The primary aim of this course is to enable students to critically understand the interaction between history and literary fiction. It seeks to provide a solid theoretical foundation for analyzing the formal and narrative structures of historical novels while enhancing students’ ability to assess how historical events are represented in literature. By examining the literary depictions of key moments such as the Turkish War of Independence and the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic, students will engage with concepts of identity, memory, ideology, and gender. The course further aims to cultivate critical thinking and interdisciplinary analytical skills by introducing feminist, critical, postmodern, and popular culture approaches to historical fiction, thus equipping students with the tools to evaluate historical narratives from multiple perspectives.

This course explores the theoretical relationship between history and the novel, examining the formal and narrative features of historical fiction. It focuses on representations of the Turkish War of Independence, the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic, as well as themes of war, city, space, identity, and ideology in Turkish literature. Feminist and critical readings are introduced alongside discussions on postmodern and popular historical narratives.