A Comparison of fantacy–reality contradiction and melancholy themes in the works by Tevfik Fikret and Ahmet Tevfik, the first Turkish story-writer in Cyprus

Abstract

The people representing Servet-i Fünun do not attend to social issues. They lock themselves in the house and are mostly interested in the nature and people they feel sorry about. The poets and writers of Servet-i Fünun literatures adapted Western literature and influenced many writers and poets of their time and later times by some changes in style, theme, and wording. The best sample of this interaction in literary periods can be observed in the comparative Works by the same community in different areas. In this study, a theme comparison will be done between the Work by Tevfik Fikret and the Turkish Cypriot writer and the theme interaction in Turkish Literature will be finalized. Tevfik Fikret is appointed as the Editor-in-chief of the Scientific and Science Journal. Then he converts the journal into Literature Journal and gathers young people around it. The Servet-i Fünun people use an arty language, peculiar to them, in expressing feelings and thoughts down to the last detail with ample images and characters. Most of the Servet-i Fünun writers and poets were raised in the same educational institutions, experienced the same political, social, and financial conditions, were engaged in the same issues, were almost at the same age generation from the middle-class, were educated in Western schools and with good knowledge of foreign languages. Naturally, these similarities created a common joy and culture among them. These writers and poets believed in strong family bonds and would take up the same motives when they were together to talk about literature issues. They influenced many writers and poets. Pessimism and tediousness, the basis of literature, became the main starting points for the whole literature. In his many poems, Tevfik Fikret treated compassion and reflected the grief of many poor and lonely people. In the 1970s Turkey adapted Western Literature type but this type of literature was introduced to Cyprus late, not before the 1890s. Even though, the Servet-i Fünun followers began to influence the literateurs and their Works in Cyprus. Soon after the British era in 1878 in Cyprus, tension between Moslem Turk and Christian Greek communities started to increase. In 1901, Ahmet Tevfik published the “Mir’at-ı Zaman” and in 1909 the “Kokonoz” newspapers. A fundamental change in the literature came about particularly when these newspapers were published in Cyprus. Tevfik Fikret brought up his views and his feelings about life in an allergoric and symbolic way. In both Works, the themes were full of pessimism and melancholy. While T. Fikret emphasized the fantasy-reality contradictions and the difference between thoughts and personalities of two lovers, the melancholy-pessimism theme was the priority in Ahmet Tevfik Efendi’s work. In both works, the nature was explained with pessimism and melancholy and was symbolized as the place of love. The Servet-i Fünun followers were a family. Even more, it is emphasized that, in some Works the main characters are the writers and poets themselves. The Servet-i Fünun followers were effective in Abdülhamid II era, during which there was a pressure on the poets and writers. The pressure and censure took the writers and poets away from social issues and made them busy with an individual, pessimistic and sickly literature. This is why, melancholy and its analysis was amply mentioned in their Works. Turkish Story-writing started in 1897 in Cyprus. Ahmet Tevfik, who was in Istanbul then, was influenced by the Servet-i Fünun followers and took them as a model in his Works. They were strongly bound to the principles of arts. Although everything could be a topic for poems, but due to the political pressure of the day, they limited their Works to love, nature, family-life, and simple current issues. As the aim, the themes by the two writers will be compared and important parts of comparative studies in Turkish literature will be dealt with, to open a way to different comparisons.