AN INTERTEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF ADAPTATIONS OF TURKISH FOLK NARRATIVES WRITTEN BY LEFT-ORIENTED INTELLECTUALS IN THE 1960S AND 1970S A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY ESRA MİNE GÜNGÖR IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA AND CULTURAL STUDIES MARCH 2021 Approval of the thesis: AN INTERTEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF ADAPTATIONS OF TURKISH FOLK NARRATIVES WRITTEN BY LEFT-ORIENTED INTELLECTUALS IN THE 1960S AND 1970S submitted by ESRA MİNE GÜNGÖR in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Media and Cultural Studies, the Graduate School of Social Sciences of Middle East Technical University by, Prof. Dr. Yaşar KONDAKÇI Dean Graduate School of Social Sciences Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış ÇAKMUR Head of Department Department of Media and Cultural Studies Prof. Dr. Necmi ERDOĞAN Supervisor Department of Political Science and Public Administration Examining Committee Members: Prof. Dr. Lütfi Doğan TILIÇ (Head of the Examining Committee) Başkent University Department of Public Relations and Publicity Prof. Dr. Necmi ERDOĞAN (Supervisor) Middle East Technical University Department of Political Science and Public Administration Assist. Prof. Dr. Özgür AVCI Middle East Technical University Department of Political Science and Public Administration PLAGIARISM I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last Name: Esra Mine GÜNGÖR Signature: iii ABSTRACT AN INTERTEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF ADAPTATIONS OF TURKISH FOLK NARRATIVES WRITTEN BY LEFT-ORIENTED INTELLECTUALS IN THE 1960S AND 1970S Güngör, Esra Mine M.S., Department of Media and Cultural Studies Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Necmi Erdoğan March 2021, 223 pages This thesis analyses adaptations of folk narratives written by left-oriented intellectuals in the 1960s and 1970s in an intertextual context. By analyzing 16 adaptations of folk romances and stories, the study tries to reveal ideological and political transformations, changes and additions in literary characteristics of narratives in terms of content and form. Then it discusses how folk materials were reinterpreted from the leftist perspective by examining dominant conflict of narratives, depictions of popular folk characters, their helpers and opponents, conceptualization of love between heroes and heroines and utterances of characters by associating them with contextual factors. Within this frame this thesis tries to reveal what kind of meaning these adaptations created and how it differs from the preceded versions of folk narratives. Keywords: folk narratives, folklore, the left, adaptations, intellectuals iv ÖZ 1960’LI VE 1970’Lİ YILLARDA SOL EĞİLİMLİ ENTELEKTÜELLERİN YAZDIĞI HALK ANLATILARININ UYARLAMALARININ METİNLERARASI İNCELEMESİ Güngör, Esra Mine Yüksek Lisans, Medya ve Kültürel Çalışmalar Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Necmi Erdoğan Mart 2021, 223 sayfa Bu tez, 1960'lı ve 1970'li yıllarda sol eğilimli entelektüellerin yazdığı halk anlatılarının uyarlamalarını metinlerarası bir bağlamda inceliyor. Bu çalışma, folklorik aşk hikayelerinin ve öykülerinin 16 uyarlamasını analiz ederek, anlatıların edebi özelliklerindeki ideolojik ve politik dönüşümleri, değişiklikleri ve eklemeleri içerik ve biçim açısından ortaya çıkarmaya çalışmaktadır. Ardından, anlatıların baskın çatışmalarını, popüler halk karakterlerinin, yardımcılarının ve düşmanlarının tasvirlerini, erkek ve kadın kahramanlar arasındaki aşkın kavramsallaştırılmasını ve karakterlerin ifadelerini bağlamsal faktörlerle ilişkilendirerek halk anlatılarının sol perspektiften nasıl yeniden yorumlandığını tartışır. Bu çerçevede bu tez, bu uyarlamaların nasıl bir anlam yarattığını ve halk anlatılarının önceki versiyonlarından nasıl farklılaştığını ortaya çıkarmaya çalışmaktadır. Anahtar kelimeler: halk anlatıları, folklor, sol, uyarlamalar, entelektüeller v DEDICATION To my family vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Necmi Erdoğan, since thanks to his great patience and guidances I learned to look from a different perspective which makes possible this study. From the beginning to the end, even though sometimes I lost my way, thanks to his precious comments I could contiue to move on. His unique knowledge inspired me a lot and this inspiration motivates me for future studies. I would also like to thank Prof. Dr. L. Doğan Tılıç and Assist. Prof. Özgür Avcı for their detailed reading and valuable comments and suggestions. I specifically owe much to Assist. Prof. Özgür Avcı because he always motivated me to keep going and I am grateful for his encouragement. I also owe a debt of gratitude to my family and my dear friends Çağla Üren and İrem Elbir, without their solidarity and support I would not finish this thesis. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ......................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ iv ÖZ ............................................................................................................................. v DEDICATION......................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................... vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... viii CHAPTERS 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Objective of the Study .................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research Method and Theoretical Framework ............................................. 12 1.3 Literature on Adaptations of Folk Narratives written by Left-oriented Intellectuals ......................................................................................................... 19 1.4 Outline of the Study ...................................................................................... 23 2. FOLK TRADITION AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FOLK NARRATIVES ....................................................................................................... 25 2.1 Contents and Forms of Folk Narratives ........................................................ 25 2.2 General Characteristics of Variations of Folk Narratives in terms of Storyline .............................................................................................................. 36 2.3 Folk Narratives as Performances and Audience ........................................... 42 2.4 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................................... 45 3. FOLKLORE, MODERNIZATION AND ADAPTATION ............................... 48 3.1 Initiatory Examples of Modernization of Folk Narratives: Recreation of Folk Narratives for Middle-Class Reading Audiences ....................................... 48 3.2 Kemalist Modernization of Folk Narratives in the early Republican era of Turkey ................................................................................................................. 60 3.3 Leftist Approaches to Reinterpretations and Adaptations of Folk Materials 69 3.4 Concluding Remarks ..................................................................................... 74 viii 4. LEFTIST INTERPRETATION OF FOLK NARRATIVES AND LIVING FOLK CULTURE IN THE 1960S AND 1970S IN TURKEY .............................. 76 4.1 Leftist Intellectuals, Social Problems in Novels and Folk Culture ............... 77 4.2 Leftist Minstrels, Living Folk Culture and Interaction between Modern and Traditional .................................................................................................... 88 4.3 Political and Ideological Differences and Similarities among Leftist Intellectuals in terms of Adaptations ................................................................ 101 4.4 Realism and Different Literary Styles in Adaptations ................................ 121 4.5 Concluding Remarks................................................................................... 130 5. TRANSFORMATION OF “FOLK CHARACTERS IN THEMSELVES” TO “FOLK CHARACTERS FOR THEMSELVES” ................................................. 132 5.1 Transformation of Dominant Conflict in Folk Narratives .......................... 132 5.2 Depiction of Female Characters and Conceptualization of Love ............... 160 5.3 Additional Folk Characters in the role of Helper and Changes of Traditional Helpers ........................................................................................... 177 5.4 Concluding Remarks................................................................................... 190 6. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 193 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................ 202 APPENDICES A. TURKISH SUMMARY/ TÜRKÇE ÖZET ..................................................... 212 B. THESIS PERMISSION FORM/ TEZ İZİN FORMU