Modernisation and cender in Safiye Erol's novels

The movements of social change that started during Tanzimat and Cumhuriyet (Republic) periods changed the existing situations and identity constructions of women. Safiye Erol is a female author who lived in both periods and these social change efforts revealed tensions and conflicts in her identity. She felt these conflicts in her identity as East-West and modern-traditional. Erol, with the effect of the uneasiness she experienced, tried to reconcile these differences that she felt. The most important reason to feel these differences is being a woman, because in Ottoman-Turkish society the discussions that are the results of these differences are carried out via the identity of woman. The meaning of the society and in which path it was proceeding are determined by the circumstances that they were in. In this way, the necessary definitions of womanhood are made in that the time and identity constructions are imposed. Thus, women become the measure of the change between and the loss of the society. That's why Safiye Erol experinced tensions due to her efforts to balance this measure and her own freedom. While she tried to overcome these tensions via a reconciliation strategy, she didn't want to make concessions to the society and she struggled with the patriarchal perspective. In this study, this effort of the writer will be examined through her texts and life.