The Modernization Problem In Reşat Nuri Güntekin's "Eski Hastalık-Old Sickness" Novel

121

The Modernization Problem In

Reşat Nuri Güntekin’s

“Eski Hastalık-Old Sickness” Novel

Bülent AKKUŞ*6

Abstract

The novel that we accept as a conclusion of modernisation not only tells modernization process of Turkey and its’ ten-ding towards West but also undertakes a router function by stating how this should be in various types. Resat Nuri Gun-tekin criticizing the communal problems with a realistic point of view in Turkish literature mentions how traditional Anatoli-an and Western Istanbul values that Yusuf and Zuleyha love represent did not able to overcome their conflicts between each other and their resigning themselves to that in his “Old Sickness” named novel. As his critical opinions concerning to “changing” by a little bit “putting off an important of respon-sibility on the novelist” via his characters in his novels, Old Si-ckness was analysed by prioritizing the characters in terms of its context and comments were done on extents of change in communal life by quoting from texts. In this study, it mentions how modernization changes daily life by putting this novel of Guntekin in the centre; how it tags matter of facts like love, sexuality, marriage.

“… This literary genre is the child of a depression, a rupture and disparity between real and ideal. Social

unhealthiness is at least a symptom of restlessness. This is the reason of its getting on the stage with class wars. What’s

* Istanbul University, [email protected]

122 International Journal of Turcologia / Vol: VIII No: 16

a novel doing here in a believed community, in a community that has abolished the roughness and in a community that does

not feel any need for searching imaginary solution ways?”1

Orientation to West in Ottoman Empire which started in eighteenth century within the direction of modernization struggles had gathered a big speed with Imperial Edict of Re-organization declared in the fi rst half of nineteenth century.2 In parallel with these modernization struggles in Ottoman Empire, the novel met with communal life in the last quarter of nineteenth century not only tells the community where it was produced in time with its “effective and router” power as a literary genre; but also plays a formative role in forming a modern life at direction of “Westernization” process.3

The novel that revealing itself by taking “the effects of soci-al and political change in France on community and humans after French Revolution”4 in Europe maintains its same func-tion in Turkish literature since last term of Ottoman Empire.5 In this connection, Cevdet Kudret says: “Comparison of that foreign civilization effects on the community directed to West and incompatible morals is an important theme in Imperial Edict of Reorganization stories and novels and the arts produ-ced in later eras.”6 In any case, Turkish novel being indifferent to Westernization which means passing from a civilization circle to another for Turkish Community cannot be thought. Thus Berna Moran says that: “This Westernization movement mainly determines the problems of Turkish novel up to 1950s. If we take most prominent writers of this era into hand, we see that they addressed the problem of Westernization.7 Not only Westernization constitutes being the main problem of Turkish novel; but also signifi cantly determines function, es-tablishment and types of that.”8 Within this context, Turkish

123The Modernization Problem in Reşat Nuri Güntekin’s “Eski Hastalık-Old Sickness” Novel

novel carries communal data in understanding direction of socio-cultural and extents in Turkey.

One of the writers who mentions problems of community and era that he lives in with a powerful eye in Turkish litera-ture is Resat Nuri Guntekin. The writer did not indifferent to Westernization (modernization) movement and took its traces in the community with different extents and aspects. Both he drew a portrait of the changed community and also takes the matter of how “new person” should be as a subject by taking different human types who are trying to keep pace with the conditions brought by the changeovers becoming a govern-ment policy in the fi rst years of Republic Period. Muzaffer Uyguner, states time frame of the events mentioned in Gunte-kin novels with these sentences: “The events in R.N. Guntekin novels are related with the terms and years that he lived and observed. Generally has started from 1908 Revolution and ta-kes the events occurred at the times of First World War, War of Independence and Republic Time, and life and people at the times as subject of the novel.”9 The events are grounded on dichotomy that Turkish community has always lived and different attitudes assumed against Westernization within the frame of the problems that occurred by this dichotomy.10

Other than westernization itself, there are critics devoted to superfi cial Westernization in R.N Guntekin novels. In The Wren, Feride is presented as civilized teacher type who is gra-duated from a Western school Notre Dame de Sion and who is representative of innovation. But even though her these fea-tures, Feride acts “without feeling inferiority complex and as-piring a groundless admiration and apery”11. In spite of that, American College graduated Zuleyha having similar charac-teristics with Feride in terms of education are described as a


girl who is separated from her own community and values. Zuleyha’s feeling as a “democratic princess who is wandering in her subject”12 in Tasucu (Taşucu) named vessel and likening Anatolia to a horrifying vegetable having arms that cannot be thrown are an indicator of this disconnection.

