Humor in the XIXth century Turkish novel

In this thesis, novels written between 1851-1900 and published as books are analyzed with a focus on the cultural dimensions of the concept of humor and the narrative features developed around the novel genre. In the 'Introduction' section of the study, the concepts of laughter and humor are first evaluated with a theoretical approach. Subsequently, the relationship between humor and culture, the development of Turkish humor culture, and the 19th-century humor understanding are discussed. The novels considered within the scope of the thesis were first evaluated in the first part of the thesis around the theories of laughter and Bergson's theoretical approaches. The second part of the thesis discusses the relationship between language and humor in the context of novels. The third part of the thesis is devoted to the search for the effects of Turkish humor culture in 19th-century novels. The novels examined in this chapter discuss the impact of the humorous characteristics of traditional genres such as Karagöz, ortaoyunu, Meddah, jokes, and fairy tales on the novels. The 19th century novel's prominent parodic texts are discussed in the 'Parody' section. In the section titled 'Irony' the forms of ironic expression in novels are identified. In the last section of the thesis titled 'Criticism (Satire and Hiciv)' the narrative sources of humorous criticism are searched. In this direction, an evaluation focused on the qualities of satire and hiciv genres reflected in the novel. The 19th-century Turkish novel was influenced by romantic literature and classical love stories. Therefore, humor is evident in the works of Ahmet Mithat Efendi, Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar, Evangelios Misailidis, and Recaizade Mahmut Ekrem. This issue is discussed separately throughout the thesis, especially in the conclusion.