From Seeking For Identity To Individualization: Dialogic Discourse In Cihan Aktash’s Novel Seni Dinleyen Biri

Abstract

ABSTRACT

From Seeking For Identity To Individualization: Dialogic Discourse In Cihan Aktash's Novel Seni Dinleyen Biri

Cihan Aktaş shows a special interest in the subject of "woman" as a writer who is known not only for her novels and short stories but also researches and essays on institutionalism, art, and, politics. In the works of the writer, who is known for her Islamic identity, it is remarkable that she centralizes women's experiences while they seek for the meaning of their existence and question their status. Hence, Aktaş focuses on individual changes and transformations experienced by a group of college girls during the process of seeking Islamic identity in the 1980s, on the axis of Meral, who experienced this kind of questioning process.

The technique-wise significance of the novel is that it is dialogically structured so as to enlighten the different sides of reality and to reflect questioning attitude in the individual experience of the protagonist, Meral. In this context, the study aims to examine the elements which provide the aforementioned dialogic to the novel through theoretical framework of Mikhail Bakhtin. It is evident that not only Meral is created as a character with a dialogic perspective, but also the dialogic actualized through hidden polemic, hidden dialogue and confessing statements with polemical emphasis structures the content of the novel. It is also noteworthy that conflicting discourses and their critiques of each other are made available in the novel. Therefore, Seni Dinleyen Biri is of a distinctive quality considering that its plot is able to reflect different realities to the reader and does not limit itself with monological structure and discourse.

The target of this study is to reveal various approaches of the remarkable fiction that represents the interrogation of Islamic women in Turkey. Additionally, it is aimed to examine the dualism which points to the duality experienced in the transformation process which evolved from traditional or modern collective women identities to individualization. The approach and terminology of Mihail Bahtin will be taken as the ground.

As a result of the study, it is intended to evaluate whether an ongoing search for identity with Meral's inquiries and objections turned into individualization and self-realization.