Turkish literature and Talk:America's Got Talent season 2: Difference between pages

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Revision as of 17:32, 11 July 2007

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[[Image:Fuzuli Divan.jpg|thumb|200px|A page from the ''Dîvân-ı Fuzûlî'', the collected poems of the 16th-century Ottoman poet [[Fuzuli|Fuzûlî]]]]

== Do we really need... ==

{{History of Turkish Literature}}

A listing of every televised auditioner? It's a bit of a overload. --[[User:Woohookitty|''Woohookitty'']]^{[[User talk:Woohookitty|Woohoo!]]} 18:28, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

'''Turkish literature''' ([[Turkish language|Turkish]]: ''Türk edebiyatı'' or ''Türk yazını'') is the collection of written and oral texts composed in the [[Turkish language]], either in its [[Ottoman Turkish language|Ottoman]] form or in less exclusively literary forms, such as that spoken in the [[Turkey|Republic of Turkey]] today. The Ottoman Turkish language, which forms the basis of much of the written corpus, was heavily influenced by [[Persian language|Persian]] and [[Arabic language|Arabic]] and used a variant of the [[Perso-Arabic alphabet|Perso-Arabic script]].

:We're just following the example set for other reality competitions such as [[American Idol]]. Thousands of people auditioned, and dozens presented their act onstage for the judges that were only shown as rapid-fire video bites. However, in order to illustrate the variety of talents that auditioned, this article lists only those who achieved their [[15 minutes of fame]] by having their name publicized and their act discussed by the judges on international television. [[User:GUllman|GUllman]] 22:07, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

::Yes but American Idol's articles no longer have that. See [[American Idol (season 6)|this]] and [[American Idol (season 5)|this]]. The problem is that this generally isn't even 15 minutes of fame. Especially if everyone shown is listed. It's clutter and I don't think it's necessary. --[[User:Woohookitty|''Woohookitty'']]^{[[User talk:Woohookitty|Woohoo!]]} 11:30, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

::: The specific precedent is currently set at the [[America's Got Talent (season 1)|season one]] page, where all acts appearing in the three preliminary rounds for that season are mentioned. If we change how season two is laid out, then IMHO season one should be similarly changed. Also note that, while season 1 had three weeks of preliminaries, it appears that season 2 will have five weeks of them, resulting in an even longer page if the season 1 formating is kept. I don't have a very strong opinion on the actual formatting used at this point, but felt those were a couple of points that ought to be injected into the conversation. - [[User:TexasAndroid|TexasAndroid]] 12:38, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

::::I organized some of the precedent in season 1, and I cannot agree that it should be maintained. A major difference between AI and AGT is: in AI, singers are compared to other singers, but in AGT, singers are compared to bands, comedians, magicians, dance troupes, and so on. There should be a way to cover the variety of acts that are presented during the audition round, but including every one of them is too much. I cannot make a determination of which of the preliminaries are notable because that would be [[WP:OR|original research]]. For the audition shows, perhaps only the audition round acts that were rejected should remain. (Like AI, AGT contestants must have performed in front of assistant producers—with cuts being made at that point—before moving on to the televised "audition round." But I cannot find any reliable sources to confirm that, and that is important to find out.) I will revisit the season 1 article within the next few days to see what improvements could be made to accommodate future seasons (revamping the ghastly legend is one of the tasks). [[User:Tinlinkin|Tinlinkin]] 19:06, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

:::::I'd go with Tinlinkin here. No reason to list every person. And just because it's used for season 1 doesn't mean it's a good thing to do. --[[User:Woohookitty|''Woohookitty'']]^{[[User talk:Woohookitty|Woohoo!]]} 13:31, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

::::::I don't think I said not to list every person at this point in the current season. While the series is in progress, it's still important to keep track of who's in the running as well as whoever is eliminated. I was expressing redundancies in sections when the season ends. The final product at the end of the series should be the eliminated audition acts are listed in the relevant "Auditions" section, the eliminated semifinalists are listed in the relevant "Semifinals" section, and so on. [[User:Tinlinkin|Tinlinkin]] 14:10, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

:::::::Question. What makes the acts who auditioned notable? Just being on tv doesn't automatically make you notable. That's the problem with listing everyone. Not only that but the audition section is completely unsourced. There is just no reason to list every auditioner when none of the other talent show type reality show articles do it. It's overkill. All of the recent Idol articles don't list them. The So You Think You Can Dance article doesn't list every eliminated contestant. Ditto On the Lot. And it's for the same reason. Not every auditioner is notable. And nothing is sourced. --[[User:Woohookitty|''Woohookitty'']]^{[[User talk:Woohookitty|Woohoo!]]} 20:19, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

::::::::Actually, I agree that most contestants in the audtion round who don't advance are not notable. I would be fine with deleting those contestants (and those audition sections in the final product if my plan below is adopted, but the sections have to remain while the show is in progress). Those acts are interesting, and some are outrageous, but "interesting" is not the same as notable and many of these contestants do appear only to get their slice of national attention. There are not many of these contestants, however, and the article would still remain a bit bloated if we plan to cover the remaining 71 semifinalists. I don't think many of the semifinalists are notable, either, but I object to making an editorial decision to determine which ones are–meaning deleting certain semifinalists and keeping others. [[User:Tinlinkin|Tinlinkin]] 07:15, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Sourcing is the episodes themselves. Same way as most other reality show articles that detail what happened in the episodes, let alone other types of TV show articles. If you are condeming this one article for not listing sources other than the episodes, then you are condemning a huge percentage of the TV show articles on the project. As for the reasons for listing off the eliminated persons, someone else explained earlier that it's to show the diversity of the acts on the show. Just how many different types of acts are shown. As for their notability to be listed, a lot of reality show articles use a level of notability on the show's own pages that would never get the contestants their own articles. The Survivor series articles detail all the eliminated contestants, and how/why they were eliminated, even though only 2-4 contestants each season generally end up notable enough to have their own articles. Noone is arguing that these people are, in general, notable enough for their own articles. But in an article specifically on what happens in the current season of this show, I think that they are notable enough to be listed. Just my $0.02 on the matter. - [[User:TexasAndroid|TexasAndroid]] 21:13, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

The history of Turkish literature spans a period of nearly 1,500 years. The oldest extant records of written [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] are the [[Orkhon script|Orhon inscriptions]], found in the [[Orkhon Valley|Orhon River valley]] in central [[Mongolia]] and dating to the 8th century. Subsequent to this period, between the 9th and 11th centuries, there arose among the [[Nomad|nomadic]] [[Turkic peoples]] of [[Central Asia]] a tradition of [[Oral literature|oral]] [[Epic poetry|epics]], such as the ''[[Book of Dede Korkut]]'' of the [[Oghuz Turks]]—the ancestors of many of the modern [[Turkish people]]—and the [[Manas (epic)|Manas epic]] of the [[Kirghiz|Kyrgyz]] people.

:I think I'll go do something else. The next person who comes by probably won't be as nice and will remove the auditioners who were eliminated as well as do major surgery on this article along with season 1's. This article does not and should not exist in its own universe. Comparing it to Survivor is faulty because on Survivor, those people are finalists. They have made it through off camera auditions and all of that. Not only that but they are on for complete episodes. That's a bit different than a person who is going to be on tv for 5 minutes (or less). --[[User:Woohookitty|''Woohookitty'']]^{[[User talk:Woohookitty|Woohoo!]]} 21:37, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Beginning with the victory of the [[Seljuq dynasty|Seljuks]] at the [[Battle of Manzikert]] in the late 11th century, the Oghuz Turks began to settle in [[Anatolia]], and in addition to the earlier oral traditions there arose a written literary tradition issuing largely—in terms of themes, genres, and styles—from [[Arabic literature|Arabic]] and [[Persian literature|Persian]] literature. For the next 900 years, until shortly before the fall of the [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1922, the oral and written traditions would remain largely separate from one another. With the founding of the [[Turkey|Republic of Turkey]] in 1923, the two traditions came together for the first time.

::The catch-22 here is the show's format. A "finalist" in AGT (as defined from season 1) is a contestant who would appear on the final 2 shows, and for two weeks before then. A "finalist" in other programs will appear continually in multiple weeks. That distinction should be a red flag that this programm cannot be simply compared with other reality competitions. If all eliminated semifinalists are removed, then there is almost no point to have season-by-season articles–the article would be too short. There are several eliminated semifinalists that have articles, such as [[Leonid the Magnificent]], [[Mark Faje]], [[Michelle L'amour]], [[Desperation Squad]], and [[N'Versity]]. Perhaps eliminated semifinalists should be treated with brevity; that's something I would go along with. And that means I will likely make changes to the proposed article format below. [[User:Tinlinkin|Tinlinkin]] 07:50, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

==The two traditions of Turkish literature==

Throughout most of its history, Turkish literature has been rather sharply divided into two rather different traditions, neither of which exercised much influence upon the other until the 19th century. The first of these two traditions is Turkish folk literature, and the second is Turkish written literature.

