Boundaries and transgressions in Ahmet Mithat's novels

Ahmet Mithat's novels, through their formal and thematic features, present a framework for reflecting on both the Tanzimat and Ottoman modernization. This dissertation aims to analyze Ahmet Mithat's novels to examine what literary, social, and political transgression meant for Ottoman society at the end of the nineteenth century. This period, during which modernization radically affected the Ottoman Empire in many ways, marks a historical turning point of modern Turkish literature. Therefore, this study attempts to analyze the patterns of narrative structure in early Turkish novels by questioning the possibilities offered by the concept of transgression in light of Ahmet Mithat's novels. In this context, the concept of transgression is utilized as a theoretical tool to explore the potential it presents in the literary field, particularly within the narrative structures of Ahmet Mithat's novels. It is asserted that the narrative boundaries in the novels, along with their aesthetics, shape characters, narratological elements, fictional structure, and arguably more crucially, the very nature of the novel as a genre. As a result, by delving into Ahmet Mithat's novels and his understanding of fictional narrative, the study brings to light the literary boundaries and principles that effectively operate within his fictional world.