Abstract:

Mawlana Jalaluddin-i Rûmi, one of the leading names of Turkish Sufi tradition, has always been an attractive phenomenon thanks to his thoughts, works and studies about him throughout history. On the other hand, while studies about Mawlana are concentrated on his religious, sufi, philosophical and literary aspects at the present time, that he is involved in novels as a hero/ character increases readers’ attention to him. Authors who are well aware of this popular tendency towards Mawlana produce novels about him. However, authors reinterpret quotations from the works of Mawlana in their novels with their own styles. The mentality and the period of the novelists writing on Mawlana shape the content and the form of their studies. Authors who generally focus on how Mawlana would suggest solutions to today’s current problems take advantage of his mystic power. From this point of view, in some works, Mawlana is updated in accordance with society’s needs and in some other works he is abused by consumption with a new kind of narrative. Eventually Mawlana’s mystic aspect in society and his updated narrative make sense with the rate affecting book selling. In this study, the use of Mawlana as a postmodern consumption element in Ahmet Umit’s Bab-ı Esrar, Elif Şafak's Aşk (The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi), Sinan Yağmur’s Aşkın Gözyaşları (Tears of Love), which achieve notable sale results in the market, is examined. This article aims to analyse the consumption-centric handling of Mawlana with a postmodern discourse due to the interest of historical and mystical novel characters.

Keywords: