Ideas on the Perception of Classics in Turkish Literature

Abstract

Since Tanzimat period, one of the debates of Turkish literature has been, not to determine standart and definable criteria for the term of classic. Today, if you ask anybody the question “which classics do you read?”, the answer will not be from the Turkish classics. The first reason for this is, turkish classics are not considered in the context of world classics. In accordance with the canon debates, the questions of “what is a classic ” and “who identify these books”, are come up again in recent years. In this article, ideas about the questions “can we identify classics” and “do Turkish literature have classics” will be interpreted by the help of survey and inquiries done in years since the eighties by different institutions. The perception of classics in western litera-tures and interpretations about “who identify classics” also take part in the article. This is not for comparing Turkish and western literatures one to one, it is just for indicating similarities with the perception in Turkish literature. The debates of classics, started by Ahmet Mithat, were exacerbated by the intellectuals of that period around the questions of “do we have classics” and “what should we call classics”. In this context, because the period before the foundation of republic is not accepted as a classic period, it causes a “confuse” around the question of “what are the classics of Turkish literature”. In this article, it is emphasized that this “confuse” can also be seen the publishers’ perception of classics. It is also emphasized in the article that even if different groups accepted some books “important and great” without any debate, it is impossible to talk about a standart “classics” list for everyone unless the debates of canon/canons in Turkish literature settle down. © 2011, Milli Folklor Dergisi. All rights reserved.