Analysis of the narrative of “Eskici” within the framework of literary semiotics theory

Abstract

The narrative tradition in Turkish Literature dates back to epics. Turkish storytelling, nourished by the Dede Korkut Tales, has begun to gain a new dimension in the late 19th century. In 20th century Turkey, Refik Halid Karay, who used Turkish with a great skill, emerged as one of the founders of modern Turkish storytelling. Social problems, Anatolia, Anatolian people, expatriation, homesickness, daily life, etc., which reflect the characteristics of the period, took place in the short stories brought to Turkish literature. The source of the stories is mostly real life itself. Among the common features of these stories, it is possible to say that they were written in the order of introduction, development and conclusion within a certain plan as required by the modern story and that the characters have undergone some changes based on their relationship with other actants within the plot. Refik Halid Karay also emphasizes the relationship between geography and human in his stories. One of the stories in which this relationship is emphasized is the story "Eskici", which is the examination object. One of the main aims of this study is to be analyzed the elements that contribute to the formation of Karay's narrative such as person, time and space through semiotics. The other aim is to offer researchers interested in the subject a practical methodology on how to perform reading from a semiotic perspective. The path to be followed in the analysis is to identify and reveal the constitutive elements at descriptive, narrative and thematic meaning levels that contribute to the formation of the meaning universe of narratives. Each meaning level will first be analyzed within itself, within the framework of the opportunities offered by semiotics, and then it will be discussed how these different meaning levels articulate with each other to make the narrative a meaningful whole.