Even Old Sickness is seen as only love focused novel by the sentences of “a striking novel which revolves about the noti-ons of love, passion, faith and loyalty thanks to its very well fi -ctionalized powerful and rich novel personalities” in so many critics and especially in the texts regarding to presentation of the book, in fact it contains within itself more than these.

In Old Sickness, traditional Anatolia and Western Istanbul has come together one more time with the values that they represent as materialized with Yusuf and Zuleyha.13 The wri-ter drew attraction on how the real one was given away beca-use of different values are not able to settled on to the reader with fi nishing type of the novel. The reason of Yusuf and Zu-leyha revived love falling into depths of the sea by slipping down in their hands like a unique pearl is their deferring to the contradiction of values that they carry with the effect of two people pride that are brought up in two different neigh-bourhood.

As a matter of general, it can be said that it undertakes a functional tool role in telling and interpreting of socio-cultural fabric of changing community by taking the characters in the novel of Old Sickness into hand in terms of characteristics of class and regions that they belong, conditions and communal behaviour types. The reader being able to fi nd his viewpoint in this novel is hard. In other words, Guntekin who uses his characters for telling characteristics of the community put the human relations into words with his observer and interpreter


manner without calling a spade and maybe by desiring the readers’ making deductions in the text with his own realistic viewpoint. Also the novel has an important social qualifi cati-on in terms of containing social and cultural change refl ecti-ons of Turkey, contradiction of traditional ethics and Western life style and refl ecting the realities of that period by showing the love adventure of Yusuf and Zuleyha being the people of different cultures and different worlds whose indispensable end is separation.

Zuleyha who is receiving a college education in Istanbul sett-les in Silifke where her father carries his duty because of his fat-her not giving permission for her university education. Zuleyha who is married with her father’s equerry Yusuf compulsorily gets divorced from her husband after a while as they are not getting along well; but for expiration of legal period, one year should passed. One day, Zuleyha who goes Istanbul up to her uncle Mr. Sevket (Şevket) has a traffi c accident while he is wan-dering with other men via automobile. Yusuf looks after her whi-le the people who she thinks as civilized people leave alone her; he brings her to Silifke via a boat journey which will take twenty eight days. During this boat journey the viewpoint of Zuleyha to Yusuf who she always looks down changes; she falls into love with him by knowing him better. At the end of this journey, the legal period expires and Zuleyha returns to Istanbul.

The writer who believes that change is indispensible; but every “new” cannot be seem as the criterion of “another” mo-dernity for the peace of community and who wants to prove that this kind of a pre-acceptance is the preventer of living the change puts interindividual confl icts (Yusuf-Zuleyha) and deadlocks that come to henceforth the individual starts to un-derstand the wrongness of pre-acceptances (Zuleyha).


Zuleyha fi nds these unprecedented changes that occurred in the communal life while she is in Istanbul as normal and even nice. So many things which are accepted as a matter of shame and defect become permissible in that period and even accepted. Zuleyha’s refl ecting a table in which elements like “music hall, small sport automobile” are available while thin-king the hours before the accident and her assessment style of car drive with her young friends give clues regarding to the environment and air that she is in. Zuleyha makes these com-ments regarding to attitude and outlook of the young:

“What’s bad? What is bad in attending this spiritual cinema number which is organized very well? Who can say something to a young woman laying over the asphalt way with a young friend with whom this young woman dances in everywhere, grapples and jokes around with the foams in the beach and makes swimming trials by resigning her body like a sculpture? Yes, who is that conser-vative gossiping with defamations in this day and era?”14

With this aforementioned last sentence, these kind of beha-viours15 which can be blamed before being normal and being accepted as normal for this day and era within the direction of communal values are brought forward; the ones who are thinking in contrary to that blamed for not keeping pace with the day.

