Idleness in the Turkish novel (1875-1960)

Abstract

This study focuses on the images of the idle, which is one of the new characters of the modern world, in modern Turkish literature texts throughout the modernization process considering the relationship between modernity and idleness. Starting from the Tanzimat Period where the modernization process gained momentum to the end of 1950’s, where the process witnessed a rupture, I scrutinized the experience, perception and expression of the idleness in the novels where idleness is a key issue. The argument expressed through these discussions is that until Yusuf Atılgan’s novel Aylak Adam - published in 1959 the idles are the “others” who are “the opposite of what is desired,” the images “whose existence raises concern,” and those who are forced to become “what has to be”. The change in the reflection of the idle in Turkish literature, that is supposed to be caused by Aylak Adam, is studied and contextualized in relation with the novels written before Aylak Adam where idleness is issued. I claim that the idle characters are laboured under the burden of being a sample of what not to do or not to be until Aylak Adam. However, in the process leading to Aylak Adam, they have developed to be more individual, too complex to be transformed, and hard to be established. Moreover they have become deeper and by being freed of the burden of grand narratives they have gained their independence. As a result, I argue that the idles have started to produce their own texts.