Comparison of Yusuf Atılgan's novels and Jean-Paul Sartre's novel of Nausea in terms of theme

Existentialism emerged as a result of the material and moral destruction of the two world wars. The philosophers of the period, who lived in this atmosphere, expressed their similar and different philosophical views based on human beings in their works. These thinkers chose to express their philosophical discourses not only in the field of philosophy, but also through literary works. They popularized the abstract concepts of existentialism by embodying them through literary genres such as novels, stories, plays, essays. This trend, which has become widespread by developing in Western literature, has been adopted by many writers and poets by finding an echo in Turkish literature. This study is based on the comparison of Jean-Paul Sartre's novel, Nausea, in which he wrote his own philosophical teachings, and Yusuf Atılgan's Aylak Adam and Anayurt Oteli, which was influenced by this trend in Turkish literature, in terms of themes. The aim of the study is to reveal how the two writers of this movement approached the views of the movement through similar themes over the individual. For this purpose, the themes extracted from the novels are "absurd" as the individual's way of perceiving the universe, himself, and society; "alienation" as the alienation of the individual from himself and society as a result of the absurd; "rebellion" as a challenge to the perception of the absurd; "questioning" as a way of thinking about existence and "social conflict" as an effort to protect the individual's self.