Zuleyha plans “…. going making shopping in Beyoglu (Be-yoglu) stores by getting on automobile as father-daughter as like Rum girls doing with foreign offi cers with her father after her father come back from front.”16 This sentence gives us the impression of that father of Zuleyha sees the life through same point of view with Zuleyha, believes the same world view and


shows parallelism with their change perceptions. Her feeling as belonging to shinning European life of her “cooperative” Foreign Service offi cer uncle Mr. Sevket other than lifelessness life of her own father Mr. Ali Osman evinces her prefer. Her uncle is “more broad minded, clever and civilized” person ac-cording to her.

Turkish Revolutionaries Colonel Mr. Ali Osman is a person contrary to the one that her daughter images. He is a person who is anxious about the shakes to be brought by the revoluti-ons carried out in the direction of Westernisation after Repub-lic Period and “believes fustiness of Istanbul and expects libe-ration of Anatolia”.17 This is the reason of leaving her daughter in Istanbul to be able to receive her higher education. Mr. Ali Osman mentions that revolutions does not put up and negati-ve results that may occur because of misinterpreted “superfi -cial” European style life may affect Zuleyha by saying to Zu-leyha: “Our country comes through the biggest revolutions of the ones up to now… These kinds of revolutions do not come through without any shake in big and complicated places like Istanbul… You are in the kindest period of the organisation… Leaving you among that people and in this ‘atmosphere’ is dangerous according to me.”18 In another occasion, he will say “… I was afraid of my daughter looking like them.”19 He refers the world of rank to the people looking the Westernisation in daily ceremonies and clothes with “they”. Among the most of the ones that “he does not like about opinions, life styles”20 is uncle of Zuleyha Mr. Sevket. Even though he is revolutio-naries opposed and believes the craziness of Turkish military protesting the civilized militaries with ploughs and rods, he struggles to ingratiate of new management after declaration of Republic. He will apply another method for service to the country when not able to gain the desired status in the new


period. Within direction of Westernization struggles which gathered speed after declaration of Imperial Edict of Reorga-nization, he struggles to extend Western values including lo-cution of “European style” which is the main complementary element of this new lifestyle to this community who is in the search of a new identity. Any more he will deal with teaching “grounds and courtesy of modern society”21 to the people. In fact, the values that Mr. Sevket tries to extends are tried to put in to the life by mentioning it in so many gazette, magazines and novels of the era.

Mr. Sevket puts entertainment and behaviour types which does not have a place in the Ottoman style life into words as an indicator of being “Western” in the novel. According to him, teaching “living like a human”22 to Turkish community which reminds community of Middle Ages is a big service. Putting Turkish community into “European status” is only possible with decency and Western product tea parties and balls. Mr. Sevket “assigns a dance teacher covered partially by him to a club opened in the neighbourhoods and makes foxtrot and tan-go lessons to the poor ones as he is not contended with these.”23 The writer narrates the words of Mr. Sevket who degrade being moder like West to a superfi cial status like what couples talk with each other when dancing with a mocker style.

The sentences of Mr. Sevket include foreign words like “raf-fi nement, reaction”24 which are still accepted as the indicator of being civilized according to some regions. Besides that Mr. Sevket compares the relation between man and woman accor-ding to old and new times:

“Thanks to god, now a young man is able to dance with a wo-man who he was only able to see via keyhole or wooden curtain


gap. This is a big development. But we should not forget that this is the fi rst step. In other words this is an empty frame. Filling in-ner parts of this frame with colourful patterns of civilization is a big job.”25

One of the values described as “provinces decency” in the novel and facing extinction today is that in the event of there is one single girl and single man at the ages of marriage in the house in two families having very closed relations, their avo-iding being together is required. As the requirement of man and wife sleeping in the same room is another tradition, Mrs. Enise who criticizes Zuleyha and Yusuf sleeping in different rooms does not able to make heads or tails of that because of their traditions. According to Zuleyha, this is a symbol of in-dependence for a modern woman. Zuleyha goes to the room of yusuf on her own in the wedding night and even likens his silence to the quietness of “old time brides”26 on the contrary to that time perception “not to liken other brides, becoming an helpness, old time girl who is extorted by a dominant man”27. She believes that she has abolished this tradition when they are engaged as like this, Zuleyha kisses Yusuf by performing the biggest event of their life for up to date girls. These are arose from Zuleyha who deems herself as having intelligence and pride assuming “likening old as a thing which cannot be put up with” and her struggle to abolish all that time faiths.

