Safahat as a “Serial Novel”

Abstract

The novels, whose first examples were seen in the 19th century, as stated by other literary theorists, especially Mikhail Bakhtin, became the dominant genre and likened the other genres to itself. The first examples of this genre were seen in daily and weekly magazines and newspapers. The book Safahat, in which Mehmet Akif Ersoy collected his poems, is also a serialized publication. The book, consists of collection of verse-stories serialized in magazines Sırat-ı Müstakim and Sebilüreşad published weekly, contains romanesque characteristics. Thus, the first aim of this research will be to study the publication process of Safahat, a serial text, in these journals. Mehmet Akif was the chief editor and published his poems on social issues in parallel with the publication policies of the journal, from the Second Constitutional Era to the early years of the Republic. Accordingly, in this thesis, the publication process of the journal and the poems serialized during this period will be discussed together. The main discussion topic of the thesis will be to examine how poems on social issues containing romanesque characters turn into a monological structure within an ideological publication. In addition, the thesis roman a these sturucture in Safahat will be opened discussion with the concept of serialization which plays a fundamental role in determining the authors' relations with the reader and the world.