Universal Journal of History and Culture (Oct 2020)
Transforming Society with Islamist Tales: Huzur Sokağı as a Prototype of Salvation Novels
Abstract
Şule Yüksel Şenler (1938-2019) is one of the leading figures of the Islamist literary scene in Turkey. Her novel entitled Huzur Sokağı was published in 1970, and received remarkable attention. It was filmed subsequently, and republished numerous times since then. Today, perceived as a milestone in the so-called “salvation novels” (hidayet romanları) sub-genre, Huzur Sokağı well deserves to be called a “classic” with its constantly growing reader audience, and its 123th edition being released recently. This paper analyzes the literary and ideological aspects of the novel mentioned above, intending for a better understanding of salvation novels, as well as the cultural dimensions of the Islamist movement in Turkey. The ideal gender roles depicted in the novel are scrutinized, keeping in mind that Islamist movement positions women as symbolic bearers of faith. Furthermore, the construction of Islamic identity is examined, and it is observed that Islamist discourse is often based on the formulation of the self in opposition to the Westernized subject. The paper concludes that, dichotomies such as Islam versus West, traditional versus modern, unprogressive versus progressive are common tools employed to explain Islamist texts, but these are inadequate to fully comprehend the complex nature of the issue.
