Analysis of Ahmedî's İskender-nâme with Jung's analytical psychology approach

Classical texts contain the emotions, thoughts and experiences filtered through the common memory of the society. Therefore, the hero placed at the center of these texts opens his eyes to a chaotic world and tries to make sense of his life adventure to discover its essence with the first symbols inherited from common ancestors. These first symbols, which Jung refers to as archetypes, shed light on the circle of individuation in which the hero unites the arc of existence and extinction. This circle; It is also formulated as separation-initiation-return in masnavis that have similar plots to myths and tales. When Jung's archetypal symbolism is associated with the archetypes of this stage, the chaotic structures lying in the unconscious of the hero in the mesnevi are resolved. Thus, the hero has the opportunity to re-grow his essence, which he has hidden in his inner core, in a higher consciousness. A similar fiction is also included in the masnavi called İskender-nâme, which is decorated with various allegorical and mythical elements. Ahmedi, one of the important poets of the 14th century, presents the mythical figure Alexander and his surroundings, adorned with rich symbols and images. Alexander responds to the dark call in his unconscious through a dream and thus leaves his living space and takes his first step towards individualization/becoming a perfect human being. In this study, the process of Alexander, the main character of Ahmedî's İskender-nâme, reaching selfconsciousness was examined with Jung's psychoanalytic approach, associating it with stage archetypes and mystical perspective. Key words: Archetypal symbolism, İskender-nâme, Jung, mysticism, psychoanalysis