Wisdom of ambiguity in Hasan Ali Toptaş novels: A reading proposal

Hasan Ali Toptaş is one of Turkey?s leading contemporary novelists in Turkish literature who draws attention with his poetic style and unusual storylines. He has been awarded several prizes including The Turkish Ministry of Culture's honorable mention for his first novel Sonsuzluğa Nokta (1992), The Yunus Nadi Novel Award for Gölgesizler (1994), The Cevdet Kudret Novel Award for Bin Hüzünlü Haz (1999) and The Orhan Kemal Novel Award for his latest novel Uykuların Doğusu (2005).Academic studies and mainstream criticism on Toptaş?s novels mention that a cyclic structure is dominant in his storylines. However, the ?semantics? of this cyclic structure has not been analyzed yet.The aim of this thesis is to explore the composition of the cyclic structure of Toptaş?s novels. An inter-disciplinary method has been chosen for the analysis: The postmodern literary principle of ?metafiction? and some principles of quantum physics have been used as instruments during the analysis. The concept of ?eternal loop? is open to several interpretations. One possible reading is based on Islamic mysticism or Sufism. Toptaş?s fairy-tale like style and mystical imagery make such a reading possible.By analysiy the cyclic structure in Toptaş?s novels, it can be argued that the author creates an abstract world that shares many parallels with sufi universe.Keywords: cyclic structure in novels, ambiguity, eternal loop, abstract universe, human completeness.