Abstract:

Another enriching aspect of the novels of Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar is that he created his works with inspirations from other disciplines most notably history, fine arts and psychology. Tanpınar’s novels have a solid psychological structure. He describes relationships among characters as well as person-time-place relations with a deep psychological structure. “Oedipus complex” is a frequent motif in father and son relationships in Tanpınar’s novels, Mahur Beste, Huzur, Sahnenin Dışındakiler. He describes the situations with which sons who have dominant fathers (Behçet Bey and Yaşar) who do not appreciate them and thus struggle with Oedipal crisis might face. İsmail Molla and Tevfik Bey are both fathers in his novels with extremely strong characters. They also have the proper traditional Istanbul culture through music. What they expect from their sons is to continue their life style and approach to life. In his novel, Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü Tanpınar reverses Freud’s theories. We are introduced to a father who is not appreciated by his son and therefore spiralling into a deepening crisis. Ahmet, his son criticises and condemns his father Hayri İrdal who does not have the basic values in life such as a real job and work. He is also included in the story to tell readers that they are all living a lie. In conclusion, Tanpınar’s four novels allow us to review these novels in terms of father and son relationships and how these relationships are built. In this paper, novels will be analysed in terms of father-son relationships and an interpretation essay will be written.

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