Haliloğlu Ali`s story of Yusuf and Zeliha

The present work which is submitted as a Ph.D thesis consists of an introduction and three chapters. In the introduction a general outlook of the Mesnevi genre is given and Turkish mesnevis according to the centuries are studied. In this respect the historical development of the mesnevis, their form of composition, charecteristics of language and narration were investigated. The introduction is ended with information on the motifs and frequently employed forms in mesnevis. In the first chapter the stories of Yûsuf in the Old Testament and in the Qur'an and the differences between them have been studied. Then the stories of Yûsuf and Zelîha in Eastern Muslim literature, Arabic and Persian literature and in Turkish literature have been investigated respectively. While working on the last topic works of Ali, Kırımlı Mahmut, Haliloğlu Ali, Şeyyat Hamza, Aksaraylı Mahmud, Şule Fakih, Ahmedî, Rabguzi, Hamzavi and Erzurumlu Darir have been described. In the second chapter our main subject Haliloğlu Ali's life and works have been studied. After presenting information on his life description of the manuscripts of his works have been made, and their contents, language, charecteristics of forms and inner formation have been studied. The events here have been narrated in a summary prose form in the order of original sections. At the end charecters, myths, motifs, religious, social and moral thoughts as well as imagionary elements which took place in the story have been presented. In the last part of this chapter differences between the Yusuf stories of Şair Ali, Haliloğlu Ali and Aksaraylı Mahmud. have been shown. This chapter is ended with a conclusion and a bibliography. The third chapter started with explanation on the structure of the text.Then transcribed text is given. The sections (majlis) are given with headings in the original order.There are eighteen sections and a conclusion. The thesis ends with an index and appendices of some sample pages from the manuscripts of Haliloğlu Ali's works. It comes to X+274 pages excluding the appendices. KEY WORDS: Yûsuf and Zelîha Haliloğlu Ali Mesnevi Turkish literature