Another subject which draws attraction in the novel is that the bias between “the provinces” including Istanbulite Zu-leyha and Yusuf representing different value judgements pre-vents their knowing each other. Mrs. Enise and her daughters’ dare not approach “talk like a man, chic and high education İstanulite woman”28 and especially Yusuf’s little sister’s lose


her word and redden “for fear of be mocked”29 are because of that. Likewise, Zuleyha has put Yusuf in certain patterns in her mind and that’s why she gets suprised when he goes be-yond these patterns. When Zuleyha comes to the hospital, she expects to see Yusuf wild and mournful since he was grown up in a bigot family. But Yusuf behaves her in an extremely tolerated way. She fi nds the way which Yusuf welcomed the accident strange. She marvels thinking “Why does this guy of backwoods welcomes this event in such a cool way although his closest friends , the people who she tought to be modern and open-minded ran off in all directions in a day?”30 And when she hears that Yusuf lived in France more than two ye-ars, she also fi nds it strange thinking that “Why does a young person like Yusuf who seems to be loving to show off and who appreciates degrees, legions, doesn’t boast about it?”

During the voyage, in rare situations when the distance between Yusuf and Zuleyha vanished, although the feeling which tells that love will step on the ship stirs; the story of pre-vious life which is builded paralel to this voyage by the writer -with Zuleyha’s poinf of view, marriage with Yusuf in a life like hers- prevents it. With this story, It is displayed that the reason of Yusuf and Zuleyha’s seperation are value confl icts which are determiner in formation of Republic of Turkey, rat-her than the confl icts between them, the “obliging” conditions of marriage. One of the young people who were both grown up in different conditions, Zuleyha despises Yusuf in many aspects and has fun with the things he does. Zuleyha assumed her urbanity as a superiority towards Yusuf and this caused their fi ghts about being “Istanbulite and countryman”. Yusuf, with whom Zuleyha had fun with the words “commander of woods... gardener boss...”31 is “a little prince, an overlo rd in crowd of workers and wide lands of the farm, with his horse,


gun in his waistband and his horsewhip in his hand”32 accor-ding to her.

Zuleyha does not fi nd it stange when her uncle uses fore-ing words in his speeches and she even attributes that to his uncle’s modernity and she also sees no harm when she uses the word “spiritual” herself; but she fi nds it strange when she hears the word “mystifi cation” from Yusuf. Because this way of talking, which she considers as the symbol of modernity, does not suit to Yusuf, the person who is described as “closed minded, countryman” by herself. But, indeed, using foreign words in speeches is an action which is made to feel distin-guished, civil and which damages the confi guration of one’s own mother language and caused by misapprehending the culture emulated.

Another matter that Zuleyha doesn’t like is Yusuf’s being intimate to the people who she considers ordinary, his not avoiding being free and easy toward the servants and his not keeping them at bay. Because these kinds of behaviours, in other words “being very democratic” are natures of ba-ckwoods. In addition, in her letter to her uncle Sevket Bey, Zuleyha states that she thinks that both Yusuf’s being mayor and the noise made about this mayority are ridiculous and also she fi nds it humiliating that Yusuf’s gathering “slumdog people” and having parties aspiring to bourgeoises. She also thinks that Yusuf’s wearing frock, morning coat, stovepipe hat is also ridiculous because she considers him as a simple, primitive and soulless person as his hometown; and thinks that he is emulating West. Likewise, she associates Yusuf with Anatolia, thinking that he is the human version of Ana-tolia with his ordinariness and boringness. Zuleyha thinks that Yusuf’s considering himself as an open minded person,


is also ridiculous. Once, she even says “a rich and modern person like you”33 in order to make fun of him and ironise. Even though, she can’t stop admiring Yusuf’s ambition to renew himself. After all, with a little struggle, she aims “to make an interesting modern man type”34 from Yusuf who she described as raw material.

Anatolia is just composed of a decor for Zuleyha, who is shaped with European life style and culture. She feels herself like a “foreign pilgrim” among those people living there, her father “like an English Missioner who travels”; because she thinks that she is more superior than those people and she thinks that they are extremely unenlightened. In the fi rst days when she went to Silifke, she didn’t condescend to talk to the other people because of this reason, too. The only positive thing that Zuleyha favored is the feeling of fullfi ling “the duty of civilization missionary in Anatolia” that she was charged by her uncle who conceives modernity only in a materialistic way. She does it in the same way in Anatolia as her uncle does in Istanbul, “she often organizes garden parties and dancing tours in moors, in Municipality’s and Party’s gardens.”35

As a matter of being modern, Zuleyha and Yusuf move to a big house in town after they returned from Istanbul. They open a saloon where they made modern parties and where people danced, played pridge. Although they draw a happy, modern family portrait in these parties; in fact their relation is deprived of sincerity because of the walls between them, which they made of prejudices.

