Power of men in the novels of Orhan Pamuk

Power of men in the novels of one of the most important representative of postmodernist Turkish novels, Orhan Pamuk has never been entirely addressed in any study before. However much the female characters and the way of depicting the female characters in the novels of Orhan Pamuk have been the subject of two theses and many articles, the masculine characters and the hegemony of these characters on the women have always been ignored. Thus, the main objective of this thesis, "Power of Men" is to fill this gap in literature studies. For the purpose of ensuring that this study is more encompassing and that it reaches more objective results, all novels of Orhan Pamuk (Mr. Cevdet and His Sons, the Silent House, the Black Book, New Life, My Name is Red, Snow and the Museum of Innocence) have been included in this study. Within the scope of the first chapter of the thesis "Theoretical Background", the gender theory has been described and the development of this theory in the world and in Turkey has been addressed so as to ensure better understanding of discussions on "masculinity" and "hegemonic masculinity". The main focus of the second chapter "Being a Man in the Novels of Orhan Pamuk", is the male characters who have been ignored in the literature studies. In this chapter, the impact of traditional society and the family structure on the formation, development and transfer of the masculine identity and power; the practices in public area and the role of interaction between two genders in this process have been discussed. In addition, it has also been touched upon the positioning of the female characters in the development process of the masculine power in the novels and the roles of the female characters in the novels observed with regard to the hegemonic masculinity relations. As a result of all these observation it has been determined that Orhan Pamuk, despite introducing a different perspective to the Turkish novels, still follows the traditional way of writing about the development process of masculine identity and masculine power. Key words: Orhan Pamuk, gender, masculinity, hegemonic masculinity, power