BİR EDEBİYAT TÜRÜ OLARAK DESTAN VE TÜRK DESTANI "OĞUZ KAĞAN"
EPIC AS A LITERARY GENRE AND THE TURKISH EPIC “OGUZ KHAN”

Summary/Abstract: Epic is the one of the finest and earliest genres of the literature. It is a long narrative about a national, mighty, divine hero in verse. The subjects of the epics are the events that have affected the society profoundly throughout the history. The Turkish Epic Oguz Khan is a unique example of the epic tradition of Turks. It voices the expectations, dreams, images, and mythology besides hardships, natural disasters, invasions, big wars, migrations, expansion, and exploration of new lands of the Turkish nation. It bears the important features of the Turkish epic tradition. Oguz as a supra hero is the mediator of the social values of his nation. This hero who has the connection with divinity brings salvation to his nation in the narrative. This epic heritage of Oguz Khan affects a wide area so any dynasty in this area would like to have a connection with this rich epic heritage which causes to come out a number of versions. Besides countless oral versions there is one pure pagan version and two well-known Islamized versions of Oguz Khan. The aim of this study is to locate the place of the epic Oguz Khan in the world’s epic tradition and analyze it from the aspect of form and context. During my research I did not come across any English version of this epic, so I have translated the pagan version because it is the first and purest form and I have attached it to my article.

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