Abstract
DIGRESSIONS IN MENAKIPNAMES: THE EXAMPLE OF MENÂKIB-I AKŞEMSEDDİN
Digressions, which are generally considered as "departure/divergence from the main subject", are important in narratives in terms of style, structure and function. Digression, which is a stylistic feature in the oral narrative tradition, is seen as the effect of oral performance in the written narrative tradition. It has seen that digression studies were made on oral narrative types such as epic, folk tale, meddah story, and fairy tale. No independent study has been found about the digressions in the menakipnames. Examining the digressions in the menakipnames is important in order to evaluate the process of putting the menakipnames into writing. In this study, the digressions in the Kastamonu copy of Menâkıb-ı Akşemseddin, written by Enisi, has been examined according to their functions in terms of the context of execution. The hagiography told by different narrators in the oral tradition are written by the writer of the hagiography by adhering to a fiction. This writing process is suitable for both individual and public reading aloud. In addition to the effect of the digressions used in the oral performance contexts of the hagiography on the written performance, the digressions required by the written context are also used. Each digression has a function in the text constructed in this direction. In the examined copy of Menâkıb-ı Akşemseddîn, digressions have been identified in the functions of starting and ending the narrative about the fiction of the text, reporting the sources of the hagiography, providing transition, forwarding in the timeline, expanding, narrowing, updating. At the same time, stereotypes are also seen in the digressions.
Keywords
Digressions, menakipname, context of performance, fiction, function.
