Presentation of the male in Yaşar Kemal literature: An Island Story Quadrilogy

We studied the novels of Fırat Suyu Kan Akıyor Baksana, Karıncanın Su İçtiği, Tanyeri Horozları and Çıplak Deniz Çıplak Ada, which are published as the quadrilogy of Yaşar Kemal, an Island Story. Gender is a concept introduced by feminists since the 1970s. They said that gender is determined by social and cultural conditions, unlike biological sex. Therefore, gender is historically changing from society to society. Our study covers how gender stereotypes are constructed, the relationships between gender and power, and their reflections in Turkish literature. In terms of novels in Turkish literature, masculinity studies are a relatively new area. The definitions of masculinity changed over the years. In order to understand the role of Turkish literature in the construction and reproduction of masculinity and the change of the historical conditions and the change of the definition of masculinity, it has been tried to be explained through the historical periods. These periods; The novels written in the period of national struggle and republic period, 1940 - 1960 and 1970 - 1980 were examined in terms of male characters and gender patterns. In our thesis, we examined how masculinity is explained and presented in terms of relations between men, women and nature. The basis of the investigation is based on the quadrilogy of Yaşar Kemal's Island Story. In the first part of the thesis, the concepts of gender and masculinity are discussed. In the second chapter, the subject of masculinity in Turkish literature was examined in the light of the works of Yaşar Kemal and other writers. In the third part of the thesis, the relation between male heroes and their relationships, relations with women and their relations with nature are discussed. In the four quarters examined, people who come together as a result of exchange and wars are at the forefront of the desire to try to live together in a relation with communication. In order to survive the traumas, male heroes who are in constant dialogue with each other have come forward. During the quarrel, there is a harmony and unity that is not seen in real life, especially among men. The most important issue in which the men in the quadrilogy agree is the evil of the war and the suffering. Looking at the Romanians in general, Yaşar Kemal asks about the order of the male heroes. From time to time there are criticisms of gender patterns. On the whole, it is an anti-war narrative. He says that "all wars in history are a disaster for humanity". Men in the quadrilogy, too, constantly question their roles in wars, in the Crimea, suffer from conscience. In these novels Yaşar Kemal constructs a narrative of history against the official narrative and writes historical narrative with epics. He also sought to create men other than normative masculinities and questioned social values in terms of male and female relations. Keywords: Gender, masculinity, power, novel, war