Lost bodies and lost souls : disabled men in the early twentieth century Turkish novel
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Date
2023
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Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2023.
Abstract
This master's thesis examines the representations of disability in literary texts through disabled male characters by considering three novels written in the 20th century. Since the novel genre was received from the West, it is based on similar dynamics in Turkish literature as in Western literature that at a level affect the content of the novels. In the novels that support the ideas of the period in which they were written, the narrator's voice, time and place preferences, and the language used strengthen the marginalizing attitude towards the disabled. Being a disabled male subject means falling into a secondary position in the society that is tried to be built with normal standards. Men with disabilities who are abnormal in terms of aesthetics, physical strength, status, economic standards and emotions have tragic lives. The stories of disabled male characters who conflict with the codes of the normal and masculine order develop on different planes but under the influence of the same ideology. Disabled men, who do not comply with aesthetic norms in the Harabelerin Çiçeği, who cannot meet the strength-based characteristics of masculinity in the novel Dokuzuncu Hariciye Koğuşu, and who cannot be proud of being a veteran in the novel Yaban, experience identity conflict. In this research, a wide study was conducted on how robust, normal, masculine and nationalist ideologies determine the voice of the heroes in the novels. The aim of the thesis is to contribute to both fields of study by examining how the issues of disability and masculinity, which have an important place in society, are approached and articulated through literary texts in the context of novels.