Transformation of "Narrative", "Narrator" and "Love" from oral literature to tanzimat novel [Sözlü edebi̇yattan tanzi̇mat romanina gi̇derken 'Anlati', 'Anlatici' ve 'Aşk olgusu'nun dönüşümü]

• Main Author: Kekeç, N.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Turkish
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Folk narrative; Narrator; Oral literature; Tanzimat novel; Written literature; sami
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11693/21675

While syndromes of Westernization that emerged with Tanzimat manifest themselves through different aspects of society, literature takes up a functional role in coping with these syndromes. During this period in which the literary paradigm shift from "the oral" to "the written" took place, Tanzimat,s novel stands out with its didactic style. In this context, on one hand, Tanzimat,s novel is rather evaluated as a source to reveal the socio-psychological structure of the era, given that it suffers from certain weaknesses regarding the genre. On the other hand, when judged as succeeding traditional folk storytelling, aspects that are taken to be "technical weaknesses" of Tanzimat,s novel appear as features belonging to this storytelling tradition. The author acting with an instinct that is similar to the storyteller's, addresses not the readers but the "audience who listens". Authors in the early Tanzimat period such as Ahmet Mithat Efendi, Şemseddin Sami and Nami{dotless}k Kemal seem to be storytellers, rather than novel writers. Besides, the way that "love", frequently was the theme in early Tanzimat novels, is literarily expressed by use of motives seeming to belong to the folk storytelling tradition. Tanzimat,s novel, even though it owes its genre-related aspects to the Western novel, the social function it takes up tends to succeed the stance observed in folk storytelling tradition. Not only the narrator's attitude, but also the use of motives from folk literature could serve as pointing to the nature of such a transformation. The fundamental problem, then, seems to be evaluating the status of the narrator/novel writer, who reveals a literary character that is shaped by folk storytelling tradition, with respect to the Western standards attributed to novel.