== Disconnect ==

For most of the history of Turkish literature, the salient difference between the folk and the written traditions has been the variety of language employed. The folk tradition, by and large, was oral and remained free of the influence of Persian and Arabic literature, and consequently of those literatures' respective languages. In folk poetry—which is by far the tradition's dominant [[genre]]—this basic fact led to two major consequences in terms of poetic style:

The first Auditions section shows five sets of auditions, including Boston and Atlanta. Last nights New York auditions are not mentioned at all. So we have an obvious disconnect between the sections. We know that only four sets were shown. Is it somehow possible that the other two happened, but were not shown? Or is the old information on the five audition sets incorrect? And if it's incorrect by adding two auditions that never happened, is any of it valid, including dates on the auditions we know did happen because they were shown? - [[User:TexasAndroid|TexasAndroid]] 14:21, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

* the [[Meter (poetry)|poetic meters]] employed in the folk poetic tradition were different, being quantitative (i.e., [[Syllabic verse|syllabic]]) verse, as opposed to the qualitative verse employed in the written poetic tradition;

* the basic structural unit of folk poetry became the [[quatrain]] (Turkish: ''dörtlük'') rather than the [[couplet]]s (Turkish: ''beyit'') more commonly employed in written poetry.

:I did not see last night's episode, but a similar situation occurred last season. Atlanta was listed as an audition city prior to the first episode, but there were no televised claims of auditions from Atlanta. That issue is still unresolved, to my knowledge. Press releases from NBC Universal [http://www.nbcumv.com/dnr.nbc/americasgottalent.html] appear to be the only source of verifiable information coming from internal production. The [http://www.nbcumv.com/release_detail.nbc/entertainment-20060925000000-nbchit039americ.html first press release] of the second season also listed Branson, Missouri, Las Vegas, and San Francisco! I don't know how to address this. [[User:Tinlinkin|Tinlinkin]] 15:17, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

Furthermore, Turkish folk poetry has always had an intimate connection with [[song]]—most of the poetry was, in fact, expressly composed so as to be sung—and so became to a great extent inseparable from the tradition of [[Turkish folk music]].

:: One solution is to remove the section. If the information is in clear conflict with the show as broadcast, then I would say we should think about just getting rid of it. In it's current state, in clear conflict, I would say that it is mostly useless.

:: Another possibility might be to see if each audition can be separately verified in archives of the local media. For instance, I know that the San Antonio auditions for the most recent season of American Idol were extensively covered in the local San Antonio media. AGT is not AI, and San Antonio is not New York, but there might be at least some independant verification possible. - [[User:TexasAndroid|TexasAndroid]] 16:07, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

:::I would lean toward the first suggestion at the moment. If you or someone else can find something definitive from the local media, more power to you. With all due respect, my current and future involvement with AGT will be limited to ensuring a smooth transition with the format change (if consensus is reached there). [[User:Tinlinkin|Tinlinkin]] 17:05, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

== New article format ==

In contrast to the tradition of Turkish folk literature, Turkish written literature—prior to the [[Single-Party Period of Republic of Turkey|founding]] of the Republic of Turkey in 1923—tended to embrace the influence of Persian and Arabic literature. To some extent, this can be seen as far back as the [[Sultanate of Rüm|Seljuk]] period in the late 11th to early 14th centuries, where official business was conducted in the Persian language, rather than in Turkish, and where a court poet such as Dehhanî—who served under the 13th century [[sultan]] Ala ad-Din Kay Qubadh I—wrote in a language highly inflected with Persian.

Although my attention has been elsewhere, I have not backed down on my promise to revisit the season 1 semifinal rounds and after. I already made some changes: I removed the "judges' choice" from the tables.

When the Ottoman Empire arose early in the 14th century, in northwestern Anatolia, it continued this tradition. The standard poetic forms—for poetry was as much the dominant genre in the written tradition as in the folk tradition—were derived either directly from the Persian literary tradition (the ''[[Ghazal|gazel]]'' غزل; the ''[[Masnavi (poetic form)|mesnevî]]'' مسنوى), or indirectly through Persian from the Arabic (the ''[[Qasida|kasîde]]'' قصيده). However, the decision to adopt these poetic forms wholesale led to two important further consequences:<ref>Tanpınar, 2–3</ref>

My intent is to remove the bulky tables entirely. (What are your opinions on the tables?) And in accordance with the above, contestants would be listed only in the sections from which they were eliminated. The section header structure would remain the same. I don't think the order of appearance is noteworthy, but the 3 checks from the judges probably is.

* the [[Meter (poetry)#Ottoman Turkish|poetic meters]] (Turkish: ''aruz'') of Persian poetry were adopted;

* Persian- and Arabic-based words were brought into the Turkish language in great numbers, as Turkish words rarely worked well within the system of Persian poetic meter.

My format is adapted from ''American Idol'' articles (for example [[American Idol (season 6)]]). Sample entries follow:

Out of this confluence of choices, the Ottoman Turkish language—which was always highly distinct from standard Turkish—was effectively born. This style of writing under Persian and Arabic influence came to be known as "Divan literature" (Turkish: ''divan edebiyatı''), ''[[Deewan|dîvân]]'' (ديوان) being the Ottoman Turkish word referring to the collected works of a poet.

----

Just as Turkish folk poetry was intimately bound up with Turkish folk music, so did Ottoman Divan poetry develop a strong connection with [[Ottoman classical music|Turkish classical music]], with the poems of the Divan poets often being taken up to serve as song lyrics.

In '''''Semifinals Part 2''''' section:

*'''Sugar n' Spice''' is a pop music family group.

**''Los Angeles auditions'': The group's auditions were not televised.

**''Semifinals (Part 2)'': [description of performance] ''—Eliminated by viewers''

*'''[[PBM (band)|PBM]]''' is a band from [[Detroit, Michigan]]. Their music was a combination of rock and reggae, also known as [[ska]] or [[ska-punk]].

**''New York auditions'': Morgan liked the band’s energy but wasn’t a big fan of the lead singer. Hasselhoff and Brandy wanted the band to come back. Brandy challenged PBM to prove Morgan wrong next time they hit the stage.

**''Semifinals (Part 2)'': The band was not selected to perform on stage. ''—Eliminated by judges''

*The following acts did not have their auditions televised and were eliminated by the judges in this episode: '''Rabbi Baptiste''' (Los Angeles), '''The Hemphill Kids''' (New York), '''K Turbo''' (Chicago), and '''Clarence Donaldson''' (New York)

In '''''Wild Card''''' section:

==Folk literature==

*'''Nathan Burton''' is a [[magician]].

{{Main|Turkish Folk Literature}}

**''Los Angeles auditions'': Burton performed the [[Bowl-A-Rama]] magic trick, making a bowling ball appear from a drawing in a large sketchpad. Then, he did a disappearing act involving the "Microwave of Death".

Turkish folk literature is an [[oral tradition]] deeply rooted, in its form, in Central Asian nomadic traditions. However, in its themes, Turkish folk literature reflects the problems peculiar to a settling (or settled) people who have abandoned the nomadic lifestyle. One example of this is the series of [[Folklore|folktales]] surrounding the figure of Keloğlan, a young boy beset with the difficulties of finding a wife, helping his mother to keep the family house intact, and dealing with the problems caused by his neighbors. Another example is the rather mysterious figure of [[Nasreddin]], a [[trickster]] who often plays jokes, of a sort, on his neighbors.

**''Semifinals (Part 3)'': [description of performance] ''—Viewers' runner-up''

**''Wild Card'': [description of performance] ''—Viewers' runner-up, eliminated''

*'''[[Bobby Badfingers]]''' is a "professional finger snappist" from [[San Francisco, California]].

**''Los Angeles auditions'': In addition to snapping fingers at a fast rate, he danced to classic 1950s rock. He was the first person to advance to the second round.

**''Semifinals (Part 2)'': [description of performance] ''—Eliminated by viewers''

**''Wild Card'': Bobby Badfingers was the choice of Piers Morgan. [description of performance] ''—Eliminated by viewers, bottom 3''

In '''''Finals''''' section:

[[Image:Ozan.jpg|thumb|left|An ''aşık'' performing in Anatolia, from an 18th-century Western engraving]]

*'''[[Taylor Ware]]''' is a singer and [[yodeling|yodeler]].

**''Chicago auditions'': The judges were blown away by her performance. When Ware revealed that she learned all her yodeling from a tape and instruction booklet, David Hasselhoff replied, "You are a good student!" All three judges voted yes.