Although Turkish Women found chance to launch out in work areas due to the effects of the socio-economical condi-tions of transition period of Ottoman Empire to Turkish Re-public (women launched out in work areas instead of men,


because of men’s going to army during the World War I), it is possible to see the role appointed to women from of old.36 The sentence “A lady among the Municipality Commitee… What a reform, what a reform!”37 shows that when women are out of houses, they are positioned in comunity in a way far from social reformations and not with their personal identities but with a social traditional identity. One may understand with the following words of Zuleyha that women’s being proposed a closed life sytle in society and traditional ethical judgements about the women’s sexuality are the greatest handicaps of wo-men to have part in public sphere: “They abstain from looking at my face since they consider themselves as men rather than considering me as a woman and they were turning their eyes away from me.”38

In traditional societies women who are always discrimi-nated in a way and who are always given the maternity and wifedom charges priorly, can not have a say in any matters; and the idea proposing that women should overlook the de-velopments may be understood with the answer of Yusuf, that he told to his mother after he divorced from Zuleyha: “Hush! Only I may judge that. Women can not have a say in every matter!”39 Likewise, it is also thought that the men, who are always thought to be strong, are also thought to be seeming weak and helpless while sleeping in front of a woman; and for this reason this kind of a situation is considered humiliating and not welcomed warmly by Yusuf. The doctor should not be sleeping in front of the eyes of Zuleyha, no matter how old he is, because it is an “inconvenient”40 situation for him.

In that period, the family of a bride-to-be is considered more important than the bride herself and the family ties of her are taken into consideration. This shows that, “a common spirit”


were of more importance in families in those times, unlike the individualism which came to the front at the present times. “Not accepting a foreign girl as a bride” is another tradition of Anatolia in those times. Enise Hanim openly depicts the reac-tion towards a foreign bride with her words “Me, I will accept a French girl as a bride ha? No… Oh, God forbid!”41

In a dialogue between Zuleyha and her father, it is refl e-cted that people having different frames of mind and diffe-rent standards of value judgements also have different un-derstanding of literature. It is also possible to be of opinion that “Modernizing points the process not the situation”42 by the same dialogue. The literary works of Namik Kemal (Na-mık Kemal), who considered novel as a signal of advanced civilisation, were among the guiding elements of develop-ment in the earlier stages, but they have lost this character within the process. While arts of Namik Kemal who is one of the writers attempting to novel by thinking it as the indi-cator of advanced civilization were among lodestar aspects of development at the fi rst times, it has lost this characteris-tic within the process. The revolutions and Westernization which takes a long time in Anatolia leading visible changes by showing itself in clothes and speaking styles in Istanbul in a short period like fi ve years shows that revolution steps are not gathered with the same speed and “new” things are adopted later in some places.

Resat Nuri has also mentioned about the balls becoming an epidemic and struggles of the community in this direction after Republic Period. There are balls with wedding ceremo-nies/wedding ceremonies with balls which are organized and prepared by the town people struggling to opening to a new life style in Old Sickness. Scene of “modern” wedding cere-


mony in the novel is both so interesting in terms of showing how rural community who admires modern life stays mock and superfi cial and so successful in terms of refl ecting that pe-riod. A father saying “Put on your coats…. If you take fl oor, I will break your feet.”43 To his daughters; a man reacting Yusuf for main family women being brought to wedding ceremony by their fathers, husbands and their brothers as: “How this can be happen?... Where are the ones who have encouraged us? Ours are halal and theirs are illicit?”44 displays the preci-orities in the way of modernisation and staggering of the pe-ople who are not able to fi nd their purities in this way and re-action of the community to superfi cial revolutions. Pretension navy lanterns hanged at the trees, jazz band teams who never comes, an empty dance fl oor on which children romps shows inexperience of Anatolian community in the way of Westerni-zation and their being at the beginning of the way. Although the invites not daring to dance and Yusuf’s damning the ones who dare to dance as “God damn you!”, a girl who only pass through the dance fl oor being applauded is the evidence of that a community who wants to be renovated is not able to completely accept an element accepted as a requirement of re-volution and these kind of values are in the depression. At the same time all drabness, family order and “old life” continuing in the mentality is contrary to the modernity spirit represen-ted by Zuleyha for herself. Fethi Naci says “Traditions and customs of the community confl icts with superfi cial Westerni-zation pretensions of Republic”45 regarding to aforementioned balls and their contents.

