Deterritorialization in Leylâ Erbil's literature

The aim of this study is to decipher the codes of Leyla Erbil's fictional world and to explore its universe of meaning. In the scope of this study, all of Leyla Erbil's published works, including novels, short stories, plays, and essays, were read in the context of the concept of deterritorialization, which was defined by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. Deterritorialization is a consept that is described as a desire-centered code decipherment that occurs when a being escapes or breaks away from its original region. Erbil is referred to as an odd author in Turkish literature due to the deterritorialized construction of her works. Her works have detached from the major literature both in terms of form and content, progressed along escape lines, and attempted to find a new homeland for themselves. Erbil's works are examples of linguistic deterritorialization, as they displaced the forms of the major language in sentence structure, spelling, and the construction of literary genres. The fact that Erbil's narrative characters are constructed as divergent women and that the intellectual circles around these women also displays a divergent stance indicates that Erbil's narratives are deterritorialized in terms of content. It has been determined that Erbil's female characters, along with their detachment from traditional thought patterns, attempt to exist in new spaces and deterritorialize these new spaces. Since the majority of the female characters are intellectuals and leftist dissidents, intertextuality has become a commonly used fictional method in Erbil's narratives, and thus, the texts have been deterritorialized. Unwritten unofficial historical events have also been fictionalized and deterritorialized by the narrative characters. Erbil's works are schizo-texts constructed as stories of search and loss. The aim of these texts is to reach a narrow schizo-reader audience rather than a wider audience. Keywords: Leyla Erbil, Deterritorialization, Novel, Short Story