Abstract
THE QUEST AS AN ACTION TO SHAPE EXISTENCE IN MELİH CEVDET ANDAY’S NOVEL RAZİYE
The effort to make sense of life is one of the most important ontological problems faced by the individual in modern times. The individual questions his own belonging, becomes alienated from himself, and searches for himself with the longing for homelessness. These existential problems, which are frequently seen in daily life, have also become the main problematic of modern narratives. In this context, Melih Cevdet Anday's novel named Raziye is remarkable. In the novel in which Vedia/Raziye-uncle-nephew characters take place, the individual's effort to exist is one of the important issues. All three characters tend to self-actualize in different ways. Uncle tries to develop the society he lives in and to build a new future for them by constantly working. Nephew tries to create a new objective world for himself by questioning his past and himself based on the triangle of sea-painting-Vedia. Vedia/Raziye, on the other hand, is the subject who seeks himself, his roots. In the study, the existence of uncle and nephew will not be examined, as they will exceed the scope of the subject. The basis of the study will be the search for the origins of Vedia, homelessness, and an effort to position its existence. The individual's desire to search for himself and his homeland in the form of existing-in-the-world will be emphasized, and the process of self-direction and ontological self-realization of the subject will be discussed.
Keywords
Homelessness, individual's effort to exist, novel, Melih Cevdet Anday, return to origin