Yusuf is described as a person who both adopts his tra-ditions and keeps pace with the time and by this way hover between these two different civilizations in the novel. Yusuf who “believes war of revolution is a sacred thing like War of


Independence” lays the world values that he represents un-der the feet of Zuleyha by facing depreciatory attitudes of Zu-leyha. By perceiving the attitudes that should be taken under normal conditions as “a requirement of last era civilization”, he colludes these. The writer gives the duty of “living as a human” that he gives to Mr. Sevket via dances and balls to Yusuf via Mayoralty. His aim is to introduce revolution to the country as Mr. Sevket. Although these opinions, Yusuf is ext-remely deliberated to West. Although he is educated in France for a period and knows West, he tries not to be in a superfi cial admiration to West. He distinguishes science and civilization Europe and political Europe from each other. Aside from ad-miring political Europe, he turns against to it. While so many Turkish intellectual of that period admires West and especially France, he does not forgive their occupying Anatolia and even he revolts against that:

“The thing that I know is the one who I said my teacher, my fat-her, my sister, supreme human and the one who I love and appreci-ate for years stabbed me in back at my hardest time, even worse her seeing me as a defeated; as miserable, despised, scorned…”46

In fact the rebellion of Yusuf looks like bitter criticisms of Ahmet Riza (Ahmet Rıza), Samipasazade Sezai (Samipaşaza-de Sezai) who are accepted as symbol of modernity and who are unconditionally admirer of West devoted to “confession” of Liberty War times and West.

The viewpoints of Enise Hanim, Yusuf and Zuleyha regar-ding with how a marriage ceremony Yusuf and Zuleyha will got married is important in terms of three different mentality: commitment to the traditions, struggle of adaptation to the in-


novation, repulsion to the old. According to Enise Hanim who sees a wedding ceremony at which shawm and drums are pla-yed as the matter of purity and honour, a marriage ceremony like this is “holy” and compulsory like other rustic wedding ceremonies; by this way no expense should be avoided. Wit-hin direction of this aforementioned tradition which the pe-riod community shares, the guests are hosted and torches are lightened at night. The marriage ceremony of Yusuf’s mother who is in an effort to keep pace with innovation is too much old; arranging a meeting with dances constituted from aspects of innovation is more appropriate instead of that. For Zuleyha, both a rustic wedding ceremony and a meeting with elements of dance are too much insulting. She thinks that there is no longer need for such ceremonies. There is no love in modernity understanding of Zuleyha like so many things that she does not like in Anatolia and Yusuf. According to her, the love is a ridiculous sickness of old times that war wiped away.47

The male child which still available in some regions today accepted as the master of the house, “Father” of the house is another tradition of that period.

The writer gives place the Civil Code becoming a gover-nment policy in the book, being a product of Westernization product and accepted in 1926 to be able to lay emphasis on it. While according to Mecelle the men can receive two from heritage and women can receive one from heritage, The Ci-vil Code accepted in parallel to civilization target abolished the inequity; brought the basis of women being able to receive equal to men instead of the limited rights that women had before. Resat Nuri making Yusuf and Zuleyha divorced in this way is the outcome of the thought showing solution ways to them not only mentioning about the inequities and problems


available in the community. The civil marriage that Zuleyha wants has also entered into the life of Turkish community with this code.

Up to date opinions of Zuleyha who sees him other than her in terms of mentality as being a member of the commu-nity that he lives, who believes her being modern in terms of lifetime and lifestyle and who expects the community be-ing similar to her and the ones like her (Mr. Sevket) being to change with twenty eight “rehabilitation” journey in Tasucu. Viewpoint og young women to Yusuf and the values that he represent. Zuleyha who fi nds Yusuf dealing with town works as insulting and ridiculous, says “Am I a civilized person? The activities being good for beautifying a town of course makes me concerned” during their journey when this issue is brou-ght up. Zuleyha’s using the word of “civilized” is important in terms of her realizing that she has misinterpreted being ci-vilized up to that day. Again while does not like about Yusuf’s being sincere with ordinary people by saying characteristic of “province”, she sits among the people who she looks down on them once upon a time although Yusuf’s attack of sitting far away from her in the cinema that they went in their journey. Also love of Zuleyha has already been changed. She no longer decides that love is not because of a useless reason in fact whi-le looking love as an old sickness which has no place in her marriage at that period; also thinks that selling on his chest is an enormous pleasure.

