Poverty and the effects of the Second World War in the story and novels of Cevdet Kudret Solok

Cevdet Kudret (1907-1993) is mostly known as a researcher, critic, literary historian and essayist in Turkish literature. Making a name for him for the first time among Yedi Meşaleciler group, Cevdet Kudret seems to have failed to attract researchers despite his works in poetry, novel, story and theater. Reflecting a realist approach in his novels and stories, he compiled his stories, which were published in different journals and different dates, in Sokak (1974). Stories and novels based on literature-reality relation, besides with the spirit period which shapes social identity, include economic and politic reflections of daily life. In Sokak, there are twelve stories and the trilogy of novels titled Süleyman'ın Dünyası, Sınıf Arkadaşları (1943), Havada Bulut Yok (1958) ve Karıncayı Tanırsınız (1976). This book draws attention economic, social, political and moral problems of Turkey particularly in the Second World War. In his stories, he puts forward the social, political and economic structure of the period by making use of folk theater tradition, vital experiences and irony. In his stories which have many similarities with his real life, Cevdet Kudret uses economic, politic and social issues in his fictions as a bourgeoisie writer in a widespread time when village novels are most popular. The author, explaining different aspects of urban poverty, in the same time shows panorama of an era in Turkey. In this thesis, Cevdet Kudret's stories and novels are examined separately and discussed in the context of literature and reality. Keywords: Cevdet Kudret, Story, Novel, Poverty, Second World War.