Abstract
BEING IN TUNE WITH THE TIME OR ALIENATION AND RETURNING TO SELF IN ABDULLAH ZÜHTÜ’S STORIES IN THE ARMSTICE PERIOD
The Period of Truce (Mütareke Dönemi) covers a period of four years between 1918 and 1922. Abdullah Zühtü, one of the witnesses of this extremely troublesome process for Turkish society, focuses on issues like moral change/transformation and alienation from core values, especially with a series of stories titled “The Scenes of New Period (Yeni Zaman Sahnelerinden)” from 26 stories published in the newspaper Peyam-ı Sabah between 1920 and 1922. By means of his stories, Abdullah Zühtü raises awareness about these issues on the one hand and proposes solutions on the other. In the stories of Abdullah Zühtü published during this period, people who try to build a new life through what they see and hear “from the others” behave like someone else/others even though this does not comply with their own living patterns. People who have been alienated from their core values begin to experience the change, whose secret and limits cannot be understood, through imitation. Abdullah Zühtü highlights the traces of the change/transformation in the society in the aforementioned period with the stories he wrote in the form of sections from the lives of middle- and lower-class people. He deals with those who have not yet completed their personal development due to being captivated by the irresistible wind of change or those who have become an imitator by acting like others in terms of their characteristics alienated from their own national and spiritual values. In addition, he points to those who have successfully completed their individualization process and those who have properly understood novelty/renewal. Abdullah Zühtü scrutinizes the corrupted lives that he portrays in his stories through the characters in the stories, with a “constructive and helpful” viewpoint.
Keywords
Abdullah Zühtü, The Period of Truce, Peyam-ı Sabah, awareness, alienation.