National identity construction in terms of common historical memory in historical novels published between 1923 - 1940

This study has been prepared to determine the construction of Turkish national identity taking into consideration common historical memory in historical novels published between 1923 - 1940. The time arrival that the thesis focuses corresponds from the date of the establishment of the Republic of Turkey to the period ended with Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's death. In this time period, historical novels took place in cultural life as a very fertile ground in the construction of national identity. The main purpose of our study is to determine the contribution of historical novels published in the before-mentioned period to the construction of Turkish national identity by making use of the common historical memory. The change in the society created by the nationalization process has brought the subject of thesis to be addressed in literary works that are the reflection of social life. The authors benefited from a common historical memory to some extent the fictional structure allows and adopted a history understanding that dates back to the earliest periods of the Turks. While evaluating the contribution of the construction of national identity in terms of common historical memory in the novels examined, it has been observed that the subjects can be handled in certain categories. The author's narratives in this context has been observed in a way of revealing the superior aspects of Turks against others, presenting golden ages and heroes with superior characters in Turkish history by idealizing them and conveying the events that will ensure national unity to the reader in a way that will contribute to the construction of identity. Quotations that serve to build identity in novels are evaluated in this context. In the novels we deal with in the period between 1923 and 1940, the traces of this change and construction process were tried to be revealed. As a result of the evaluation of the examined works, it has been seen that there are narratives that will contribute to the construction of Turkish national identity. The common historical memory has been benefited from; historical reality is generally respected in the context of characters, events, places and time, and the gaps that remain alongside historical reality are completed with the fiction. With the establishment of the Republic, the revolutions that took place in almost every field that affected social life had also an impact on Turkish cultural life. Authors have shown an interest in handling certain ideas in literary works. The construction of Turkish national identity has been evaluated in this context, especially in historical novels. It has been observed that the novels discussed in our study are created with narratives that take their power from the reality of the common historical memory and benefit from the effect of the fictional world, and allow the reader to experience an atmosphere that will contribute to the construction of Turkish national identity. Keywords: Identity Construction, Fiction, National Identity, Historical Novel, Nation-State