A psychoanalytic reading of Kafka on the shore and the Red-Haired woman in terms of father-son conflict

This thesis aims at a psychoanalytic reading of the two post-modern novels Kafka on the Shore and The Red-Haired Woman in terms of father-son conflict and the influence of this conflict on the individual to construct an identity. The first chapter consists of two parts. The introduction part presents a background for the study with some stories from western and eastern mythology to exemplify the father-son conflict. In this context, Oedipus complex, the basic reason of the conflict between fathers and sons will be explained in the light of Freudian theories in addition to some mythological stories, and a general explanation of psychoanalytic literary criticism will be made in the part of theoretical framework. The second chapter focuses on the identity concept in Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore. The behaviours of the main character and the other characters in the novel will be interpreted from Freudian and Jungian perspectives to understand their inner conflicts and unconscious thoughts. And some significant symbols, in this sense, will be interpreted with the same method. The third chapter offers a psychoanalytic reading of Orhan Pamuk's novel The Red-Haired Woman in terms of father-son conflict and the influence of mythology on the inner world of the characters. This part of the study presents a psychoanalytic reading of the novel from Joseph Campbell perspective as well as Freudian and Jungian interpretations. And this thesis is hoped to contribute to the psychoanalytic studies on the basis of the examination of the reasons and consequences of father-son conflict exemplified in both western and eastern mythology. Key words: Father-son conflict, Identity, Mythology, Oedipus complex, Rebirth