Browsing by Author "Atik, Egem."

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    “Constructing the Self” :|representations of masculinity in Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar's novels
    (Thesis (Ph.D.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2021., 2021.) Atik, Egem.; Kara, Halim.
    This dissertation explores the representations of masculinity in Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar’s novels. Each chapter focuses on the principal themes and issues which play a significant role in the construction of masculinities in the novels. In this respect, this thesis examines fatherhood and filiality in Mahur Beste, health and illness in Huzur and Suat’ın Mektubu, militarism and nationalism in Sahnenin Dışındakiler, business life and entrepreneurship in Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü, and love and sexuality in Aydaki Kadın, to investigate the strategies Tanpınar uses for problematizing masculinities and the literary connotations of such problematization. The study primarily argues that the protagonists’ inability to construct socially accepted masculine identities puts them in a state of constant struggle with masculine norms. The portrayal of characters marginalized in the hierarchical gender regime provides the inquiry of the production, and the rooting of relations of dominance caused by such a regime. The protagonists’ relationships with other male characters performing different masculinities are also scrutinized in the study, which demonstrates that even characters who are admired for coming very close to constructing a successful masculinity fall short of the ideal. Thus, it is argued that the novels which depict the impossibility of a perfect model of masculinity question the features that are included and excluded in the definitions of ideal masculinity. Finally, the study sheds light on female characters’ “doing masculinity”, through which the novels undermine the stereotypes of femininity and masculinity.
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    Subject and power in Sevgi Soysal’s novels
    (Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2014., 2014.) Atik, Egem.; Kara, Halim.
    This thesis explores the relationship between subject and power in Sevgi Soysal’s novels, entitled Yürümek, Yenişehir’de Bir Öğle Vakti and Şafak, with a focused examination of the characters. The process of subjectification that the characters of Sevgi Soysal’s novels undergo are discussed and explored in the study; it is asserted that this subjectification is imposed upon these characters by power, in order for them to be disciplined and subjugated By exhibiting this subjectification process, the author emphasizes that power does not only oppress people by using visible means such as the police, the military or the court of law, but interferes with their identity to make them comply and conform; this also lets the author point out her criticism towards power structures. The thesis takes the problem of transformation, which is prominent in all of Soysal’s novels, as an attempt to change the boundaries of the subjects imposed by the powers that be and interprets it as a pursuit of a resistance against power. The fact that this transformation cannot take place easily both proves that subjects cannot simply get rid of the power’s oppression they have internalized, and points out that the characters are portrayed realistically. Despite all difficulties, the characters studied in this thesis grow concerned about the fact that power, which puts boundaries upon them using certain generalized identities, dominates other people as well. The thesis examines the idea that the characters are inclined to take responsibility for society’s struggles, and to transform this struggle against power into an endeavour embracing and involving all the people whom the arms of power reach.