**''Semifinals (Part 1)'': [description of performance] ''—Viewers' choice''

**''Finals'': [description of performance] Her celebrity coach was Tom McBryde, a country music arranger. ''—Fourth or fifth place''

----

Something that was lacking from the Season 1 articles was the descriptions of performances in the semifinal rounds and after. This format should solve that problem for future seasons. Comments? [[User:Tinlinkin|Tinlinkin]] 16:36, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

Nasreddin also reflects another significant change that had occurred between the days when the Turkish people were nomadic and the days when they had largely become settled in Anatolia; namely, Nasreddin is a [[Muslim]] [[imam]]. The Turkic peoples had first become an [[Islam|Islamic]] people sometime around the 9th or 10th century, as is evidenced from the clear Islamic influence on the 11th century [[Kara-Khanid Khanate|Karakhanid]] work the ''[[Kutadgu Bilig]]'' ("''Wisdom of Royal Glory''"), written by [[Yusuf Has Hajib]]. The religion henceforth came to exercise an enormous influence on Turkish society and literature, particularly the heavily [[Mysticism|mystically oriented]] [[Sufism|Sufi]] and [[Shi'a Islam|Shi'a]] varieties of Islam. The Sufi influence, for instance, can be seen clearly not only in the tales concerning Nasreddin but also in the works of [[Yunus Emre]], a towering figure in Turkish literature and a poet who lived at the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th century, probably in the [[Karamanid]] [[Anatolian beyliks|state]] in south-central Anatolia. The Shi'a influence, on the other hand, can be seen extensively in the tradition of the ''aşık''s, or ''ozan''s,<ref>Originally, the term ''ozan'' referred exclusively to the [[bard]]s of the Oghuz Turks, but after their settlement in Anatolia and the rise of Shi'a Islam, ''ozan'' and ''aşık'' became interchangeable terms.</ref> who are roughly akin to medieval European [[minstrel]]s and who traditionally have had a strong connection with the [[Alevi]] faith, which can be seen as something of a homegrown Turkish variety of Shi'a Islam. It is, however, important to note that in Turkish culture, such a neat division into Sufi and Shi'a is scarcely possible: for instance, Yunus Emre is considered by some to have been an Alevi, while the entire Turkish ''aşık''/''ozan'' tradition is permeated with the thought of the [[Bektashi]] Sufi [[Tarika|order]], which is itself a blending of Shi'a and Sufi concepts. The word ''aşık'' (literally, "lover") is in fact the term used for first-level members of the Bektashi order.

: Looks interesting. Trying to get my brain around how it would work on a progressive basis. Correct me if I'm wrong about any of this.

Because the Turkish folk literature tradition extends in a more or less unbroken line from about the 10th or 11th century to today, it is perhaps best to consider the tradition from the perspective of genre. There are three basic genres in the tradition: epic; folk poetry; and folklore.

: Now that the prelims are over, for each future week, all contestants who compete in that week are migrated down to the new week, showing their Move On, or Eliminated status for that week, and adding new commentary about their specific appearences. By migrating, instead of creating new sections for each contestant, they each have a history of thier time in one place. By the end of the 2nd round, all contestants currently in the "Advanced" sections of the prelims should have been migrated down to the 2nd round, leaving only the Eliminateds in the first round section. Then, when the 3rd round begins, the process is repeated, migrating each week of the third round down those that compete in that week's show. Wash, rinse, repeat until the finals. Does that sound pretty close to what you had in mind? - [[User:TexasAndroid|TexasAndroid]] 17:22, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

::That sounds about right. :) [[User:Tinlinkin|Tinlinkin]] 17:36, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

::: Works for me. We have 2 weeks now to get other opinions (no episode next week), but baring any major objections, I would say we go with that when the call-backs start. - [[User:TexasAndroid|TexasAndroid]] 17:52, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

:I've added citation links referencing the current data directly to the episodes. This is nice now, but it will be even nicer as we start migrating data down as further episodes are broadcast. The current references are formatted:

===The epic tradition===

'''<nowiki><ref name="ep1">{{</nowiki>cite episode<br>

The Turkish epic has its roots in the Central Asian epic tradition that gave rise to the ''[[Book of Dede Korkut]]'', which is in a language recognizably similar to modern Turkish and which developed from the oral traditions of the [[Oghuz Turks]], that branch of the Turkic peoples which migrated towards [[Southwest Asia|western Asia]] and [[eastern Europe]] through [[Transoxiana]] beginning in the 9th century. The ''Book of Dede Korkut'' continued to survive in the oral tradition after the Oghuz Turks had, by and large, settled in Anatolia.

''' | title = Dallas auditions<br>

''' | episodelink = <br>

''' | series = America's Got Talent<br>

''' | serieslink = America's Got Talent (season 2)<br>

''' | airdate = 2007-06-05<br>

''' | season = 2<br>

''' | number = 1 <nowiki>}}</ref></nowiki>

:But the key thing is that the full data reference is only needed once in the entire article. After that, to again reference the same episode, you just need to add the tag '''<nowiki><ref name="ep1"/></nowiki>'''. So, as items start to migrate away from the section for the episode that they originally appeared in, just add the smaller tag to each migrated item, giving the right episode number, to correctly reference the migrated item to the episode that it appeared on. - [[User:TexasAndroid|TexasAndroid]] 17:30, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

The ''Book of Dede Korkut'' was the primary element of the Turkish epic tradition in Anatolia for several centuries. Another epic circulating at the same time, however, was the so-called ''[[Epic of Köroğlu]]'', which concerns the adventures of Rüşen Ali ("Köroğlu", or "son of the blind man") to exact revenge for the blinding of his father. The origins of this epic are somewhat more mysterious than those of the ''Book of Dede Korkut'': many believe it to have arisen in Anatolia sometime between the 15th and 17th centuries; more reliable testimony,<ref>Belge, 374</ref> though, seems to indicate that the story is nearly as old as that of the ''Book of Dede Korkut'', dating from around the dawn of the 11th century. Complicating matters somewhat is the fact that Köroğlu is also the name of a poet of the ''aşık''/''ozan'' tradition.

::The referencing is a good idea in principle (and as required by WP policies). But, of course, they are implied by the mere mention of audition episodes, semifinals episodes, etc. I usually like to see timepoints if those TV episode reference templates are used (e.g. ''approx. 17:41''). But for an article like this, it is rather unnerving to do that for every entry. I could go with something like ''between 0:00-30:00'', but since that appears to be nonstandard, I am not endorsing that. When possible, third-party (non-NBC) reliable sources should be added in addition. [http://www.realitytvworld.com/americasgottalent/ Reality TV World] is definitely helpful, and other sites are available for recaps. ''[[User:Tinlinkin|TLK]]''^{[[User talk:Tinlinkin|'in]]} 14:54, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

That the epic tradition in Turkish literature may not have died out entirely can be seen from the ''Epic of [[Shaikh|Shaykh]] [[Bedreddin]]'' (''Şeyh Bedreddin Destanı''), published in 1936 by the poet [[Nazım Hikmet|Nâzım Hikmet Ran]] (1901–1963). This long poem—which concerns an Anatolian shaykh's rebellion against the Ottoman [[Sultan]] [[Mehmed I]]—is a sort of modern, written epic that nevertheless draws upon the same independent-minded traditions of the Anatolian people that can be seen in the ''Epic of Köroğlu''. Also, many of the works of the 20th-century novelist [[Yaşar Kemal]] (1923– ), such as his long 1955 novel ''[[Memed, My Hawk]]'' (''İnce Memed''), can be considered modern [[prose]] epics.

== Who made it into the 35 ==

===Folk poetry===

The folk poetry tradition in Turkish literature, as indicated above, was strongly influenced by the Islamic Sufi and Shi'a traditions. Furthermore, as partly evidenced by the prevalence of the still existent ''aşık''/''ozan'' tradition, the dominant element in Turkish folk poetry has always been song. The development of folk poetry in Turkish—which began to emerge in the 13th century with such important writers as Yunus Emre, Sultan Veled, and Şeyyâd Hamza—was given a great boost when, on [[13 May]] [[1277]], Karamanoğlu Mehmet Bey declared Turkish the official state language of Anatolia's powerful Karamanid state;<ref>Karamanoğlu Mehmet Bey's declaration is as follows: ''Şimden gerü dîvânda, dergâhta, bârgâhta, mecliste ve meydanda Türkçeden başka dil kullanılmayacaktır'' ("From this day forward, no language other than Turkish will be used in the court, in the ''[[Khanqah|tekke]]'', in the palace, in the government, or in public") (Selçuk Üniversitesi Uzaktan Eğitim Programı (SUZEP). As a measure of the extent of the influence against which Karamanoğlu Mehmet Bey was fighting, his declaration itself contains three words of Arabic origin (دیوان ''dîvân'' or "court", مجلس ''meclis'' or "government", and ميدان ''meydân'' or "public") and two of Persian origin (درگاه ''dergâh'' or "''tekke''" and بارگاه ''bârgâh'' or "palace").</ref> subsequently, many of the tradition's greatest poets would continue to emerge from this region.

