A dramatic change in literary understanding: Generation of the 1950s in Turkish short story

This dissertation examines the thematic and formal aspects of the short stories written by the generation of the 1950s in Turkey. First, the political and cultural transformations of the 1950s have been scrutinized. With Democrat Party?s striking victory in the election of 1950, the new political cllimate had affected nearly all aspects of the social life. Then the dissertation observes the various aspects of the salient dynamism in the cultural sphere. Artists from almost all branches of art were influenced by contemporary Western movements of art, giving priority to formal novelties in their works. Poems and short stories that adhere to modernism emerge. Such literary magazines as A, Dost (Friend), Mavi (Blue) and Yeni Ufuklar (New Horizons) where avant-garde writers could publish their works freely and set forth various discussion topics fulfilled serious functions for the generation of 1950s. In these magazines which support the avant-garde short story writers, subjects like ?socialist realism?, ?obscurity-clarity? and such existentialist themes as ?anxiety? and ?despair? had been discussed. As these discussions continued, the short story writers Yusuf Atılgan, Vüs?at O. Bener, Orhan Duru, Ferit Edgü, Leylâ Erbil, Özcan Ergüder, Bilge Karasu, Feyyaz Kayacan, Onat Kutlar, Nezihe Meriç, Erdal Öz, Demir Özlü and Adnan Özyalçıner successively published their books. With their novel publications, a brand new notion of the short story that focuses on the individual began to flourish. It is observed that, with the influence of existentialism, themes like absurdity, crime, ennui, sexuality, and suicide had gained prominence; and the stream of consciousness, inner speech, and several linguistic deformations had been constantly employed. This transformation in short stories had initiated a change in literary understanding, leading to the establishment of modernism in Turkish literature.