Mehmet Kaplan as an essay author and his world of thoughtt

Having an important place in Turkish literature with his literary analysis and criticism, as well as having written many works in his forty-five years of writing, Prof. Mehmet Kaplan published a large number of essays in periodicals until his death, which arise a necessity to focus on his essayist side and the sources he fed on. Mehmet Kaplan, who is a prolific writer besides being an academician and a researcher, shaped his essayism not only with his gains from important characters in Turkish intellectual and artistic life, such as Fuad Köprülü, Ali Nihad Tarlan, Hilmi Ziya Ülken, Yahya Kemal Beyatlı, and Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, but also was influenced from Western philosophers such as Valery, Hegel, Wellek, Descartes, and especially Alain. While these essays, written on individual and social issues, have a great impact on the readers, they also draw attention with their language and style features. It is seen that Mehmet Kaplan, whose analyzes and criticisms have been focused on in the academic field, has been generally examined thematically. However, his essays could not be associated with his period; Those essays were not examined in the light of the names and works that the thinker was influenced by as well as the changes and fractures he experienced. Moreover, the relationship between his view of art and essay, which is a literary genre, could not be determined. In our study, Kaplan's essayism will be centered instead of his criticism and analyses, and while examining his essayism a methodical path will be followed in addition to his themes.