There is, apparently, a good bit of cunfusion on various fan-sites and boards of exactly who made it into the 35 person "short list". The show was far from clear on exactly who made all 35 slots. The list currently on this page is based off of the list that someone else posted before I started, with a few I got from another list. We've got 32 or 33 names. I've since seen a third site with 36 names that they say may have made it. :) In theory, it would be possible to make 3 lists. 100% certain they made it (shown definitively in a group that made it through), 100% certain eliminated, and uncertain. Theoretically. OTOH, we are only a few hours from part 2 of the call-backs, and hopefully who made the 35 will be a whole lot clearer once that episode airs. So, IMHO, I say wait for tonight's episode to clear things up a bit, and make any adjustments after that. - [[User:TexasAndroid|TexasAndroid]] 17:32, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

There are, broadly speaking, two traditions of Turkish folk poetry:

* the ''aşık''/''ozan'' tradition, which—although much influenced by religion, as mentioned above—was for the most part a secular tradition;

* the explicitly religious tradition, which emerged from the gathering places (''[[Tekkes|tekke]]''s) of the Sufi religious orders and Shi'a groups.

Much of the poetry and song of the ''aşık''/''ozan'' tradition, being almost exclusively oral until the 19th century, remains anonymous. There are, however, a few well-known ''aşık''s from before that time whose names have survived together with their works: the aforementioned Köroğlu (16th century); Karacaoğlan (1606?–1689?), who may be the best-known of the pre-19th century ''aşık''s; Dadaloğlu (1785?–1868?), who was one of the last of the great ''aşık''s before the tradition began to dwindle somewhat in the late 19th century; and several others. The ''aşık''s were essentially minstrels who travelled through Anatolia performing their songs on the ''[[Baglama|bağlama]]'', a [[mandolin]]-like instrument whose paired strings are considered to have a symbolic religious significance in Alevi/Bektashi culture. Despite the decline of the ''aşık''/''ozan'' tradition in the 19th century, it experienced a significant revival in the 20th century thanks to such outstanding figures as [[Aşık Veysel Şatıroğlu]] (1894–1973), [[Aşık Mahzuni Şerif]] (1938–2002), Neşet Ertaş (1943– ), and many others.

[[Image:Kaygusuz Abdal.jpg|thumb|left|90px|Kaygusuz Abdal]]

The explicitly religious folk tradition of ''tekke'' literature shared a similar basis with the ''aşık''/''ozan'' tradition in that the poems were generally intended to be sung, generally in religious gatherings, making them somewhat akin to Western [[hymn]]s (Turkish ''ilahi''). One major difference from the ''aşık''/''ozan'' tradition, however, is that—from the very beginning—the poems of the ''tekke'' tradition were written down. This was because they were produced by revered religious figures in the literate environment of the ''tekke'', as opposed to the milieu of the ''aşık''/''ozan'' tradition, where the majority could not read or write. The major figures in the tradition of ''tekke'' literature are: Yunus Emre (1240?–1320?), who is one of the most important figures in all of Turkish literature; Süleyman Çelebi (?–1422), who wrote a highly popular long poem called ''Vesîletü'n-Necât'' (وسيلة النجاة "The Means of Salvation", but more commonly known as the ''Mevlid''), concerning the [[Mawlid|birth]] of the Islamic [[prophet]] [[Muhammad]]; Kaygusuz Abdal (1397–?), who is widely considered the founder of Alevi/Bektashi literature; and [[Pir Sultan Abdal]] (?–1560), whom many consider to be the pinnacle of that literature.

===Folklore===

{{Main|Turkish Folklore}}

[[Image:Nasreddin.jpg|thumb|Nasreddin Hoca]]

The tradition of folklore—folktales, jokes, legends, and the like—in the Turkish language is very rich. Perhaps the most popular figure in the tradition is the aforementioned [[Nasreddin]] (known as ''Nasreddin Hoca'', or "teacher Nasreddin", in Turkish), who is the central character of thousands of jokes. He generally appears as a person who, though seeming somewhat stupid to those who must deal with him, actually proves to have a special wisdom all his own:

<blockquote>

''One day, Nasreddin's neighbor asked him, "Teacher, do you have any forty-year-old vinegar?"—"Yes, I do," answered Nasreddin.—"Can I have some?" asked the neighbor. "I need some to make an ointment with."—"No, you can't have any," answered Nasreddin. "If I gave my forty-year-old vinegar to whoever wanted some, I wouldn't have had it for forty years, would I?"''

</blockquote>

Similar to the Nasreddin jokes, and arising from a similar religious milieu, are the [[Bektashi jokes]], in which the members of the Bektashi religious order—represented through a character simply named ''Bektaşi''—are depicted as having an unusual and unorthodox wisdom, one that often challenges the values of Islam and of society.

Another popular element of Turkish folklore is the [[Theatre of shadows|shadow theater]] centered around the two characters of [[Karagiozis|Karagöz and Hacivat]], who both represent [[stock character]]s: Karagöz—who hails from a small village—is something of a country bumpkin, while Hacivat is a more sophisticated city-dweller. Popular legend has it that the two characters are actually based on two real persons who worked either for [[Osman I]]—the founder of the [[Ottoman Dynasty|Ottoman dynasty]]—or for his successor [[Orhan I]], in the construction of a palace or possibly a mosque at [[Bursa, Turkey|Bursa]] in the early 14th century. The two workers supposedly spent much of their time entertaining the other workers, and were so funny and popular that they interfered with work on the palace, and were subsequently [[Decapitation|beheaded]]. Supposedly, however, their bodies then picked up their severed heads and walked away.

==Ottoman literature==

The two primary streams of Ottoman written literature are poetry and [[prose]]. Of the two, poetry—specifically, Divan poetry—was by far the dominant stream. Moreover, it should be noted that, until the 19th century, Ottoman prose did not contain any examples of [[fiction]]; that is, there were no counterparts to, for instance, the European [[Romance (genre)|romance]], [[short story]], or [[novel]] (though analogous genres did, to some extent, exist in both the Turkish folk tradition and in Divan poetry).

===Divan poetry===

{{further|[[Poetry of the Ottoman Empire]]}}

[[Image:Ottoman Garden.jpg|thumb|150px|An Ottoman garden party, with poet, guest, and winebearer; from the 16th-century ''Dîvân-ı Bâkî'']]

Ottoman Divan poetry was a highly [[Ritual|ritualized]] and [[Symbolism|symbolic]] art form. From the Persian poetry that largely inspired it, it inherited a wealth of [[symbol]]s whose meanings and interrelationships—both of similitude (مراعات نظير ''mura'ât-i nazîr'' / تناسب

''tenâsüb'') and opposition (تضاد ''tezâd'')—were more or less prescribed. Examples of prevalent symbols that, to some extent, oppose one another include, among others:

* the nightingale (بلبل ''bülbül'') — the rose (ﮔل ''gül'')

* the world (جهان ''cihan''; عالم ''‘âlem'') — the rosegarden (ﮔﻠﺴﺘﺎن ''gülistan''; ﮔﻠﺸﻦ ''gülşen'')

* the ascetic (زاهد ''zâhid'') — the [[dervish]] (درويش ''derviş'')

As the opposition of "the ascetic" and "the dervish" suggests, Divan poetry—much like Turkish folk poetry—was heavily influenced by [[Sufism#Basic beliefs|Sufi thought]]. One of the primary characteristics of Divan poetry, however—as of the Persian poetry before it—was its mingling of the mystical Sufi element with a profane and even erotic element. Thus, the pairing of "the nightingale" and "the rose" simultaneously suggests two different relationships:

* the relationship between the fervent lover ("the nightingale") and the inconstant beloved ("the rose")

* the relationship between the individual Sufi practitioner (who is often characterized in Sufism as a lover) and [[Allah|God]] (who is considered the ultimate source and object of love)

Similarly, "the world" refers simultaneously to the physical world and to this physical world considered as the abode of sorrow and impermanence, while "the rosegarden" refers simultaneously to a literal garden and to [[Heaven#In Islam|the garden of Paradise]]. "The nightingale", or suffering lover, is often seen as situated—both literally and figuratively—in "the world", while "the rose", or beloved, is seen as being in "the rosegarden".

Divan poetry was composed through the constant juxtaposition of many such images within a strict metrical framework, thus allowing numerous potential meanings to emerge. A brief example is the following line of verse, or ''mısra'' (مصراع), by the 18th-century [[Qadi|judge]] and poet Hayatî Efendi:

:بر گل مى وار بو گلشن ﻋالمدﻪ خارسز

:''Bir gül mü var bu gülşen-i ‘âlemde hârsız''<ref>Pala, 425</ref><br>

:("Does any rose, in this rosegarden world, lack thorns?")

