The Representation of the Peasantry in Early 20thCentury Turkish Prose Based on the Novel “Yaban”

This study analyzes Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu's novel Yaban, which portrays the social and political transformations during the final years of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish War of Independence. The novel's protagonist, Ahmet Celal, is an educated officer from Istanbul who finds himself among the Anatolian peasantry and is confronted with the deep cultural and ideological divide between rural society and the urban intellectual elite. The research provides historical context, exploring the late Ottoman period and the effects of emerging nation-state ideologies. It also offers an overview of the portrayal of peasants in 19th- and 20th-century Turkish literature, emphasizing how representations evolved under the influence of modernization and sociopolitical changes. Particular attention is given to Yaban's narrative structure, character portrayal, and the literary depiction of the tensions between peasants and intellectuals. The study highlights that Yaban is a profound social critique that examines the mutual alienation and lack of understanding between the Anatolian peasantry and the intellectual elite. The novel sharply portrays the peasant class as backward, fatalistic, and indifferent, while simultaneously emphasizing their vulnerability and the tragic weight of their historical fate. The peasants' reactions, fears, and mindset reflect a deeper cultural divide that separates them from the urban intelligentsia. Karaosmanoğlu criticizes both the resistance of the peasants to modernization and the intellectuals' failure to truly engage with and uplift this marginalized class.