Abstract
TANZİMAT DÖNEMİ ROMANLARINDA KLASİK TÜRK EDEBİYATININ İZLERİNİ TAKİP ETMEK
The intellectuals of the Tanzimat Period were educated within the culture and educational system of the preceding era. Therefore, it was not easy for them to ignore the characteristics of the time from which they emerged. The authors and poets of the Tanzimat Period adopted certain elements of that earlier tradition and, albeit unintentionally, reflected them in the literary genres of their own time. The influence of traditional narrative on these writers—something they could not resist—led to the emergence of some technical flaws in the novels they produced. Many of these flaws can be observed in İntibah, considered the first literary novel written by Namık Kemal. For this reason, the theme of ideal love in Namık Kemal’s İntibah serves as a bridge between traditional storytelling and the structure of the modern novel. The abstract idealization of love becomes a prominent element that enriches the inner worlds of the characters. In Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil’s Aşk-ı Memnu, on the other hand, love is situated between individual passion and social class conflicts. This work blends the understanding of love found in Divan Literature with the modern psychology of the individual. The symbols of Divan Literature, enriched with Sufi and mystical elements, were especially incorporated into modern novel structures by the authors of the Servet-i Fünun and Fecr-i Ati movements. This study aims not to focus on the flaws in these novels, but rather to highlight the natural traces of classical literature, particularly as they appear in Tanzimat novels. The foundation of this study is based on three significant works in Turkish literature: Taaşşuk-ı Talat ve Fitnat by Şemsettin Sami, Araba Sevdası by Recaizade Mahmut Ekrem, and Felatun Bey ile Rakım Efendi by Ahmet Mithat Efendi. In this study, the traces of Divan Literature found in the so-called “firsts” of the Tanzimat Period -the initial stage of Modern Turkish Literature- are not considered flaws, but rather seen as natural extensions of the literary tradition. The primary aim of this study is to prove that the new literary forms developed through the influence of the old ones,that the old retained its impact on the new for a significant period, and that the presence of classical elements in modern works is a natural phenomenon.
Keywords
Divan Literature, New Turkish Literature, Novel, Language, Description, Method, Westernization, Tanz
