SACRED TEXTS AS A REFERENT IN SODOM VE GOMORE

The novel Sodom ve Gomore, written by Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu in 1928, is one of the important works of Turkish literature. The novel bases on the Sodom and Gomorrah narrative mentioned in the Abrahamic religions. The author enters into a reconstruction process through this narrative which he has chosen as a referent. This narrative is predominantly subjected to a functional transformation in accordance with the historicity of the period the novel written. Yakup Kadri, who has actively participated in the Turkish War of Independence, establishes an intertextual parallelism between Istanbul, which was under the occupation of the enemy forces, and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which incurred the wrath of the God as a result of the immortality of their people, and was destroyed by the burning sulfur rained down from the sky. This intertextual transformation that the author has practiced is not limited to function. In addition, a reconstruction and formalizing process also operates. When the literature is reviewed, it is seen that the works related to the subject is thematic and there is no methodological approach based on the intertextuality theory. This study will examine how a sacred text has been transformed with a view to shedding light on a historical period in terms of different context, function, meaning, and form. The transformation that a literary text has when it has chosen a sacred text as a reference point will be approached by the methods of intertextuality theory and what might have been aimed by such a process will be discussed. Yet, Yakup Kadri’s Sodom ve Gomore does not make the impression that it was written to present a historical period or merely to undertake an aesthetic mission. Once we have identified the motivation behind such production and construction, their role in the text will be dealt through the data of intertextuality theory.

Keywords

Yakup Kadri, Sodom ve Gomore, Torah, Psalm, Bible, intertextuality