Yusuf has also realizes alteration of üleyha. Zuleyha who picked a quarrel even for a small matter and who considered him equal to herself and looked down on him in the past has started to listen him with pleasure and even pays attention to him. Separation appears with the last chance given away in


Kesiboynuzu (Keçiboynuzu) Cove.48 The writer creates “mo-del” of a modern type of human from Zuleyha who is “so-cal-led” modern in the beginning of the novel towards the end of it. Even Zuleyha does not change, the reason of your thinking that Zuleyha is not the old Zuleyha is because of that.

Resat Nuri who believes the necessity of westernisation/modernisation makes how the ones who seek Westernization in only apparel and the ones who sense modernism as giving away own his community and values without knowing them think wrong and superfi cial extent via change of Zuleyha. In summary, it can be said that Zuleyha as a symbol “represents the ones who understand the other (West) wrong without re-cognizing and knowing himself very well.”49 Resat Nuri skil-fully examines “changed mind” of community and individual by taking two different aspects of changed community in ter-ms of socio-culture with this novel.

(Endnotes)1 Cemil Meriç, Kırk Ambar, Mahmut Ali Meriç (prepared by), Istanbul: İletişim

Publishing, Volume I: Rümuz-ül Edeb, 1998, pp. 287-288.

2 For two classic works on this topic see. Niyazi Berkes, Türkiye’de Çağdaşlaş-ma, Istanbul: Yapı Kredi Publishing, 2008; Bernard Lewis, Modern Türkiye’nin Doğuşu, Metin Kıratlı (translated by), 9th Edition, Ankara: Turkish Historical Society, 2004.

3 For Timur’s work has taken the transition period of Ottoman-Turco society see. Taner Timur, Osmanlı-Türk Romanında Tarih, Toplum ve Kimlik, 2nd Editi-on, Ankara: İmge Kitabevi, 2002.

4 Alemdar Yalçın, Cumhuriyet Dönemi Türk Romanı, Ankara: Günce Yayınları, 1962, p. 12.

5 In the West, the novel has progressed under historical, societal and economic circumstances of the process from feudalism to capitalism while the birth of the bourgeoisie and development of individualism. See. Berna Moran, Türk Roma-nına Eleştirel Bir Bakış I: Ahmet Mithat’tan A. H. Tanpınar’a, Istanbul: İletişim


Publishing, 1967, p. 9; In this sense, the novel represents main principles of a new ideology and epistemology. See. Jale Parla, Babalar ve Oğullar: Tanzimat Roma-nının Epistemolojik Temelleri, Istanbul: İletişim Publishing, 2006, p. 9; Conver-sely, in Ottoman the novel had developed in semi-colonized circumstances, and although they did not adopt this situation, it was created by intelligentisia. See. Timur, Osmanlı-Türk Romanında Tarih, Toplum ve Kimlik, pp. 397-398.

6 Cevdet Kudret, Türk Edebiyatında Hikaye ve Roman II, Istanbul: İnkilap Pub-lishing, 1987, p. 26.

7 Westernization and identity problem were main problems of Turkey experienced a lot of social problems during the transition from Constitutional Monarchy to Republic. This problem has been written by many writers in Turkish literature. Some of works are; Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, Huzur; Ahmet Mithat Efendi, Fe-latun Bey ile Rakım Efendi; Halide Edip Adıvar, Handan; Halide Edip Adıvar, Seviye Talip, Halide Edip Adıvar, Sinekli Bakkal; Halide Edip Adıvar, Ateşten Gömlek; Halide Edip Adıvar, Vurun Kahpeye; Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil, Aşk-ı Mem-nu; Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar, Şıpsevdi; Peyami Safa, Fatih Harbiye; Recaizade Mahmut Ekrem, Araba Sevdası; ResatNuri Guntekin, Çalıkuşu; Resat Nuri Gun-tekin, Dudaktan Kalbe; ResatNuri Guntekin, Eski Hastalık; ResatNuri Guntekin, Yaprak Dökümü; Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu, Kiralık Konak; Yakup Kadri Ka-raosmanoğlu, Nur Baba; Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu, Sodom ve Gomore. From Tanzimat the novel, the theatre and other literary genres has discussed orienta-tion to West and its honorifcis. Those novels, with Altug’s words, “ultimately, are loaded with the new Turkish soul’s sharp pains”. See. Taylan Altuğ, Bir Ruh Kimliği: Reşat Nuri Güntekin, Istanbul: İnkilap Publishing, 2005, p. 11.

