A theoretical approach to the genre of biography and biography in Turkish literature

Though the act of narrating a person's life and conveying it to others verbally or in written dates back to the ancient times of human history, biography as an independent literary genre emerged in the modern period. Accordingly, the first systematic studies on the theory of biography began in the 18th century. At the beginning, theoretical texts were written by biographers and were more popular in essence. Then, with the involvement of academics in the process, the theory of biography began to be written more systematically. Although it is quite weak when compared to other literary genres, there has been a considerable theoretical accumulation in the Western literature in this field. Although there is a deep-rooted understanding of biography in the traditional sense in Turkish literature, and the understanding of biography in the Western sense developed and became widespread after the Tanzimat, the theoretical issues of the genre were not emphasized much. Besides, it is difficult to say that the theoretical studies on the theory of biography in the West are followed closely in Turkey. Taking into account the lack of studies in this area, this study was carried out with the aim of revealing the theoretical studies in the West and associating the theoretical ground in question with biographies in Turkish literature. The study consists of five parts. The aim, method and limitations of the study are given in the "First Chapter", which is the introduction part. In the "Second Chapter", the philosophical background of the biography genre is discussed. In the "Third Chapter", the definition of the genre and its historical development in the world are explained. In the "Fourth Chapter", the theory of biography is discussed based on the studies in the West. In this section, the studies of important theorists such as Samuel Johnson, Sidney Lee, Wilhelm Dilthey, Sigmund Freud, Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, Park Honan, Leon Edel, Michael Benton on biography are explained. In the "Fifth Chapter" of the study, the historical development of biography in Turkish literature is discussed and Turkish biography literature is evaluated by associating it with theoretical studies in the West.