ŞIK ROMANINDA ALAFRANGALIK SEMBOLİZMİ VE CANAVARLIK
SNOBBERY SYMBOLISM AND MONSTROSITY IN THE ŞIK NOVEL

Summary/Abstract: This study is about symbolic dimension of snob type characterization in the novel Şık by Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar. It was claimed that Satırzade Şöhret Bey, who is one of the first examples of the snob type in Turkish novel, was fictionalized in parallel with Drol in position of a dog which is object of Westernization in the text. Within the scope of this assumption, we aimed to open a different area of interpretation for one of basic types of early period Turkish novel. The study consists of three chapters. The first chapter was separated into investigation of place of Şık in history of Turkish literature. It was discussed that the novel has been evaluated around its writer’s and Ahmet Mithat’s comments since it was published and that, for this reason, its place in literature history should be repositioned. In the second chapter, parellelism between Şöhret and Drol, who are protagonists of the novel, was addressed and reasons for such fiction were discussed. Later, the concept monstrosity was referred to so that the said symbolic dimension could be enlightened. As a result of examination, it was seen that story of Şöhret would be evaluated as a kind of identity narration. Also parellelism of snob with the dog displays the “We” identity’s view of the other. Such fiction was evaluated together with the writer’s intra-textual messages and it was discussed that the novel presented a monstrosity narration, as well. Fictionalizing Şöhret as a monster was evaluated in the way of a reflection of fears and anxieties along which process of social transformation in 19th century brought and it was shown that the fiction has a politic feature as well as literary. Thus, in the study, we presented that the novel Şık was a constitutive text that reflects the established perceptions for wrong westernization of Ottoman-Turkish society.

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