Türk edebiyatında endemik bir tür köy romanının ortaya çıkış ve yokoluş hikayesi

This article examines the generic, cultural, historical, and political determinants of village novels written between 1950-1980 in Turkey. In the history of Turkish literature, long texts located in village settings were frequently labeled as village novels, without applying any criteria beyond the rural scene. Similarly, a reductionist approach has often been applied in other languages such as Russian, English, and various African literatures, where village novels have been categorized solely based on the setting of the events. Another issue addressed in this article is the question of how village novels should be defined in Turkish literature. With this intention, the Village Institutes, which played a dominant role in the emergence of village novelists, are examined. Additionally, Mahmut Makal and his Bizim Köy regarded as one of the first significant product of the Village Institute graduates, is historically and generically interpreted. Along with literary theories, the historical, cultural, and political conditions that set the stage for the emergence of these texts are considered, and the reception of village novelists and their works in literary environment is analyzed. These novels, which were met with great enthusiasm in the 1950s, are explored in terms of why and how they lost their prominence by the 1980s, through the writings of authors and critics of the period. In conclusion, this article seeks to provide a fresh perspective on Turkish village novels in a comparative context, a genre that occupies a unique place in Turkish literary history but has been subject to stereotypical judgments over time.