Turkish literature

From Freepedia

History of Turkish Literature Series
Oral Hostory		Dede Korkut	Orkhon
Seljuk
Ottoman Empire	Poetry		Folklore
Republic of Turkey	Poetry	Prose

The history of Turkish Literature extends thousands of years. There is generally two views to trace the Turkish literature.

Commanly used one is Historical Perspective. Each Turkish nation in history has developed its own unique culture, which separate them from other Turkish nations. There is a tradition to use the periods originating from states, such as Republic Literature, Ottoman Literature, Seljuk literature and unique artifacts such as Orhun monuments. Orhun monuments are the oldest known examples of Turkish writings on obelisks dating from 720 for Tonyukuk, in 732 for Kültigin and in 735 for Bilge Kagan are masterpieces of Turkish literature with their subject matter and perfect style.

It is also possible to approach from form perspective. In this approach we have three main categories; Folk Literature (Oral literature), Persian Influence, and Western influence. These main categories have sub categories, such as Persian literature has Divan, Gazelle, Mesnevi. Also Western can be classified as prose and poetry, which prose can be subdivided to novels, journals, essays, etc…

Folk Literature

Turkish literature was the joint product of the Turkish clans and was mostly oral.

Turkish epics dating from those times include the Yaratılış, Saka, Oguz-Kagan, Göktürk, Uyghur and Manas. The Dede Korkut, put down in writing in the 14th century, is an extremely valuable work that preserves the memory of that epic era in beautiful language.

Turkish folk literature is mainly oral in nature and deeply rooted in Central Asian traditions. However, the topics and arguments are mainly originate from the problems of settlement to a region and leave nomadic structures. Keloğlan is very famous example that covers the issues of a young boy who needs to find a wife, help his mother to keep the house intact and his problems originating from his noughboors. Nasrettin Hoca is another famous character.

To a certain extent, the Turkish folk literature which has survived till our day, reflects the influence of Islam and the new life style and form of the traditional literature of Central Asia after the adoption of Islam. Turkish folk literature comprised anonymous works of bard poems and Tekke (mystical religious retreats) literature. Yunus Emre who lived in the second half of the 13th and early 14th centuries was an epoch making poet and sufi (mystical philosopher) expert in all three areas of folk literature as well as divan poetry.

Main article: Poetry of the Ottoman Empire

Main article: Poetry of the Republic of Turkey

Persian Influence

For more background on this topic, see Persian literature.

Following Turkish migrations into Persia and shortly after to Anatolia and the eventual founding of the Seljuk and Ottoman Empires set the scene for Turkish literature to develop along two distinct lines, with Divan literature or classical literature drawing its inspiration from the Arabic and Persian languages.

Divan poets did not have independent philosophies, they were content to express the same ideas in different ways. The magnificence of the poet came from his artistry in finding original and beautiful forms of expression. Initially based on two foreign literary traditions, Arab and Persian, literature gradually stopped being merely imitative and took on Ottoman national characteristics.

Main article: Poetry of the Ottoman Empire

Western Influence

For more background on this topic, see Western literature.

Turkish Literature was also influenced by the Western Literature. Changes in social, economic and political life were reflected in the literature of the time and the quest for change continued till the proclamation of the Republic. The distinguishing characteristic of the era in literature was the concern with intellectual content rather than esthetic values or perfection of style. The latest period in literature, which is known as the Turkish Literature of the Republican period, came to be influenced by the following literary schools after Divan literary styles had been abandoned: Tanzimat (reforms), Servet-i Fünun (scientific wealth), Fecr-i Ati (dawn of the new age) and Ulusal Edebiyat (national literature).

The Tanzimat, Servet-i Fünun and Fecr-i Ati groups who came together to create a modern Turkish literature made great strides towards this aim, but their works stopped short of being a national literature with distinctive characteristics. In spirit, it was French-oriented, in language and style it was traditional and Ottoman.

Main article: Poetry of the Ottoman Empire

National Literature was created between the years 1911 and 1923. The first poets of the Republican Period used simple language and the syllabic metre.

The Republic later encompassed practically all national literary figures in the fields of culture, ideology and literature. The first decade of the Republic bore the stamp of the National Literature movement, wherein the simple clear language, poetic forms and syllabic metre of folk literature and topics from Turkey were favoured. The topics, written in simple language, were taken from real life and mirrored the conditions of the country. A unity was created in which all artists: Islamic, Ottoman, traditionalist and individualist could be a part, because the issue was not the concept of the trend of national literature, but the period itself of national literature.

Main article: Poetry of the Republic of Turkey

This period also show increase in novelists. We can see all different forms of free writing, such Aziz Nesin's satirical [[periodicals], or Orhan Pamuk's often disturbing or unsettling, but include complex, intriguing plots and characters of great depth.

Main article: Prose of the Republic of Turkey