Between national and minor literature in Turkey: modes of resistance in the works of Mehmed Uzun and Migirdiç Margosyan

Abstract

This thesis aims at a critical interrogation of different modes of resistance in Kurdish writer Mehmed Uzun and Armenian writer Mıgırdiç Margosyan's literary works. It aims to show the unique dynamics of postcolonial condition in Turkey. Uzun and Margosyan attempt decolonization and perform resistances through literature. This study undertakes two distinct yet interrelated approaches. First, it suggests that Uzun and Margosyan's works show proximities to nationalist literature. For this aim, the hierarchies of culpability and victimhood, essentialist approaches and the problems of active agency that are manifest in the authors' works will be investigated. Second, this study will analyze the significance of Uzun and Margosyan's late writings. The ways in which their works attain hybridity and show proximity to minor literature will be subjected to careful observation. This study argues that these two distinct modes of resistance do not exist independently. They rather coexist. Therefore it is not possible to fit Uzun and Margosyan's works in a particular literary genre. The authors deal with two different kinds of pressures: The hegemonic state discourse, and communal expectations to promote nationalism. The authors' early works show proximity to nationalist literature since they resist the hegemonic state discourse. Their works after 1998 show proximity to minor literature since they attempt to detach themselves from communal expectations. This study argues that post-1998 is crucial in this regard. In this period, Uzun and Margosyan re-establish relations with Turkish language through their literature. Writing in Turkish language provides them with the opportunity to criticize the totalitarian tendencies in their communities. They also manage to decolonize the hegemonic state discourse by directly speaking to the Turkish reading audience.