Contested Masculinities: Modernity, Gender, and Canon in the Turkish Novel

The underlying premise of this dissertation is that focusing on representations of masculinity in canonical novels can provide new perspectives regarding the Turkish literary and cultural history. While analyzing gender constructions in four novels, Ask-i Memnu (1900), Calskusu (1922), Sinekli Bakkal (1934), and Kurk Mantolu Madonna (1943), this study explores the relationship between gender, canon formation, and modernity. Representations of manhood in these fiction works reveal how gender ideologies contribute to the creation of national literary canon. A close reading of the four novels allows us to see how gender anxieties shaped the cultural landscape in Turkey during the first half of the twentieth century. Since the success of the Turkish modernity project became equated with the success of the new gender identities, this study explores the complex relationship between conceptualizations of gender and modernity. Literature and critical literary analysis are essential for understanding the social reality. That is why examining representations of masculinity in canonical novels is a fruitful way to comprehend the structure of the Turkish modernity.