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A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF YAŞAR KEMAL’S THE LEGEND OF THE THOUSAND BULLS AND JOHN STEINBECK’S THE GRAPES OF WRATH FROM A SOCIAL REALISTIC PERSPECTIVE

Year 2023, Issue: 15, 61 - 74, 31.07.2023
https://doi.org/10.38060/kare.1255814

Abstract

Many studies have been conducted on the novels of accomplished American author John Steinbeck (1902-1968). His Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is about the rural class's profound economic problems during the Great Depression. Steinbeck's interest in the subject is thought to stem from his own real-life experiences as a labourer before becoming an author. On the other hand, despite the fact that Turkish novelist Yaşar Kemal's (1923-2015) novels have been translated into numerous languages, including English, Russian, French, and Italian, there has been little academic study of them. Kemal, like Steinbeck, supported his family by working as an agricultural labourer. Another thing the two novelists have in common is that they both worked as journalists later in their lives. In his novels, Kemal weaves together Anatolian legends and contemporary reality. The Legend of The Thousand Bulls (1976) is about Turkey's last nomadic Turkmen tribes, who are desperately looking for a place to settle and spend the winter. The Grapes of Wrath is about an Oklahoma Dust Bowl family's migration to California and the hardships they face after losing their farm. Both novels contain familiar social criticism elements. From a social realist standpoint, this article compares the novels in terms of new beginnings, migration, representation of state authority, and otherness.

References

  • Cengiz, N. Buket. “A Tribe is Burnt to the Ground: Reading The Legend of the Thousand Bulls as an Advocacy of Cultural Integrity.” Istanbul Anthropological Review – İstanbul Antropoloji Dergisi, (2022): 1-14.
  • Cruz, Frank Eugene. “‘In Between a Past and Future Town’: Home, The Unhomely, and ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’” The Steinbeck Review 4, no. 2 (2007): 52–75.
  • Dalmaso, Renata Lucena. “‘Modern Monsters,’ Old Habits: Nature, Humans, and Technology in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.” The Steinbeck Review 12, no. 1 (2015): 26–38.
  • Dirlik, Arif. ““Like a Song Gone Silent”: The Political Ecology of Barbarism and Civilization in Waiting for the Barbarians and The Legend of the Thousand Bulls.” Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, vol. 1, no. 3 (1991): 321-352.
  • Goggans, Jan. “‘Houses Left Empty on the Land’: Keeping the Postcolonial House in ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’” The Steinbeck Review 7, no. 2 (2010): 38–60.
  • Gregory, James N. “Dust Bowl Legacies: The Okie Impact on California, 1939-1989.” California History 68, no. 3 (1989): 74–85.
  • Kaya, Muharrem. “Binboğalar Efsanesinin Mitolojik Bir Yorumu.” In Geçmişten Geleceğe Yaşar Kemal, edited by Süha Oğuzertem, 115-123. İstanbul: Adam Yayınları, 2003.
  • Kemal, Yashar. The Legend of the Thousand Bulls. Translated by Thilda Kemal. London: Collins and Harvill Press, 1976.
  • Manzella, Abigail G. H. “The Environmental Displacement of the Dust Bowl: From the Yeoman Myth to Collective Respect and Babb’s Whose Names Are Unknown.” In Migrating Fictions: Gender, Race, and Citizenship in U.S. Internal Displacements, 67–108. Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 2018.
  • O’Connell, Mike. “An American Farmer Looks at ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’” The Steinbeck Review vol. 6, no. 2 (2009): 56–63.
  • Siler, Carl R. “Using ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ to Teach the Great Depression.” The Steinbeck Review 2, no. (2005):37–48.
  • Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin Books, 2006.
  • Steiner, Michael C. “Regionalism in the Great Depression.” Geographical Review 73, no. 4 (1983): 430–46.
  • Zirakzadeh, Cyrus E. “John Steinbeck on the Political Capacities of Everyday Folk: Moms, Reds, and Ma Joad’s Revolt.” Polity 36, no. 4 (2004): 595–618.

YAŞAR KEMAL’İN BİNBOĞALAR EFSANESİ VE JOHN STEINBECK’İN GAZAP ÜZÜMLERİ ROMANLARININ TOPLUMCU GERÇEKÇİ BAKIŞ AÇISIYLA KARŞILAŞTIRMALI BİR ÇALIŞMASI

