Genesis

"Historical novel" in the history of literature, in other words "Great National Narrative", has been shaped as an influential genre in the history of Turkish literature. The main reason for this is the reactionary mood experienced by the intelligentsia during the collapse/dissolution of the empire. While this mood is fed by "the annexation of Bosnia... Tripoli, the Balkan disaster and the World War, defeat...", we encounter "a process that turns the gloomy atmosphere that has intensified since 1993 into an unbearable nightmare." The implicit extinction of the Ottoman identity, the emphasis on the Turkish identity as a way of sustaining and clinging to it in a vital way; Treating the language, Turkish, as a subject of intellectual discussions is an effort to compensate for the "loss" experienced. These compensation efforts necessitate the need for a "national history". While the past is invented and constructed as "history", it becomes necessary to put that "history" into circulation in the form of a popular narrative.
Literature has benefited greatly from heroic literature in order to develop the fiction, form and harmony of the "Great National Narrative" and to fulfill its function properly when it reaches its popular audiences, or rather, since it does not have a sufficient tradition, they have largely created it themselves. While Murat Belge deals with this "showcase" of literature in Genesis, he examines how nationalist, conservative and Islamist writers interpret the "Turkish historical novel".



Number of Pages: 412

Year of Printing: 2008


Language: Turkish
Publisher: Iletisim Publishing

Number of Pages: 412

First Printing Year: 2008

Language Turkish