8 Moran, Türk Romanına Eleştirel Bir Bakış I: Ahmet Mithat’tan A. H. Tanpı-nar’a, p. 19.

9 Muzaffer Uyguner, Reşat Nuri Güntekin: Yaşamı, Sanatı, Yapıtlarından Seç-meler, Ankara: Bilgi Publishing, 1967, p. 35.

10 In his works, Guntekin presents his critical realist attitude on amendment and Westernaziation via his characters. Because of that, this essay analyzes Old Si-ckness novel within the framework of the characters. Thanks to quotations from the novel, this approach is aimed to present more tangible.

11 Reşat Nuri Güntekin, Çalıkuşu, Istanbul: İnkilap Publishing, 2000, p. 160.

12 Reşat Nuri Güntekin, Eski Hastalık, İstanbul: İnkilap Publishing, 1996, p. 142.

13 Istanbul-Anadolu “comparison” is “a secret meaning” which forms “frame” of Resat Nuri Guntekin’s works. Guntekin pursues to bring those two different approaches in a common sensibility. See. Altuğ, Bir Ruh Kimliği: Reşat Nuri Güntekin, p. 11.


14 Güntekin, Eski Hastalık, p. 8.

15 For an important text is represent old understanding see. “Direkler Arasında Hanımların Otomobille Gece Piyasaları”, Sebilürreşad V, 16.09.1910, pp. 26-28.


17 Fethi Naci, Reşat Nuri’nin Romancılığı, Istanbul: Yapı Kredi Publishing, 2003, p. 162.


19 Ibid, p. 78.

20 Ibid, p. 78.

21 Ibid, p. 34.

22 Ibid, p. 34.

23 Ibid, p. 35.

24 Ibid, p. 36.

25 Ibid, p. 35.

26 Ibid, p. 121.

27 Ibid, p. 124.

28 Ibid, p. 72.

29 Ibid, p. 72.

30 Ibid, p. 150.

31 Ibid, p. 16.

32 Ibid, p. 92.

33 Ibid, p. 69.

34 Ibid, pp. 82-83.

35 Ibid, p. 37.

36 For the First World War and status of Ottoman woman see. Şefi ka Kurnaz, Yeni-leşme Sürecinde Türk Kadını, Istanbul: Ötüken Yayınları, 2011; Şefi ka Kurnaz, “Milli Mücadelede Türk Kadını”, Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Dergisi, Ankara, 1996, pp. 257-268.


38 Ibid, p. 52.

39 Ibid, p. 135.

40 Ibid, p. 145.

41 Ibid, p. 91.


42 Hamza Ateş, “Modernlik ile Post-Modernlik Arasında Kamu Yönetimi”, Mo-dernlik ve Modernleşme Sürecinde Türkiye, Güngör Erdumlu (ed.), Ankara: Babil Yayınevi, 2004, p. 61.


44 Ibid, p. 56.

45 Naci, Reşat Nuri’nin Romancılığı, p. 197.


47 Ibid, p. 125.

48 As Altug emphasized, “The writer who believes splendid power of love idle away his character in gut-wrenching unhappy ends. Of course this has a mea-ning”. Indituable, this meaning is our feelings world which lost and maybe will not have never again. See. Altuğ, Bir Ruh Kimliği: Reşat Nuri Güntekin, p. 18.

49 This situation, extreme-Westernization situation cause to disperse the traditio-nal cultures. See. Şerif Mardin, “Tanzimat’tan Sonra Aşırı Batılılaşma”, Makale-ler IV: Türk Modernleşmesi, İstanbul: İletişim Publishing, 1992, p. 38.

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The Modernization Problem In Reşat Nuri Güntekin's "Eski Hastalık-Old Sickness" Novel

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