Year 2023, Issue: 15, 61 - 74, 31.07.2023
https://doi.org/10.38060/kare.1255814

Abstract

Başarılı Amerikalı yazar John Steinbeck'in (1902-1968) romanları üzerine pek çok çalışma yapılmıştır. Pulitzer ödüllü romanı Gazap Üzümleri (1939), Büyük Buhran döneminde kırsal sınıfın yaşadığı derin ekonomik sorunları konu alır. Steinbeck'in konuya olan ilgisinin, yazar olmadan önce bir işçi olarak yaşadığı gerçek hayat deneyimlerinden kaynaklandığı düşünülmektedir. Öte yandan, Türk romancı Yaşar Kemal'in (1923-2015) romanları İngilizce, Rusça, Fransızca ve İtalyanca dahil olmak üzere çok sayıda dile çevrilmiş olmasına rağmen, bu romanlar hakkında çok az akademik çalışma yapılmıştır. Yaşar Kemal de Steinbeck gibi tarım işçiliği yaparak ailesini geçindirmiştir. İki romancının bir başka ortak noktası da her ikisinin de hayatlarının ilerleyen dönemlerinde gazetecilik yapmış olmalarıdır. Kemal, romanlarında Anadolu efsaneleri ile çağdaş gerçekliği bir araya getirir. Binboğalar Efsanesi (1976), çaresizce yerleşip kışı geçirecek bir yer arayan Türkiye'nin son göçebe Türkmen aşiretlerini konu alır. Gazap Üzümleri ise Oklahoma’lı bir ailenin Kaliforniya'ya göçünü ve çiftliklerini kaybettikten sonra karşılaştıkları zorlukları konu edinmektedir. Her iki roman da tanıdık sosyal eleştiri unsurları içermektedir. Bu makale, toplumsal gerçekçi bir bakış açısıyla, romanları yeni başlangıçlar, göç, devlet otoritesinin temsili ve ötekilik açısından karşılaştırmaktadır.

References

  • Cengiz, N. Buket. “A Tribe is Burnt to the Ground: Reading The Legend of the Thousand Bulls as an Advocacy of Cultural Integrity.” Istanbul Anthropological Review – İstanbul Antropoloji Dergisi, (2022): 1-14.
  • Cruz, Frank Eugene. “‘In Between a Past and Future Town’: Home, The Unhomely, and ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’” The Steinbeck Review 4, no. 2 (2007): 52–75.
  • Dalmaso, Renata Lucena. “‘Modern Monsters,’ Old Habits: Nature, Humans, and Technology in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.” The Steinbeck Review 12, no. 1 (2015): 26–38.
  • Dirlik, Arif. ““Like a Song Gone Silent”: The Political Ecology of Barbarism and Civilization in Waiting for the Barbarians and The Legend of the Thousand Bulls.” Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, vol. 1, no. 3 (1991): 321-352.
  • Goggans, Jan. “‘Houses Left Empty on the Land’: Keeping the Postcolonial House in ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’” The Steinbeck Review 7, no. 2 (2010): 38–60.
  • Gregory, James N. “Dust Bowl Legacies: The Okie Impact on California, 1939-1989.” California History 68, no. 3 (1989): 74–85.
  • Kaya, Muharrem. “Binboğalar Efsanesinin Mitolojik Bir Yorumu.” In Geçmişten Geleceğe Yaşar Kemal, edited by Süha Oğuzertem, 115-123. İstanbul: Adam Yayınları, 2003.
  • Kemal, Yashar. The Legend of the Thousand Bulls. Translated by Thilda Kemal. London: Collins and Harvill Press, 1976.
  • Manzella, Abigail G. H. “The Environmental Displacement of the Dust Bowl: From the Yeoman Myth to Collective Respect and Babb’s Whose Names Are Unknown.” In Migrating Fictions: Gender, Race, and Citizenship in U.S. Internal Displacements, 67–108. Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 2018.
  • O’Connell, Mike. “An American Farmer Looks at ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’” The Steinbeck Review vol. 6, no. 2 (2009): 56–63.
  • Siler, Carl R. “Using ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ to Teach the Great Depression.” The Steinbeck Review 2, no. (2005):37–48.
  • Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin Books, 2006.
  • Steiner, Michael C. “Regionalism in the Great Depression.” Geographical Review 73, no. 4 (1983): 430–46.
  • Zirakzadeh, Cyrus E. “John Steinbeck on the Political Capacities of Everyday Folk: Moms, Reds, and Ma Joad’s Revolt.” Polity 36, no. 4 (2004): 595–618.
There are 14 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Comparative and Transnational Literature, Creative Arts and Writing
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

Kenan Koçak 0000-0002-6422-2329

Müge Aydın 0000-0001-7457-0995

Early Pub Date July 14, 2023
Publication Date July 31, 2023
Submission Date February 24, 2023
Published in Issue Year 2023 Issue: 15

Cite

Chicago Koçak, Kenan, and Müge Aydın. “A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF YAŞAR KEMAL’S THE LEGEND OF THE THOUSAND BULLS AND JOHN STEINBECK’S THE GRAPES OF WRATH FROM A SOCIAL REALISTIC PERSPECTIVE”. KARE, no. 15 (July 2023): 61-74. https://doi.org/10.38060/kare.1255814.

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