Özet:

This essay examines three stories by “the father of Turkish short story writing” Ömer Seyfettin (1884-1920): Primo Türk Çocuğu, Fon Sadriştayn’ın Karısı, Fon Sadriştayn’ın Oğlu; and Ashab-ı Kehfimiz. Following a contextualization of Ömer Seyfettin’s life and works in the broader turbulent political and historical context of the late Ottoman Empire, this essay suggests that for Ömer Seyfettin a successful nation is based on a successful family. In other words, between the lines of these stories is found the idea that in both a real and metaphorical sense, the concept of family is used to “imagine the nation.” To achieve a complete family consisting of happy parents and children and thus a nation, the stories suggest, linguistic and cultural homogeneity is necessary. Yet this precondition might not always be sufficient for the complete realization of family and nation.

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