Abstract
n literary texts, the people in action and their behaviors are the main factors that determine the subject. The similarity of the fictional world with life is provided by people and their behaviors. Other elements are created and put together by the novelist to describe the person. In the traditional novel, the focal point of the narrative is the main protagonist. Other people are positioned in relation to the protagonist in order to illuminate various aspects and add multidimensionality to her (or him). In other words, the focus of attention is the protagonist and the people closest to her (or him). This perception changes with the pluralistic and multi-layered structure of 20th century aesthetics. Under the influence of the New Novel movement, people become indistinct. Then again, novels are written in which the characters are prominent; but it is the inner world, not the apparent behavior. Apart from this, in some novels written after the proclamation of the Republic in our literature, it is seen that social issues and situation narratives come to the fore, not the main characters. Danaburnu, one of Oktay Rifat's three novels, is one of the novels written in the same line without a main protagonist. When these examples in our literature are examined, it is seen that the purpose of the authors is not to describe the focal people, but to reveal the social issues and the negative unequal living conditions of the period. At this point, it can be said that Rifat's aim is not to make an avant- garde experiment, but to describe various people and their dilemmas without determining a focal point or even connecting them. In the review, Oktay Rifat's Danaburnu novel will be discussed with these aspects as an example of a novel without a main protagonist.