Masculinities in Leylâ Erbil novels :|the construction and performance of hegemonic masculinity

Abstract

The object of the thesis study is to research the narrative strategies of Leylâ Erbil, who fictionalizes and questions male dominance and gender roles through her characters and the topics of her novels while criticizing patriarchy during her narrative life, and an intentively examination of her texts through the lens of critical masculinity. In the novels Karanlığın Günü, Mektup Aşkları and Tuhaf Bir Kadın, the masculinity performances generally focus on characters, and these are personal performances. However, after Cüce was published, the aforesaid performances engaged in criticizing patriarchy and family and social practices. A collective masculinity is fictionalized in Kalan, Üç Başlı Ejderha and Tuhaf Bir Erkek. In order to present this progression, I examined how Leylâ Erbil fictionalized her narrative strategies in her unique style and the performances and formations of language and discourse through the patriarchy – against the patriarchy, along with the process of her letting go of genre boundaries. As Erbil approached experimentalism, the masculinity performances in her texts approached collectivism, and in this sense, Erbil’s texts embraced an inclusive attitude.