Here, the nightingale is only implied (as being the poet/lover), while the rose, or beloved, is shown to be capable of inflicting pain with its thorns (خار ''hâr''). The world, as a result, is seen as having both positive aspects (it is a rosegarden, and thus analogous to the garden of Paradise) and negative aspects (it is a rosegarden full of thorns, and thus different to the garden of Paradise).

As for the development of Divan poetry over the more than 500 years of its existence, that is—as the Ottomanist Walter G. Andrews points out—a study still in its infancy;<ref>Andrews, ''Ottoman Lyric Poetry: An Anthology'', 22–23</ref> clearly defined movements and periods have not yet been decided upon. Early in the history of the tradition, the Persian influence was very strong, but this was mitigated somewhat through the influence of poets such as the [[Azerbaijani people|Azerbaijani]] [[Nesîmî]] (?–1417?) and the [[Uyghur people|Uyghur]] [[Alisher Navoi|Ali Şîr Nevâî]] (1441–1501), both of whom offered strong arguments for the poetic status of the Turkic languages as against the much-venerated Persian. Partly as a result of such arguments, Divan poetry in its strongest period—from the 16th to the 18th centuries—came to display a unique balance of Persian and Turkish elements, until the Persian influence began to predominate again in the early 19th century.

Despite the lack of certainty regarding the stylistic movements and periods of Divan poetry, however, certain highly different styles are clear enough, and can perhaps be seen as exemplified by certain poets:

[[Image:Fuzuli.jpg|thumb|100px|Fuzûlî (1483?–1556), a Divan poet of [[Turkmen people|Turkmen]] origin]]

* [[Fuzuli|Fuzûlî]] (1483?–1556); a unique poet who wrote with equal skill in Ottoman Turkish, Persian, and Arabic, and who came to be as influential in Persian as in Divan poetry

* [[Bâkî]] (1526–1600); a poet of great rhetorical power and linguistic subtlety whose skill in using the pre-established [[Trope (linguistics)|tropes]] of the Divan tradition is quite representative of the poetry in the time of [[Suleiman the Magnificent|Süleyman the Magnificent]]

* Nef‘î (1570?–1635); a poet considered the master of the ''kasîde'' (a kind of [[panegyric]]), as well as being known for his harshly satirical poems, which led to his [[Capital punishment|execution]]

* Nâbî (1642–1712); a poet who wrote a number of socially oriented poems critical of the [[Stagnation of the Ottoman Empire|stagnation period]] of Ottoman history

* [[Nedîm]] (1681?–1730); a revolutionary poet of the [[Tulip Era in the Ottoman Empire|Tulip Era]] of Ottoman history, who infused the rather élite and abstruse language of Divan poetry with numerous simpler, populist elements

* Şeyh Gâlib (1757–1799); a poet of the [[Mevlevi|Mevlevî]] [[Tarika|Sufi order]] whose work is considered the culmination of the highly complex so-called "Indian style" (سبك هندى ''sebk-i hindî'')

The vast majority of Divan poetry was [[Lyric poetry|lyric]] in nature: either ''gazel''s (which make up the greatest part of the repertoire of the tradition), or ''kasîde''s. There were, however, other common genres, most particularly the ''mesnevî'', a kind of [[Courtly romance|verse romance]] and thus a variety of [[narrative poetry]]; the two most notable examples of this form are the ''[[Leyli and Majnun|Leylî vü Mecnun]]'' (ليلى و مجنون) of Fuzûlî and the ''Hüsn ü Aşk'' (حسن و عشق; "Beauty and Love") of Şeyh Gâlib.

===Early Ottoman prose===

{{further|[[Prose of the Ottoman Empire]]}}

Until the 19th century, Ottoman prose never managed to develop to the extent that contemporary Divan poetry did. A large part of the reason for this was that much prose was expected to adhere to the rules of ''sec''' (سجع, also transliterated as ''seci''), or [[rhymed prose]],<ref>Belge, 389</ref> a type of writing descended from the Arabic ''[[saj']]'' and which prescribed that between each adjective and noun in a sentence, there must be a [[rhyme]].

Nevertheless, there was a tradition of prose in the literature of the time. This tradition was exclusively [[Non-fiction|nonfictional]] in nature—the [[fiction]] tradition was limited to narrative poetry.<ref>One apparent exception was the ''Muhayyelât'' (مخيّلات "''Fancies''") of [[Giritli Ali Aziz Efendi|Ali Aziz Efendi]] of [[Crete]], a collection of stories of [[Fantastic|the fantastic]] that was written in 1796, though not published until 1867.</ref> A number of such nonfictional prose genres developed:

[[Image:Evliya Celebi.jpg|thumb|100px|Evliya Çelebi (1611–1682?), an Ottoman travel writer]]

* the ''târih'' (تاريخ), or [[history]], a tradition in which there are many notable writers, including the 15th-century [[historian]] Aşıkpaşazâde and the 17th-century historians Kâtib Çelebi and Naîmâ

* the ''seyâhatnâme'' (سياحت نامه), or [[Travel literature|travelogue]], of which the outstanding example is the 17th-century ''[[Seyahatname|Seyahâtnâme]]'' of [[Evliya Çelebi]]

* the ''[[sefâretnâme]]'' (سفارت نامه), a related genre specific to the journeys and experiences of an Ottoman [[ambassador]], and which is best exemplified by the 1718–1720 ''Paris Sefâretnâmesi'' of [[Yirmisekiz Mehmed Çelebi]], ambassador to the court of [[Louis XV of France]]

* the ''siyâsetnâme'' (سياست نامه), a kind of political treatise describing the functionings of state and offering advice for rulers, an early Seljuk example of which is the 11th-century ''[[Siyasatnama|Siyāsatnāma]]'', written in Persian by [[Nizam al-Mulk]], [[vizier]] to the Seljuk rulers [[Alp Arslan]] and [[Malik Shah I]]

* the ''tezkîre'' (تذکره), a collection of short [[Biography|biographies]] of notable figures, some of the most notable of which were the 16th-century ''tezkiretü'ş-şuarâ''s (تذكرة الشعرا), or biographies of poets, by Latîfî and Aşık Çelebi

* the ''münşeât'' (منشآت), a collection of writings and letters similar to the Western tradition of ''[[belles-lettres]]''

* the ''münâzara'' (مناظره), a collection of [[debate]]s of either a religious or a philosophical nature

===The 19th century and Western influence===

{{further|[[Poetry of the Ottoman Empire#The 19th Century and Western Influence|Poetry of the Ottoman Empire]], [[Prose of the Ottoman Empire#Later Ottoman Prose|Prose of the Ottoman Empire]]}}

By the early 19th century, the Ottoman Empire had become [[Sick man of Europe|moribund]]. Attempts to right this situation had begun during the reign of [[Selim III|Sultan Selim III]], from 1789 to 1807, but were continuously thwarted by the powerful [[Janissary|Janissary corps]]. As a result, only after [[Mahmud II|Sultan Mahmud II]] had abolished the Janissary corps in 1826 was the way paved for truly effective reforms (Ottoman Turkish: تنظيمات ''tanzîmât'').

These reforms finally came to the empire during the [[Tanzimat|Tanzimat period]] of 1839–1876, when much of the Ottoman system was reorganized along largely [[Civil law (legal system)|French lines]]. The Tanzimat reforms "were designed both to modernize the empire and to forestall foreign intervention".<ref>Mansel, 266</ref>

Along with reforms to the Ottoman system, serious reforms were also undertaken in the literature, which had become nearly as moribund as the empire itself. Broadly, these literary reforms can be grouped into two areas:

* changes brought to the language of Ottoman written literature;

* the introduction into Ottoman literature of previously unknown genres.

