The Western perception in the context of occidentalism in the Turkish novel (1950-2000)

Occidentalism is a collection of interpretations and studies on the West in general. As a matter of fact, the concept of the West here is a civilization that clearly makes its difference from the East with its unique cultural dynamics and original formations in a long historical process rather than geographical direction. The fact that the West uses self-other dualism to otherize the East and define both itself and the East is an indicator of the functionality of orientalism. The fact that the West presents itself to non-Western societies with the modernization process, with the effect of popularity, causes the West to be defined differently in societies exposed to it.In these societies, against the West, despite the West, it creates opposing, Westernist and synthesisist thought systems with approaches according to the West. As a matter of fact, the formation of ideologies such as Ottomanism, Islamism, Westernism, Turkism, Conservatism, Nationalism, Kemalism and the Left in Ottoman/Turkish modernization stems from the positioning of society against the West in this process. When it is accepted that Occidentalism is a Western interpretation, the concept of Occidentalism expands with these ideologies. Turkish literature and novel, on the other hand, act in the cycle of witnessing and teaching in their relationship with society from the beginning. Therefore, writers reflect a Western perception to their novels according to their own conceptions of civilization through the novel.The different approaches of the writers according to the Western perception in their novels; reveals synthesisist, oppositional and Westernist occidentalist discourses.In the study, in an in-depth analysis on 17 novels of 8 authors, Western conceptions reflecting on the heroes of the novels and the writers' life views are handled in an integrated manner. Thus, an analysis of the "West" through the novel; It presents a rich, versatile and profound landscape. Because it is undeniable that the West has penetrated from politics to philosophy, from psychology to sociology, from religion to history. The aim of this study is to contribute to the acquis of the concept of occidentalism by revealing different Western perceptions in the novels written between 1950-2000 by authors who are active in Turkish thought and literature and to evaluate these differences within the framework of occidentalism.