Structure, theme and narration in Mehmet Eroğlu?s novels

The genre novel firstly took its part in Turkish literature as a result of the endeavor of Westernization. The first national novel Taaşşuk-ı Tal?at ve Fıtnat was published in 1872. From that time until today there has been an increase in quantity and differentiation in quality for the genre novel. The differentiation in characteristics of the novel has been under the effect of Western literature. In this respect it can be said that Turkish novel has had traditional-realist, modernist and post-modernist tendencies and mentalities up to the present. Turkish novel?s mostly followed a traditional-realist narrative style but in the 20th century the effects of modernism and post-modernism can be traced and observed clearly in the novels. The Turkish author, Mehmet Eroğlu also has written novels in the sense of the perceptions and mentalities of the modernist novel.In this thesis M. Eroğlu?s ten novels are examined according to structure, theme and narration technique notions. The common and different features of these novels are explained.Eroğlu?s novels are generally formed in the boundaries of modernist fiction and content. His novels are fictionalized by breaking the chain of past, present and future and they have a structure based on the way of thinking of a human mind.The plots of his novels reflect an individual?s inner reality and illuminate his inner world. The individual is analyzed in all perspectives by the help of events and characters. As a result of this kind of fiction, more attention must be paid to follow the actual order of the events.In the plot there is a psychological and a philosophical dimension. The conflicts in the individual?s mind and expressions about different points and concepts are reflections of these two dimensions.In the novels there is a structure formed by a protagonist and characters around him. Secondary and decorative characters are just mediums to introduce the protagonist with his different aspects. At the same time by these characters different concepts and periods are introduced as well.The human as an individual is in the centre of the themes of his novels. The confrontations in the plots make up the themes.If his novels are examined according to time and place, it is clearly seen that place has different functions and the fictionalized time is not chronological. However it can be derived that the course from 1970?s to 2000?s is narrated.It is possible to say that Eroğlu has a prominent place in recent Turkish novel with his books that have different contents and formal features. These novels have references to the recent history and depict the individual with his different aspects in the society by using modernist narration styles.