The reforms to the literary language were undertaken because the Ottoman Turkish language was thought by the reformists to have effectively lost its way. It had become more divorced than ever from its original basis in Turkish, with writers using more and more words and even grammatical structures derived from Persian and Arabic, rather than Turkish. Meanwhile, however, the Turkish folk literature tradition of Anatolia, away from the capital [[Istanbul|Constantinople]], came to be seen as an ideal. Accordingly, many of the reformists called for written literature to turn away from the Divan tradition and towards the folk tradition; this call for change can be seen, for example, in a famous statement by the poet and reformist Ziya [[Pasha]] (1829–1880):

[[Image:Ziya.jpg|thumb|left|100px|Ziya Pasha (1829–1880), Ottoman poet and reformist]]

<blockquote>''Our language is not Ottoman; it is Turkish. What makes up our poetic canon is not ''gazel''s and ''kasîde''s, but rather ''kayabaşı''s, ''üçleme''s, and ''çöğür''s''<ref>''Kayabaşı'', ''üçleme'', and ''çöğür'' were all seen as part of the Turkish folk tradition: a ''kayabaşı'' was a sort of rural ballad or shepherd's song; an ''üçleme'' was a three-part tale or narrative song; and a ''çöğür'' was a mandolin-like musical instrument associated with the ''aşık''/''ozan'' tradition.</ref>'', which some of our poets dislike, thinking them crude. But just let those with the ability exert the effort on this road [of change], and what powerful personalities will soon be born!''<ref>"Bizim dilimiz Osmanlıca değil, Türkçedir. Şiirimizde divanları dolduran gazelle kaside değil, bazılarının vezinsiz diye beğenmedikleri 'kayabaşı', 'üçleme' ve 'çöğür'lerdir. İstidat sahiplerimiz hele bu yola bir kere himmet etsinler, az vakitte ne kudretli şahsiyetler yetişir" (Karaalioğlu, ''Ziya Paşa'', 39).</ref></blockquote>

At the same time as this call—which reveals something of a burgeoning [[Nationalism|national consciousness]]—was being made, new literary genres were being introduced into Ottoman literature, primarily the novel and the short story. This trend began in 1861, with the translation into Ottoman Turkish of [[François Fénelon]]'s 1699 novel ''[[The Adventures of Telemachus|Les aventures de Télémaque]]'', by Yusuf Kâmil Pasha, [[Vizier|Grand Vizier]] to [[Abd-ul-Aziz|Sultan Abdülaziz]]. What is widely recognized as the first Turkish novel, ''Taaşuk-u Tal'at ve Fitnat'' (تعشق طلعت و فطنت; "Tal'at and Fitnat In Love") by Şemsettin Sami (1850–1904), was published just ten years later, in 1872.<ref>There had actually been, according to [http://www.edebiyatdergisi.hacettepe.edu.tr/700ozelGoncaGokalp.pdf Gonca Gökalp], five other earlier or contemporaneous works of fiction that were clearly distinct from earlier prose traditions in both Divan and folk literature, and that approximate novelistic form. Among these five works is the ''Muhayyelât'' of Ali Aziz Efendi, cited above. Another, 1851's ''Akabi Hikâyesi'' ("''Akabi's Story''"), written by the [[Armenians|Armenian]] [[Vartan Pasha]] (Hovsep Vartanian) using the [[Armenian alphabet|Armenian script]] and for an Armenian audience was, according to [[Andreas Tietze]], "the first genuine modern novel written and published in Turkey" (cited in Gökalp 188).</ref> The introduction of such new genres into Turkish literature can be seen as part of a trend towards [[Western culture|Westernization]] that continues to be felt in Turkey to this day.

Due to historically close ties with [[France]]—strengthened during the [[Crimean War]] of 1854–1856—it was [[French literature]] that came to constitute the major Western influence on Turkish literature throughout the latter half of the 19th century. As a result, many of the same movements prevalent in France during this period also had their equivalents in the Ottoman Empire: in the developing Ottoman prose tradition, for instance, the influence of [[Romanticism]] can be seen during the Tanzimat period, and that of the [[Realism (arts)|Realist]] and [[Naturalism (literature)|Naturalist]] movements in subsequent periods; in the poetic tradition, on the other hand, it was the influence of the [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolist]] and [[Parnassian poets|Parnassian]] movements that became paramount.

Many of the writers in the Tanzimat period wrote in several different genres simultaneously: for instance, the poet [[Namik Kemal|Nâmık Kemal]] (1840–1888) also wrote the important 1876 novel ''İntibâh'' (انتباه; "Awakening"), while the [[journalist]] Şinasi (1826–1871) is noted for writing, in 1860, the first modern Turkish [[play]], the [[One act play|one-act]] [[comedy]] "''Şair Evlenmesi''" (شاعر اولنمسى; "The Poet's Marriage"). In a similar vein, the novelist Ahmed Midhat Efendi (1844–1912) wrote important novels in each of the major movements: Romanticism (حسن ملاح ياخود سر ايچيكده اسرار ''Hasan Mellâh yâhud Sırr İçinde Esrâr'', 1873; "''Hasan the Sailor, or The Mystery Within the Mystery''"), Realism (هﻨﻮز اون يدى يشکده ''Henüz On Yedi Yaşında'', 1881; "''Just Seventeen Years Old''"), and Naturalism (مشاهدات ''Müşâhedât'', 1891; "''Observations''"). This diversity was, in part, due to the Tanzimat writers' wish to disseminate as much of the new literature as possible, in the hopes that it would contribute to a revitalization of Ottoman [[social structure]]s.<ref>Moran, 19</ref>

==Early 20th-century Turkish literature==

{{further|[[Poetry of the Ottoman Empire]], [[Prose of the Ottoman Empire#Later Ottoman Prose|Prose of the Ottoman Empire]]}}

Most of the roots of modern Turkish literature were formed between the years 1896—when the first collective literary movement arose—and 1923, when the Republic of Turkey was officially founded. Broadly, there were three primary literary movements during this period:

* the ''Edebiyyât-ı Cedîde'' (ادبيات جدیده; "New Literature") movement

* the ''Fecr-i Âtî'' (فجر آتى; "Dawn of the Future") movement

* the ''Millî Edebiyyât'' (ملى ادبيات; "National Literature") movement

===The New Literature movement===

[[Image:Tevfik Fikret2.jpg|thumb|left|115px|Tevfik Fikret (1867–1915), poet and editor of ''Servet-i Fünûn'']]

The ''Edebiyyât-ı Cedîde'', or "New Literature", movement began with the founding in 1891 of the magazine ''Servet-i Fünûn'' (ﺛﺮوت ﻓﻨﻮن; "Scientific Wealth"), which was largely devoted to progress—both intellectual and scientific—along the Western model. Accordingly, the magazine's literary ventures, under the direction of the poet Tevfik Fikret (1867–1915), were geared towards creating a Western-style "[[High culture|high art]]" in Turkey. The poetry of the group—of which Tevfik Fikret and [[Cenâb Şehâbeddîn]] (1870–1934) were the most influential proponents—was heavily influenced by the French Parnassian movement and the so-called "[[Decadence|Decadent]]" poets. The group's prose writers, on the other hand—particularly Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil (1867–1945)—were primarily influenced by Realism, although the writer Mehmed Rauf (1875–1931) did write the first Turkish example of a [[psychological novel]], 1901's ''Eylül'' (ايلول; "September"). The language of the ''Edebiyyât-ı Cedîde'' movement remained strongly influenced by Ottoman Turkish.

In 1901, as a result of the article "''Edebiyyât ve Hukuk''" (ادبيات و ﺣﻘﻮق; "Literature and Law"), translated from French and published in ''Servet-i Fünûn'', the pressure of [[censorship]] was brought to bear and the magazine was closed down by the government of the Ottoman sultan [[Abdul Hamid II|Abdülhamid II]]. Though it was closed for only six months, the group's writers each went their own way in the meantime, and the ''Edebiyyât-ı Cedîde'' movement came to an end.

===The Dawn of the Future movement===

In the [[February 24|24 February]] [[1909]] edition of the ''Servet-i Fünûn'' magazine, a gathering of young writers—soon to be known as the ''Fecr-i Âtî'' ("Dawn of the Future") group—released a [[manifesto]] in which they declared their opposition to the ''Edebiyyât-ı Cedîde'' movement and their adherence to the credo, "''Sanat şahsî ve muhteremdir''" (صنعت شخصى و محترمدر; "Art is personal and sacred").<ref>Karaalioğlu, ''Türk Edebiyatı Tarihi'', v.3, 216–218</ref> Though this credo was little more than a variation of the French writer [[Théophile Gautier]]'s doctrine of "''[[Art for art's sake|l'art pour l'art]]''", or "art for art's sake", the group was nonetheless opposed to the blanket importation of Western forms and styles, and essentially sought to create a recognizably Turkish literature. The ''Fecr-i Âtî'' group, however, never made a clear and unequivocal declaration of its goals and principles, and so lasted only a few years before its adherents each went their own individual way. The two outstanding figures to emerge from the movement were, in poetry, [[Ahmed Haşim|Ahmed Hâşim]] (1884–1933), and in prose, [[Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu]] (1889–1974).

===The National Literature movement===

[[Image:Genc Kalemler.jpg|thumb|125px|Cover page from an issue of ''Genç Kalemler'']]

In 1908, Sultan Abdülhamid II had instituted a [[Constitutional monarchy|constitutional government]], and the [[Second Constitutional Era (Ottoman Empire)|parliament]] subsequently elected was composed almost entirely of members of the Committee of Union and Progress (also known as the "[[Young Turks]]"). The Young Turks (ژون تورکلر ''Jön Türkler'') had opposed themselves to the increasingly [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]] Ottoman government, and soon came to identify themselves with a specifically Turkish national identity. Along with this notion developed the idea of a Turkish and even [[Pan-Turkism|pan-Turkish]] [[nation]] (Turkish: ''millet''), and so the literature of this period came to be known as "National Literature" (Turkish: ''millî edebiyyât''). It was during this period that the Persian- and Arabic-inflected Ottoman Turkish language was definitively turned away from as a vehicle for written literature, and that literature began to assert itself as being specifically Turkish, rather than Ottoman.

