Fathers and Sons: Epistemological Foundations of the Tanzimat Novel

In this study, Jale Parla examines the theory of knowledge, which is decisive in the birth of the Turkish novel, within the framework of the metaphor of fathers and sons. According to Parla, the father-son relationship was not a conflict during the Tanzimat period, but a relationship of continuity. The sons of this conservative relationship are our first novelists. All of them are authoritarian children who, in search of a lost father, have had to take on guardianship themselves. The authority they adhere to is an absolute Islamic culture and epistemology... We can say that the Tanzimat writers adhered to the following normative order of priorities: The worldview of the East, with its moral and cultural dimensions, should form the basis of the renewal movement; The guardian of this worldview is the sultan at the social level, the father at the family level, and the writer at the literary level. If the world view continues to be absolutist in processes such as Tanzimat, where absolute authorities are weakened, the writer has a fatherly duty. A "tutor of ideas" is hidden within every Tanzimat writer; Each line is for the progress of "nazende tifl".



Number of Pages: 157

Year of Printing: 2004


Language: Turkish
Publisher: Iletisim Publishing

Number of Pages: 157

First Print Year: 2004

Language Turkish