A village novelist far from stereotypes

ABSTRACT A Village Novelist Far From Stereotypes One of the most controversial literary subjects in Turkey between 1 950s and 1970s was village literature, a specific genre that refers to the realistic works of Village Institute authors. These works, generally focused on economic and social problems of villagers, have been criticized for having too many stereotypical elements. Therefore, authors, whose fictions are based on village, are not literarily appreciated, regarded simply as village writers. Among those is Abbas Sayar (1923-1999), the author of novels entitled Can Şenliği (191 A), Çelo (1972), Dik Bayır (1977), and Yılkı Atı (1970) among others. As a village -rooted novelist, the themes of his novels are on life in Central Anatolia and the language of these works contains idioms, proverbs, and accents of this region. Yet, he also pays attention to the original sides of his subject matters and establishes his novels skillfully. Hence, on the one side, he can be classified as a village writer. On the other side, he differs from other village writers in his literary methods. In this thesis, the place of Abbas Sayar' s works in village literature is detected and the original aspects of his novels are exemplified. keywords: Turkish novel, village literature, realism; literary classifications IV