In search of the modern Mesnevî

In this thesis, focusing on Nâzım Hikmet?s (1902-1963) Ferhad ile Şirin (1948) andSezai Karakoç?s (1933- ) Leylâ ile Mecnun (1980), the two poets?/authors? interpretation ofthese traditional love narratives is examined, as well as the characteristics and the reasons ofthese handlings.Until now, there has been a marked tendency to characterize the two poets? attitudestowards traditional literature via the expression ?to make use of tradition?. However, this is acommon and an abstract expression. Throughout the thesis, the multiple characteristics ofapproaches to tradition are underlined. The embodiment of this multiplicity could be found inNâzım Hikmet?s producing a counter-discourse by transforming the discourse of traditionfrom within. Sezai Karakoç, on the other hand, recalling a traditional literary production, triesto resist the negativity of ?the moment experienced? and, eventually, envisions a resurrectionof civilization through the negativity he has transformed. For instance, in Nâzım Hikmet?sabove-mentioned text, Ferhad, unlike his counterparts in traditional mesnevis, attains not thelove of God through the metaphorical love of a particular beloved, but the love of society,which is all-embracing and metaphysical at once. As for Sezai Karakoç, he projects theconscience of his epoch onto his text and adds Islamic motifs that are not part of the originalLeylâ ile Mecnun. The traditional love narratives are turned into places of struggle, reshapedaccording to the authors? own ideologies.Another point emphasized in the thesis is that these two poets/authors who havehitherto been regarded as disparate in fact have a lot in common in the context of the textsmentioned above. Their resemblances could be summed up as follows: Nâzım Hikmet andSezai Karakoç used similar means of expressing their differing discourses.keywords: Nâzım Hikmet, Sezai Karakoç, Ferhad ile Şirin, Leylâ ile Mecnun, source text