia through the depiction of cultural intimacy between ethnic groups, provide their audience with possibilities for the future.

AbstractThis article examines the portrayal of Mehmed II, the conqueror of Istanbul, in Turkish historical fiction, as well as the literary and ideological implications of his portrayal with regard to Turkish national identity. Since the early Turkish Republic, Mehmed II has been described as a major character in over thirty historical novels. The article argues that over time the literary characterization of Mehmed II in Turkish fiction has undergone substantial change. During the early republican period, historical fiction adopted an ambivalent attitude toward Mehmed II. While one historical novel under discussion focuses mostly on Mehmed II's despotism and aggressive tendencies, another novel contemplates his military bravery and his ability to govern. However, with the arrival of the multi-party system in 1950, these ambivalent approaches toward Mehmed II changed, and he began to be portrayed as the ideal Turkish statesman, gaining the status of a national hero. The latter attitude toward him dominated historical fiction writing as late as in the early 1990s. At that time, Turkish historical meta-fiction began to portray a more complex and ambiguous Mehmed II, thus both challenging as well as re-producing his previous representations.