Fragmented voices: Halide Nusret Zorlutuna and women's agency in the making of Turkish Republican History (1919-1960)

This study explores the multiple authorial voices of Halide Nusret Zorlutuna (1901-1984) and how literary genres played a role in women's agency and historical visibility. A prolific poet, novelist, columnist, and memoirist, Zorlutuna has been largely excluded from both the Turkish literary canon and women's historiography. Her marginalization illustrates the tendency in national and global historiography to ignore figures who do not entirely align with dominant ideological categories, such as feminism or political activism. By incorporating a variety of sources this study reveals Halide Nusret Zorlutuna as a complex and multifaceted figure. This introduces her nuanced dimensions as a witness to history, which conventional historiographical frameworks tend to overlook. Focusing on the years between 1919 and 1960, the thesis analyzes Zorlutuna's writings to examine how she constructed her public and private personas in different literary genres. It argues that genre functions not only as a stylistic device but also as a historical tool, with certain genres—such as fiction and diaries—enabling subtle critique by allowing women to navigate and challenge shifting gender norms, political expectations, and social constraints by employing private spaces or narrative techniques. The dialogue between her texts, which reflect multiple personas, highlights the tension between moral conservatism and subtle feminist critique in Zorlutuna's works. Methodologically, this study combines biographical analysis with feminist historiography, contributing to recent efforts to move beyond the boundaries of traditional social history and mainstream feminist historiography. Ultimately, it aims to respond to Turkish and global historiographical debates by highlighting women's agency through the prism of genre, voice and individuality.