The Heroes Crossing the Line: An Evaluation of Making Enemies in Turkic Epics

Year 2020, Volume: 26 Issue: 104, 827 - 838, 01.11.2020

Mustafa Duman

https://doi.org/10.22559/folklor.1350

Abstract

This study investigates the origins of making an enemy through examples taken
from Turkic epics, and offered personal evaluations on the relationship between
epics and real world politics. In order to make a comprehensive evaluation, 30 epic
texts selected from different regions of the Turkic world constitute the scope of this
study. The similar features of the enemy in these epics were determined through a
structuralist analysis. However, the epics included in the present study are merely
some containing typical examples of enemy-making: the epic of Oguz Kagan, the
epic of Koroghlu (Anatolian version), Manas and Kocacas epics of Kyrgyz, the
epic of Koblan Batir of Bashkirs and the Book of Dede Korkut. By analyzing the
epics from different perspectives, the aim was to put forward a classification of
the enemies in the epic stories. It was also aimed to contribute to the knowledge
of better understanding of the causes of the conflict and the relationship between
politics and epics as well as their influences upon one another

Keywords

making enemy, the hero, Turkic Epic

References

• Bang, W. and Rahmeti, R. G. (1936). Oǧuz Kaǧan destanı. İstanbul: Burhaneddin.
• Bowra, C. M. (1952). Heroic poetry. London: MacMillan.
• Campbell, J. and Moyers, B. (2013). Mitolojinin gücü: Kutsal kitaplardan Hollywood filmlerine mitoloji ve hikâyeler. Z. Yaman (Trans.). İstanbul: MediaCat.
• Cole, P. (2006). The myth of evil. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
• Duymaz, A. (2014). Oğuz Kağan Destanı’ndan Dede Korkut’a toy geleneğinin simgesel anlamı ve Türk paylaşım modeli. Karadeniz Araştırmaları, 5 (5), pp. 37-60.
• Duman, M. (2020). Türk halk anlatmalarında olumsuz tipler –Mit, destan, halk hikâyesi-. Ankara: Karakum.
• Ergin, M. (1997). Dede Korkut Kitabı giriş-metin-faksimile. Ankara: Türk Dil Kurumu.
• Hobsbawm, E. J. (2007). Kısa 20. yüzyıl: Aşırılıklar çağı 1914-1991. Y. Alogan (Trans.). İstanbul: Everest.
• Kaplan, M. et al. (Eds.) (1973). Köroğlu Destanı. Ankara: Ankara Üniversitesi.
• Karataş, M. (2017). Göçerevlilik ve yerleşiklilik bağlamında Selçuknâme’deki kültür unsurları. TÜBAR, XLII, pp. 127-170.
• Kearney, R. (2012). Yabancılar, tanrılar ve canavarlar: Ötekiliği yorumlamak. B. Özkul, (Trans.). İstanbul: Metis.
• İsakov, A. et al. (2017). Manas: Soghimboĭ Ŭrozbek ŭghli varianti bŭĭicha: Manas destanı: Sagımbay Orozbak Uulu varyantı. İstanbul: Türk Dünyası Belediyeler Birliği.
• Köse, N. (2002). Kocacaş Destanı Üsönbayev, Konokbayev ve Ceentayev varyantları inceleme-metin. Ankara: Milli Folklor.
• Lankov, A. (2013). The real North Korea: Life and politics in the failed Stalinist utopia. Oxford: Oxford University.
• Miller, D. A. (2000). The epic hero. Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins University.
• Sanders, S. M. (2008). Picturing paranoia: Interpreting Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In S. M. Sanders (Ed.), The Philosophy of Science Fiction Film (pp. 55-72). Lexington KY: University of Kentucky.
• Sion, L. (2018). Enemy making. In P. I. Joseph (Ed.), The Sage encyclopedia of war: Social science perspectives. Thousand Oaks CA: SAGE.
• Suleymanov, A. et al. (2014). Başkurt destanları IV: Tarihi destanlar, kahramanlar hakkında destanlar, ozanlar (sesenler). M. Ergun, G. İbrahimov, F. Aetbaeva and M. Y. Kaya, (Trans.). Ankara: Türk Dil Kurumu.
• Sümer, F. et al. (Eds. & Trans.) (1991). The Book of Dede Korkut: A Turkish epic. Austin TX: Univ. of Texas.
• Yereli, A. B. (2010). Yağma kültürüyle üretim kültürü arasında Türklerin devlet ideali. Orhon Yazıtlarının Bulunuşundan 120 Yıl Sonra Türklük Bilimi ve 21. Yüzyıl Konulu 3. Uluslararası Türkiyat Araştırmaları Sempozyumu Bildirileri. Ankara: Hacettepe Üniversitesi, pp. 941-949.
• Yıldız, N. (1995). Manas Destanı (W. Radloff) ve Kırgız kültürü ile ilgili tespit ve tahliller. Ankara: Türk Dil Kurumu.
• References (Online) Dodd, M. (2014). Safe Scares: How 9/11 caused the American horror remake trend (Part one). The Missing Slate. http://themissingslate.com/2014/08/31/safe-scares-how-911-caused-the-americanhorror-remake-trend-part-one/#.VARTBvldUgs. (Retrieved September 2, 2018)
• Kamberi, D. (2016). Ancient heritage of Täklimakan: Uyghur urbiculture. https://www.rfa.org/english/ bookshelf/uygpdf.pdf. (Retrieved September 1, 2018)
• Wood, D. (2001). Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). BBC Home. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ films/2001/05/01/invasion_of_the_body_snatchers_1956_review.shtml. (Retrieved September 2, 2018)