A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF YAŞAR KEMAL’S THE LEGEND OF THE THOUSAND BULLS AND JOHN STEINBECK’S THE GRAPES OF WRATH FROM A SOCIAL REALISTIC PERSPECTIVE

Authors : Kenan Koçak, Müge Aydin

Pages : 61-74

Doi:10.38060/kare.1255814

View : 82 | Download : 55

Publication Date : 2023-07-31

Article Type : Research Article

Abstract :Many studies have been conducted on the novels of accomplished American author John Steinbeck (1902-1968). His Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is about the rural class\'s profound economic problems during the Great Depression. Steinbeck\'s interest in the subject is thought to stem from his own real-life experiences as a labourer before becoming an author. On the other hand, despite the fact that Turkish novelist Yaşar Kemal\'s (1923-2015) novels have been translated into numerous languages, including English, Russian, French, and Italian, there has been little academic study of them. Kemal, like Steinbeck, supported his family by working as an agricultural labourer. Another thing the two novelists have in common is that they both worked as journalists later in their lives. In his novels, Kemal weaves together Anatolian legends and contemporary reality. The Legend of The Thousand Bulls (1976) is about Turkey\'s last nomadic Turkmen tribes, who are desperately looking for a place to settle and spend the winter. The Grapes of Wrath is about an Oklahoma Dust Bowl family\'s migration to California and the hardships they face after losing their farm. Both novels contain familiar social criticism elements. From a social realist standpoint, this article compares the novels in terms of new beginnings, migration, representation of state authority, and otherness.
Keywords : Yaşar Kemal, John Steinbeck, Binboğalar Efsanesi, Gazap Üzümleri, Toplumcu Gerçekçilik