Literature and Modernity Relations: The ‘Garden Culture’ and Positioning of the other in 20. Century Literary Texts / Edebiyat ve Modernite İlişkisi: 20. Yüzyıl Edebi Metinlerinde ‘Bahçe Kültürü’ ve Ötekinin Konumlandırılması

• Main Authors: R. Şeyda Ülsever, Veysel Lidar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cyprus International University 2020-02-01
• Series: Folklor/Edebiyat
• Subjects: modernity; the garden culture; other; stranger; sociology of literature
• Online Access: https://www.folkloredebiyat.org/Makaleler/1818954469_fe101-9.pdf

In this study, the sociological facts in Ödön von Horváth’s “Allahsız Gençlik” (Jugend ohne Gott), Jerzy Kosinski’s “The Painted Bird” and Engin Aktel’s “Son Eylül Elveda Antigoni” are analyzed through sociological criticism and sociologist Zygmunt Bauman’s critique of modernity and “garden culture” which is a term of his sociology. As the texts are constituted on the basis of sociological facts, sociological approach is used in the analysis of these texts. Also, one of the most important sociologist of the 20th century Zygmunt Bauman’s critique of modernity and the term of “stranger” are defined as the main themes of this study. In the study, sociological events of the 20th century and the reflections of the process of becoming a nation-state that co-occur with modernity on society are analyzed. Besides, the relationship between “we” and “the other” and the approaches of society to “the stranger” are examined in the study. Firstly, the concept of ‘modernity’ will be explained. Then, Zygmunt Bauman’s understanding of modernity and his critique of modernity will be detailed and the texts will be analyzed through Zygmunt Bauman’s critique of modernity by means of sociological criticism and Variation Theory. In the conclusion, the findings of the comparison and the contributions of the study for future research are identified