The perception of Islam in Turkish novel of nation building process (1935-1942)

Literature has a close relationship with political, social and historical ties of the nation in which literature belongs. Accordingly, in novels of that period it is possible to find reflections of Osmanlı's evolution process from Cozmopolitan structure to the nation-state. It is remarkable that the literary works were used as a tools in this transformation in which literature of the Early Republican Era was a stage. In this context, it is observed that there are canonical structures that contain discourses to create a national identity. It can be said that, religion (Islam) which is thought to belong to traditional life is functionalized by using a secular perspective while emphasized the traces of a modern Western-based perception. From this point of view, in this study, the effects of modernization efforts on the society's perception of religion (Islam) will be evaluated by studying the determined novels. In this thesis discourse analysis theory which is one of the most preferred methods in qualitative approaches in the context of interpretive paradigm, will be used. Keywords:Nationalization process, religion (Islam) perception, novel, discourse analysis.