EXILE IDENTITY SHAPED IN THE BURSA MEMORY OF AZİZ NESİN

Abstract

Aziz Nesin is a remarkable writer in modern Turkish literature in terms of his political preferences, ironic expression and works produced in various types. Aziz Nesin suffered the common fate in many aspects as the social realist writers of the 1940s. The author clarified all details of his four-month exile life in Bursa in 1948 in his book Memories of an Exile (Bir Sürgünün Anıları) to the readers. On the one hand, memoirs provide valuable information about the private life of Aziz Nesin, on the other hand, they are important documents in regard to showing the streets, institutions, human profile, and behaviour patterns of the state power in Bursa in 1948. In this study, the literary work will be evaluated in the context of "exile literature". In terms of exile literature, the theoretical boundaries have not been clarified yet. However, an important accumulation has been acquired on the case and identity of exile based on the studies related to exile. This article aims at contributing to the exile literature. In this study, the conceptualizations used by Gilles Deleuze, Sophia McClennen and Edvard Said for the literature of migration and exile will be taken into consideration. Some characteristics shaped in the person of Aziz Nesin will also be emphasized. The subject will be examined in terms of Aziz Nesin’s exile life by taking into consideration the following concepts such as 'homelessness', 'alienation/alienation', 'self-directed guilt', 'border obsession', 'longing', 'reliance on nostalgia or creative transcendence', 'disappointment'. Exile is one of the oldest punishments in the world and is still practiced at the present time. Humankind experience similar fates for this punishment. Although each exile bears many similarities with all exiles in the past, before it, s/he remains unique.