At first, this movement crystallized around the magazine ''Genç Kalemler'' (کنج قلملر; "Young Pens"), which was begun in the city of [[Thessaloniki|Selânik]] in 1911 by the three writers who were most representative of the movement: [[Ziya Gökalp]] (1876–1924), a sociologist and thinker; [[Ömer Seyfettin]] (1884–1920), a short-story writer; and Ali Canip Yöntem (1887–1967), a poet. In ''Genç Kalemler'''s first issue, an article entitled "New Language" (Turkish: "''Yeni Lisan''") pointed out that Turkish literature had previously looked for inspiration either to the [[Eastern world|East]] as in the Ottoman Divan tradition, or to the [[Western world|West]] as in the ''Edebiyyât-ı Cedîde'' and ''Fecr-i Âtî'' movements, without ever turning to Turkey itself.<ref>Muhtar, et al.</ref> This latter was the National Literature movement's primary aim.

The intrinsically nationalistic character of ''Genç Kalemler'', however, quickly took a decidedly [[Chauvinism|chauvinistic]] turn,<ref>Viz. Elif Şafak's characterization of Ömer Seyfettin's story "''Primo Türk Çocuğu''" ("Primo: The Turkish Lad"), Şafak 2005.</ref> and other writers—many of whom, like Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu, had been a part of the ''Fecr-i Âtî'' movement—began to emerge from within the matrix of the National Literature movement to counter this trend. Some of the more influential writers to come out of this less [[Far right|far-rightist]] branch of the National Literature movement were the poet Mehmet Emin Yurdakul (1869–1944), the early [[Feminism|feminist]] novelist [[Halide Edip|Halide Edip Adıvar]] (1884–1964), and the short-story writer and novelist Reşat Nuri Güntekin (1889–1956).

==Post-independence literature==

Following the Ottoman Empire's defeat in the [[World War I|First World War]] of 1914–1918, the victorious [[Allies of World War I|Entente Powers]] began the process of carving up the empire's lands and placing them under their own [[Sphere of influence|spheres of influence]]. In opposition to this process, the military leader [[Kemal Atatürk|Mustafa Kemal]] (1881–1938), in command of the growing [[Turkish National Movement|Turkish national movement]] whose roots lay partly in the Young Turks, organized the 1919–1923 [[Turkish War of Independence]]. This war ended with the official ending of the Ottoman Empire, the expulsion of the Entente Powers, and the founding of the Republic of Turkey.

The literature of the new republic emerged largely from the pre-independence National Literature movement, with its roots simultaneously in the Turkish folk tradition and in the Western notion of progress. One important change to Turkish literature was enacted in 1928, when Mustafa Kemal initiated the creation and dissemination of a [[Turkish alphabet|modified version]] of the [[Latin alphabet]] to replace the Arabic-based Ottoman script. Over time, this change—together with changes in Turkey's system of education—would lead to more widespread [[literacy]] in the country.<ref>Lester 1997; Wolf-Gazo 1996</ref>

===Prose===

{{Main|Prose of the Republic of Turkey}}

[[Image:InceMemed.jpg|thumb|100px|''Memed, My Hawk'' (1955), by [[Yaşar Kemal]]]]

Stylistically, the prose of the early years of the Republic of Turkey was essentially a continuation of the National Literature movement, with Realism and Naturalism predominating. This trend culminated in the 1932 novel ''Yaban'' ("''The Wilds''"), by Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu. This novel can be seen as the precursor to two trends that would soon develop:<ref>Bezirci, 105–108</ref> [[social realism]], and the "village novel" (''köy romanı'').

The social realist movement is perhaps best represented by the short-story writer [[Sait Faik|Sait Faik Abasıyanık]] (1906–1954), whose work sensitively and realistically treats the lives of cosmopolitan Istanbul's [[Working class|lower classes]] and [[Minority|ethnic minorities]], subjects which led to some criticism in the contemporary nationalistic atmosphere.<ref>Paskin 2005</ref> The tradition of the "village novel", on the other hand, arose somewhat later. As its name suggests, the "village novel" deals, in a generally realistic manner, with life in the villages and small towns of Turkey. The major writers in this tradition are Kemal Tahir (1910–1973), Orhan Kemal (1914–1970), and Yaşar Kemal (1923– ). Yaşar Kemal, in particular, has earned fame outside of Turkey not only for his novels—many of which, such as 1955's ''İnce Memed'' ("''Memed, My Hawk''"), elevate local tales to the level of epic—but also for his firmly leftist political stance. In a very different tradition, but evincing a similar strong political viewpoint, was the [[Satire|satirical]] short-story writer [[Aziz Nesin]] (1915–1995).

[[Image:Orhan_Pamuk3.jpg|thumb|left|100px|[[Orhan Pamuk]], winner of the 2006 [[Nobel Prize in Literature]]]]

Another novelist contemporary to, but outside of, the social realist and "village novel" traditions is [[Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar|Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar]] (1901–1962). In addition to being an important [[Essay|essayist]] and poet, Tanpınar wrote a number of novels—such as ''Huzur'' ("''Tranquillity''", 1949) and ''Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü'' ("''The Time Regulation Institute''", 1961)—which dramatize the clash between East and West in modern Turkish culture and society. Similar problems are explored by the novelist and short-story writer Oğuz Atay (1934–1977). Unlike Tanpınar, however, Atay—in such works as his long novel ''Tutunamayanlar'' ("''Losers''", 1971–1972) and his short story "''Beyaz Mantolu Adam''" ([http://www.turkish-lit.boun.edu.tr/work.asp?CharSet=English&ID=1452 "Man in a White Coat"], 1975)—wrote in a more [[Modernist literature|modernist]] and [[Existentialism|existentialist]] vein. On the other hand, [[Onat Kutlar]]'s ''İshak'' ("''Isaac''", 1959), comprised of nine short stories which are written mainly from a child's [[Point of view (literature)|point of view]] and are often surrealistic and mystical, represent a very early example of [[magic realism]].

The tradition of literary modernism also informs the work of novelist Adalet Ağaoğlu (1929– ). Her trilogy of novels collectively entitled ''Dar Zamanlar'' ("''Tight Times''", 1973–1987), for instance, examines the changes that occurred in Turkish society between the 1930s and the 1980s in a formally and technically innovative style. [[Orhan Pamuk]] (1952– ), winner of the 2006 [[Nobel Prize in Literature]], is another such innovative novelist, though his works—such as 1990's ''Beyaz Kale'' ("''[[The White Castle]]''") and ''Kara Kitap'' ("''[[The Black Book (Orhan Pamuk novel)|The Black Book]]''") and 1998's ''Benim Adım Kırmızı'' ("''[[My Name is Red]]''")—are influenced more by [[Postmodern literature|postmodernism]] than by modernism. This is true also of [[Latife Tekin]] (1957– ), whose first novel ''Sevgili Arsız Ölüm'' ("''Dear Shameless Death''", 1983) shows the influence not only of postmodernism, but also of magic realism.

===Poetry===

{{Main|Poetry of the Republic of Turkey}}

In the early years of the Republic of Turkey, there were a number of poetic trends. Authors such as Ahmed Hâşim and Yahyâ Kemâl Beyatlı (1884–1958) continued to write important formal verse whose language was, to a great extent, a continuation of the late Ottoman tradition. By far the majority of the poetry of the time, however, was in the tradition of the folk-inspired "syllabist" movement (''Beş Hececiler''), which had emerged from the National Literature movement and which tended to express [[Patriotism|patriotic]] themes couched in the syllabic meter associated with Turkish folk poetry.

The first radical step away from this trend was taken by [[Nazım Hikmet|Nâzım Hikmet Ran]], who—during his time as a student in the [[Soviet Union]] from 1921 to 1924—was exposed to the modernist poetry of [[Vladimir Mayakovsky]] and others, which inspired him to start writing verse in a less formal style. At this time, he wrote the poem "''Açların Gözbebekleri''" ("Pupils of the Hungry"), which introduced [[free verse]] into the Turkish language for, essentially, the first time.<ref>Earlier poets, such as Ahmed Hâşim, had experimented with a style of poetry called ''serbest müstezâd'' ("free ''müstezâd''"), a type of poetry which alternated long and short lines of verse, but this was not a truly "free" style of verse insofar as it still largely adhered to prosodic conventions (Fuat 2002).</ref> Much of Nâzım Hikmet's poetry subsequent to this breakthrough would continue to be written in free verse, though his work exerted little influence for some time due largely to [[censorship]] of his work owing to his [[Communism|Communist]] political stance, which also led to his spending several years in prison. Over time, in such books as ''Simavne Kadısı Oğlu Şeyh Bedreddin Destanı'' ("''The Epic of Shaykh Bedreddin, Son of Judge Simavne''", 1936) and ''Memleketimden İnsan Manzaraları'' ("''Human Landscapes from My Country''", 1939), he developed a voice simultaneously proclamatory and subtle.

