Özet
AN EXAMPLE OF THE ROLE OF LITERARY WORK ON REREADING AND INTERPRETING HISTORY: THE JANISSARY-BEKTASHI IMAGE IN REHA ÇAMUROĞLU’S NOVEL SON YENİÇERİ
Reha Çamuroğlu, although known through his novels that have been published and drawn attention within the recent decade, is essentially a researcher and writer notable for his work on historical matters. His study on Turkish religious history, especially on Alevî and Bektâşî subjects and the controversial Jannissary institution, is deemed important. Çamuroğlu, in his novel Yeniçeri, which was written according to his tendency of reinterpreting overlooked historical matters or those overrun by official historianship taking them as subjects in fictional work with a new perspective, which style has been emerging since the 1980’s, postulates a new imagery of the Jannissary order. Having objected to the outright negation of the Jannissary in his scholarly work Yeniçerilerin Bektaşiliği ve Vaka-i Şerriyye,
he tries to override the negative Jannissary imagery which he believes to exist in the memory of the Turkish reader as a novelist. In this article I have analysed Son Yeniçeri, which I understand as a product of the aforementioned endeavor, and place it within the Turkish historical novel sub-genre.
Anahtar Kelimeler
History, literature, historical fiction, Reha Çamuroğlu, Son Yeniçeri, the Jannissaries, Bektâşî ord