The representations of women in the novels of Halid Ziya Uşakligil

Halid Ziya lived in Servet-i Funun period and wrote eight high-quality novels. Known as an innovative author in Turkish literature, Halid Ziya affected the writers after him. Halid Ziya had major contributions to the development of novel genre in our literature. He brought up the first novel as known in Western sense. His novels are not just works of literature, but they can also be considered as documents representing the social, cultural and literary milieu of their period. The basic subject matter of this study is the analysis of woman figures with reference to the novels by Halid Ziya Usakligil. The woman issue has been among the major subject matters handled in literature since Tanzimat period, the time when novel as a genre started in Turkish literature. Initially elaborating on such women as governesses, enticing women and naive girls, the female characters showed varieties in Halid Ziya's works during Servet- Funun period. The present thesis study elaborates on this issue and deals with various representations of women. Theoretical readings are made as the first step and the theoretical approaches to be used in the analysis part have been identified. Then, the projections of theoretical approaches on female characters in Halid Ziya's works have been analysed. In this part, women have been analysed in different themes such as young girls, women-mothers, and governesses. It has been found out that the female characters in Halid Ziya's works can be categorised within specific themes. It has been understood by the end of the study that the women in the novels established certain typologies. Women in different novels have been compared and contrasted within the framework of their common aspects. Consequently, such themes as women as subject, the effects of mother archetype on women, women with neurotic problems, women's presence in various spaces, the position and status of women in socio-cultural context have been clarified. Keywords: Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil, Representations of Women, Woman, Young Girl, Archetype, Socio-psychology.