Cumhuriyet döneminde edebi eleştiri (1923-1938)

Abstract

The years between 1923-1938 were rather rich from the point of literary criticism application. Almost all the poets and writers were used to publish articles of criticism in the then magazines and newspapers. However, most of these articles of criticism could not extend beyond the articles to introduce the new books. One can cite Nurullah Ataç, Ahmet Hamdi Tanpmar and Sabahattin Eyüboğlu as the qualified critics of the time. The most pronounced feature of this era was to assume a destructive stance against the old to give way to the new. The literature of the day is criticized for not being adequately realist and social and the concepts of "revolutionary literature" and "national literature" are painstakingly considered. It is pointed out that a literature should be both national and universal. The efforts to create a new literature are mostly focused in the field of poetry which has traditional roots.The dicussions of old generation and new generation as well as the prosody versus syllabic meter stem from this effort. The young poets of the era used to respond against the old poets and the mentality of the "sheer nationalism". Whether the folk literature were used or not used and whether the free creativity was interferred or not interferred were the main elements of discussion of the young generation. The compliance of the fictional persons with reality and the soundness of the fictional elements were accepted as the constant criteria in the novels and story critics, and the realistic orientation of the novel and story writers overlaps with this expectation. Polemic takes a prominent place in the theatrical criticisms of this time. In addition to the discussions of local books and books of adaptation; the most vehement discussions were made about the repertory of the City Theatre of Istanbul and the educative role of theatre was given a prominence. The writers and directors were expected to make studies towards this objective and theatre critics were also important and it was stressed for the critics to be specialized in this particular field. The purification of language put its seal on this era. The purification of language and the studies to earn the language its own worth together with the revolution in alphabet gained an important place. The quarrels between those who advocated for the language to be purified and those who advocated for the Ottoman language to be retained and the discussions of spoken and written language as well as the grammar studies were the items of literary agenda of the period. ArOZEXDOC 250