Ankara : Türk Edebiyatı Bölümü, İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent Üniversitesi, 2012.Thesis (Ph. D.) -- Bilkent University, 2012.Includes bibliographical references leaves 240-259.In this dissertation, bringing into focus the relationship between the process of
nation building and Turkish literature the mutual influence between the two is
analyzed. Within this framework the following subjects are focused on: 1) The
transmission of the concept of literature into the early Republican period and its
meanings; 2) the appropriation of Namık Kemal, “the poet of the homeland”, during
this period and his influence upon the process that is being studied; 3) the newlyestablished
state’s control over the dramatic plays that were to be displayed by the
People’s Houses; 4) the attempts of the state and some authors at modernizing
people’s books/popular folk tales and the Karagöz plays in accordance with the new
regime’s principles.
The main argument of the dissertation is that the cultural policies of the early
Republican period and their implementation through the process of construction, i.e.
the intervention of the state in literature and the mission it assigns to it,
“constructed” Turkish literature in certain ways.
In conclusion, taking the cultural policies of the new Turkish state as a reference
point, shortcomings of the Turkish literature which was formed by the nation
building process, and the necessity for making up for these shortcomings first
through the treasury of literature in Turkish, and then of literature of Turkey were
emphasized.Karakoç, Kani İrfanPh.D
