The Second New poetry and Turgut Uyar’s Divan in the context of the tradition’s spectrality

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to show that the spectre of tradition in the domain of literature is constantly haunting, specific to the Second New poets and his poetry, the modern poet and poetry; in this context the purpose is to examine that traditional verses, genres of verses and how he uses, changes and transforms the proposition of tradition in the book named Divan of Turgut Uyar. To express the tradition as a spectre haunting modern Turkish poetry, Jacques Derrida’s concept of spectrality will be utilized in the thesis. The modernist mentality dominating Turkish literature history ignores tradition by dividing Turkish literature into old and new literature through denial of inheritance. The most significant feature of the strategy of ignoring tradition is marking the tradition with death. The tradition always comes back as a spectre, though how many times it is attempted to be killed and haunts modern Turkish literature. In modern Turkish poetry, the most visible domain of spectrality is the Second New Poetry. The New Second poets both matriculate the tradition’s spectre of the inheritance and conflict with it in their poems and writings. Undoubtedly, Turgut Uyar is the name that pushes the relationship established with the spectre of tradition over the top among the poets of the Second New. Turgut Uyar puts forward a modern Divan both by feeding off tradition and transforming the tradition.