[[Image:Garip.jpg|thumb|left|125px|''Garip'' (1941) revolutionized modern Turkish poetry]]

Another revolution in Turkish poetry came about in 1941 with the publication of a small volume of verse preceded by an essay and entitled ''[[Garip]]'' ("''Strange''"). The authors were [[Orhan Veli|Orhan Veli Kanık]] (1914–1950), Melih Cevdet Anday (1915–2002), and [[Oktay Rifat]] (1914–1988). Explicitly opposing themselves to everything that had gone in poetry before, they sought instead to create a popular art, "to explore the people's tastes, to determine them, and to make them reign supreme over art".<ref>Quoted in Halman 1997.</ref> To this end, and inspired in part by contemporary French poets like [[Jacques Prévert]], they employed not only a variant of the free verse introduced by Nâzım Hikmet, but also highly [[Colloquialism|colloquial language]], and wrote primarily about mundane daily subjects and the ordinary man on the street. The reaction was immediate and polarized: most of the [[Academia|academic establishment]] and older poets vilified them, while much of the Turkish population embraced them wholeheartedly. Though the movement itself lasted only ten years—until Orhan Veli's death in 1950, after which Melih Cevdet Anday and Oktay Rifat moved on to other styles—its effect on Turkish poetry continues to be felt today.

Just as the Garip movement was a reaction against earlier poetry, so—in the 1950s and afterwards—was there a reaction against the Garip movement. The poets of this movement, soon known as ''İkinci Yeni'' ("Second New"<ref>The Garip movement was considered to be the "First New" (''Birinci Yeni'').</ref>), opposed themselves to the social aspects prevalent in the poetry of Nâzım Hikmet and the Garip poets, and instead—partly inspired by the disruption of language in such Western movements as [[Dada]] and [[Surrealism]]—sought to create a more abstract poetry through the use of jarring and unexpected language, complex images, and the association of ideas. To some extent, the movement can be seen as bearing some of the characteristics of postmodern literature. The most well-known poets writing in the "Second New" vein were Turgut Uyar (1927–1985), Edip Cansever (1928–1986), [[Cemal Süreya]] (1931–1990), Ece Ayhan (1931–2002), and [[Ilhan Berk|İlhan Berk]] (1918– ).

Outside of the Garip and "Second New" movements also, a number of significant poets have flourished, such as Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca (1914– ), who wrote poems dealing with fundamental concepts like life, death, God, time, and the cosmos; Behçet Necatigil (1916–1979), whose somewhat [[Allegory|allegorical]] poems explore the significance of [[Middle class|middle-class]] daily life; Can Yücel (1926–1999), who—in addition to his own highly colloquial and varied poetry—was also a translator into Turkish of a variety of world literature; and [[Ismet Özel|İsmet Özel]] (1944– ), whose early poetry was highly [[Left-wing politics|leftist]] but whose poetry since the 1970s has shown a strong [[Mysticism|mystical]] and even [[Islamism|Islamist]] influence.

==Notes==

{{reflist|2}}

==References==

<div class="references-small">

* Andrews, Walter G. ''Ottoman Lyric Poetry: An Anthology''. ISBN 0-292-70472-0.

* —. ''Poetry's Voice, Society's Song''. ISBN 0-295-96153-8.

* [[Murat Belge|Belge, Murat]]. ''Osmanlı'da Kurumlar ve Kültür''. ISBN 975-8998-03-X.

* Bezirci, Asım; ed. ''Seçme Romanlar: Yazarları, Eserleri, Roman Özetleri, Eleştiriler, Kaynaklar''. İstanbul: Evrensel Basım Yayın, 1997.

* Fuat, Mehmet; ed. (2002) [http://www.nazimhikmetran.com/english/frm_index/biyografi.html "Nâzım Hikmet: Life Story"]. Tr. Nurgül Kıvılcım Yavuz. Retrieved 1 March 2006.

* Gökalp, G. Gonca. "[http://www.edebiyatdergisi.hacettepe.edu.tr/700ozelGoncaGokalp.pdf Osmanlı Dönemi Türk Romanının Başlangıcında Beş Eser]" in ''Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi'', pp. 185–202.

* Halman, Talat Sait; ed. tr. [http://www.orhanveli.net/talathalman/introduction.html "Introduction"]. ''Just for the Hell of It: 111 Poems by Orhan Veli Kanık''. Multilingual Yabancı Dil Yayınları, 1997.

* Karaalioğlu, Seyit Kemal. ''Türk Edebiyatı Tarihi''. İstanbul: İnkilâp ve Aka Basımevi, 1980.

* —; ed. ''Ziya Paşa: Hayatı ve Şiirleri''. İstanbul: İnkılâp ve Aka Basımevi, 1984.

* Lester, Toby. (1997) [http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~jmatthew/articles/newalphab.html "New-Alphabet Disease?"]. Retrieved 6 March 2006.

* Mansel, Philip. ''Constantinople: City of the World's Desire, 1453–1924''. ISBN 0-14-026246-6.

* Moran, Berna. ''Türk Romanına Eleştirel Bir Bakış''. Vol. 1. ISBN 975-470-054-0.

* Muhtar, İbrahim et al. (2003) [http://www.ogretmeninsesi.org/dergi/51/GencKalemler.asp "Genç Kalemler"]. Retrieved 23 February 2006.

* Pala, İskender. ''Divân Şiiri Antolojisi: Dîvânü'd-Devâvîn''. ISBN 975-338-081-X.

* Paskin, Sylvia. (2005) [http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/classics/story/0,,1577023,00.html "The cloak of love"]. Retrieved 5 March 2006.

* Selçuk Üniversitesi Uzaktan Eğitim Programı (SUZEP). [http://farabi.selcuk.edu.tr/suzep/turk_dili/ders_notlari/bolum_5/bolum05_c.html "Türk Yazı Dilinin Tarihî Gelişimi"]. Retrieved 29 May 2006.

* Şafak, Elif. (2005) [http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-476/_nr-459/i.html "There Is No Clash of Civilizations"]. Retrieved 24 February 2006.

* Şentürk, Ahmet Atilla. ''Osmanlı Şiiri Antolojisi''. ISBN 975-08-0163-6.

* [[Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar|Tanpınar, Ahmet Hamdi]]. ''19'uncu Asır Türk Edebiyatı Tarihi''. İstanbul: Çağlayan Kitabevi, 1988.

* Tietze, Andreas; ed. "Önsöz", ''Akabi Hikyayesi''. pp. IX–XXI. İstanbul: Eren Yayıncılık ve Kitapçılık Ltd. Şti., 1991.

* Wolf-Gazo, Ernest. (1996) [http://www.bilkent.edu.tr/~jast/Number3/Gazo.html "John Dewey in Turkey: An Educational Mission"]. Retrieved 6 March 2006.

</div>

==See also==

*[[Azerbaijani literature]]

*[[Chagatai language]]

*[[List of Ottoman poets]]

Turkish books [http://www.kitapkolik.net/]a web site offering various kind of Turkish books you will enjoy

Turkish books [[http://www.haftaninkitabi.net/]]a web site offering various kind of Turkish books you will enjoy

==External links==

===In English===

*[http://www.kultur.gov.tr/EN/BelgeGoster.aspx?17A16AE30572D313D4AF1EF75F7A7968AD2159C2926A9E50 ''Encyclopedia of Turkish Authors'']—a very comprehensive encyclopedia from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism

*[http://www.turkish-lit.boun.edu.tr/ ''Contemporary Turkish Literature'']—an excellent and well-translated selection of contemporary Turkish literature hosted by [[Boğaziçi University|Boğaziçi University]] in [[Istanbul]]

*[http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~sibel/poetry/translation.html ''Turkish Poetry in Translation'']—a website with a good selection of both contemporary and somewhat older Turkish poems

*[http://www.turkishculture.org/ ''Turkish Cultural Foundation'']—a website with a great deal of information on a number of Turkish authors and literary genres

*[http://learning.lib.vt.edu/slav/lit_authors_turkish.html ''Selected Literatures and Authors Page: Turkish Literature'']—a website with a number of Turkish literature-related links

===In Turkish===

*[http://www.osmanlimedeniyeti.com/Edebiyat/ ''Divan Edebiyatı'']—a website with many examples of Ottoman Divan poetry

*[http://aton.ttu.edu/ ''Uysal-Walker Archive of Turkish Oral Narrative'']—a searchable archive of oral literature based at [[Texas Tech University]] and containing links to numerous MP3 files

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