The father figure in the Turkish novel of the Republican period

Political, social and cultural transformations that have occurred throughout the historical process have affected the individual's life and his/her role in life, causing some positive/negative changes. The family, the smallest basic unit of society, was also affected by these changes and as a result, the authority of some figures, especially the father, was shaken. The desire to bring the newly emerging individual to the forefront during the Tanzimat period, when the first steps towards modernization were taken, not only shook the authority of the empire, but also the strong authority of fathers in homes that were like small palaces, was affected by this new shock. The writers of the period, who could not remain insensitive to this transformation, tried to reform the new family order that was in the process of being formed by touching on the issue of the father in their works. It is observed that in narrative-based texts, especially stories and novels, the father figure is emphasized a lot. However, it can be said that academic studies on this subject are insufficient. The aim of our study is to fill this gap and determine how the father figure has changed and transformed in the novel genre from the proclamation of the Republic to the present day. In this context, we first identified novels of different genres in which the father character is highlighted. After reading the twenty-five selected works, we made a classification within the framework of novel genres and made a chronological order. We tried to determine the effect of the father on the family in the novel and how the father figure changed throughout the historical process. We shaped our study on interpretation. We based our work on methods that analyze texts in terms of era, personality and work. While making interpretations, we read books, theses and articles written about the mentioned novels and supported them with quotes from relevant places. Key Words: Father Figure, Turkish Literature, Turkish Novel, Turkish Novel of the Republican Period.