A comparison of Erhan Bener's Yalnızlar and Heinrich Böll's Clown within the context of alienation

This work analyses two different novels from two different authors who live in two separate countries with differing cultures while sharing similar life experiences, within the scope of the alienation phenomenon. In this work, facts such as the processing style of alienation in the novel named Yalnızlar by an author of Turkish literature Erhan Bener and in the novel named The Clown by an author in German literature Heinrich Böll and the form of addressing the phenomenon of alienation in the presence of incidents and circumstances, and how and in what type of alienation the protagonists are exposed to in the society they live in and what happened in conclusion are analysed by comparing the examples given from the novels. The experiences of Erhan Bener who grew up with Turkish traditions and culture and Heinrich Böll who grew up with German traditions and culture and their exposure to incidents like war, poverty, hardship and immigration in a society where they have a sense of belonging, caused them to present a part of their lives in the works of art they wrote. Both of the discussed novels also exhibit great sections from the authors' lives. In this context, this work not only establishes the alienation phenomenon in the mentioned works of art but also contains the life stories of the two authors and the structure of the society they live in. This study consists of three chapters: the first chapter gives information about the concept of alienation phenomenon, its usage in different languages and its etymology, the wide definition of the alienation concept made by different philosophers and writers who are successful in their own fields and the types and elements of alienation phenomenon in detail. The second chapter consists of the development line of the alienation phenomenon in Turkish and German literatures and it includes the process of the alienation phenomenon depending on the basis of comparison by the authors of two distinct literatures. In this section, the lives, the education and the literary experiences of Erhan Bener and Heinrich Böll are included with regard to their connection to the mentioned novels. In the third and the last chapter of this study, the two novels are compared within the frame of the alienation phenomenon which is separated into four different categories according to Erich Fromm, Karl Marx, Melvin Seeman and Jean-Paul Sartre's views on the phenomenon of alienation.