Folk culture elements in Latife Tekin's novels

Folk culture encompasses a wide range of areas including customs and traditions, faith and beliefs, oral literature, clothing, folk dances, and eating habits which are produced within a society and transmitted to the next generations and enlightens us regarding that society. Writers are a part and carrier of this culture that they are born into like every other individual. Latife Tekin, one of the prominent writers of Turkish literature after 1980, extensively covers the elements of folk culture particularly in her early works, benefits from the possibilities of the oral tradition, and as a culture carrier, makes ingenious use of these elements of the culture she grew up in. The purpose of the present study is to determine the elements of folk culture in the earlier novels of Latife Tekin, which are evaluated within the "Magical Realism," including Sevgili Arsız Ölüm (Dear Shameless Death), Berci Kristin Çöp Masalları (Berji Kristin: Tales from the Garbage Hills) and Buzdan Kılıçlar (Swords of Ice), identify, and interpret the way the writer elaborates these elements in her works. The study consists of an introduction, two parts, and a conclusion. The introduction includes the life and works of Latife Tekin, the subject, purpose, and significance of the study as well as the methodology and the book summaries. In the first part, after the information about the works of folk literature (lament, prayer, curse, fairy tale, folk tale, legend, epic, folk song, memorat, jokes, ballads etc.) is presented, the elements identified in the aforementioned works are covered as well as how the writer elaborates these elements in her works. In the second part, the elements of culture including birth, marriage, death, customs, faith, and beliefs, games, numbers, colors, kitchens, handicrafts etc. were identified, and the way of the writer's elaboration of folkloric elements is interpreted. In the conclusion, certain determinations about folk culture and the decisions we have arrived at are also expressed by making comparisons between the works.