The imagination and reality conflicts of female characters in Halid Ziya's "Aşk-ı Memnû" and Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina"

This comparative study aims to probe into the novels of Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil's Aşk-ı Memnû and Lev Nikolayeviç Tolstoy's Anna Karenina in the matter of the conflicts between the inner world reality (imagined reality) and the external world reality (true reality) of the main female characters. The study opens with a brief introduction to its aim, context, and the schema of conflict stages which we developed as a method for the analysis of the intricate elements that cause imagination–reality conflict. In the first chapter, the concept of conflict with a theoretical background of the imagination–reality clash in literary works is examined. The second and third chapters are comprised of three parts. In these chapters the biography of the writer is briefly covered, a comprehensive summary of the novel is presented and the reflections of the imagination–reality conflict of the main female characters throughout the storyline are elaborately scrutinized, respectively. In the fourth chapter, the common and different aspects of the major characters faced with the imagination–reality dilemma are comparatively examined. In the conclusion part of the study, the underlying reasons of the characters' tendencies that hinder their ability to make appropriate decisions are revealed, and ultimately the effects of their imagination–reality conflicts on their identity are concluded in the light of the analyses made throughout the study.