The representation ofthe elite and intellectual in the Tanzimat novels

Modern cultural quests point to a new conscious construct in social, political, economical, judicial and scientific fields. This conscious construction process necessitates the emergence of new classes, different groups, modern thought leaders, figures of universal culture in the social stratification system. Together with modernization, it is a controversial issue to what reality some concepts corresponding to the social realities of the West refer to in Turkish literature. Two concepts that generate such argument are "elite and intellectual". The study aims to analyze the representations of the concepts of elite and intellectual in the Tanzimat Period novels. Modernization efforts of the Ottoman Empire during the final period, Tanzimat reforms,Westernization and innovation initiatives have been effective factors in the selection of this period and subject matter. Therefore, within the framework of the study, the definition and historical developmental-evolutional stages of elite and intellectual concepts are presented first. The conditions in which they emerged in the historical process, the way they were interpreted in different societies, their inclusion in the literature, how they were defined and classified theoretically and to which theories they belong to are presented integratedly. To be familiar with the mental, economic, social, judicial and political structure of the Tanzimat period is essential to analyse novel characters. Therefore, in the second stage, the study presents how these concepts of elite and intellectual are portrayed in Ottoman-Turkish modernization. Social, cultural, political, economical and mental practices to which these concepts referin the historical process makes the expression "people belonging to their own time" meaningful. The writers of the Tanzimat period created the first representations of this meaningful practices with novel, which was a new genre. Based on the developments of the period, the characters in the novels reflect intellectual representations such as knowledge, expertise, freedom, culture producer-transmitters, exile, alienation, while they serve as a mirror reflecting the forms of elite representation by blending social resources such as wealth, prestige, status, morality and individual resources such as charisma, motivation, energy and time. Thus, the representation of the elite and intellectual that is discussed in the present study is tried to be studied through content and discourse analysis with reference to characters in the novels specifically Felatun Bey'le Rakım Efendi by Ahmet Mithat Efendi, İntibah by Namık Kemal, Araba Sevdası by Recaizade Mahmut Ekrem, Sergüzeşt by Samipaşazade Sezai, Şıpsevdi by Hüseyin Rahmi, Muhadarat by Fatma Aliye Hanım, Turfanda mı Yoksa Turfa mı? by Mizancı Mehmet Murat. The elite and intellectual representations were classified as a result of the analysis of the novels. Intellectual representations are amateur intellectuals, repetitive and creative intellectuals as users, transmitters, producers of cultural symbols, intellectuals aiming to increase human freedom and knowledge, exiled intellectuals. The representations of the elite, on the other hand, were classified into three as wealthy European style elites, elites with economic and cultural wealth, elite representation of the expression "higher immorality". In addition, the elite circulation theory was also investigated together with the analysis of the novels as the elite circulation from Fazıla to Peyman, from Peyman to Fazıla and the transformation of economic elites.