MYTHS AND IMAGINATION AS THE CORE OF SOCIAL AND INDIVIDUAL EXISTENCE IN CERVANTES’ D ON QU I X O T E AND YAŞAR KEMAL’S TRILOGY T H E O T H ER F A C E O F T H E M O U N T A I N

MYTHS AND IMAGINATION AS THE CORE OF SOCIAL AND INDIVIDUAL EXISTENCE IN CERVANTES’ D ON QU I X O T E AND YAŞAR KEMAL’S TRILOGY T H E O T H ER F A C E O F T H E M O U N T A I N

Günaydin, Neslihan

Myths can play the role of liberator to free individuals from the repression and the feelings of helplessness in the face of strict social rules, customs, and mores. It may not be possible to lead a satisfying life under the overwhelming burden of social facts and realities. As individuals want to be alienated or distanced from the painful effects of social experiences and realities, they resort to the hypnotizing influence of myths that alleviatestheir individual and social problems. In Cervantes’ Don Quixote andYaşar Kemal’sIron Earth, Copper Sky and The Undying Grass it is possible to witness how imagination shapes human behaviors and subverts social taboos. The creation of another imaginary world reflects a desire to escape from the delayed confrontation with unwanted social facts. Individuals console themselves and reinforce their hopes by myths, folk tales, and false stories. In all three novels, social and individual freedom and responsibility outweigh restrictive conventional rules and boundaries in society by transcending time and space. Imagination seems to be the only way of liberation from social and personal depression.Both Yaşar Kemal and Cervantes bear the moral discipline to expose their societies through extravagantly insane characters. Don Quixote is trapped in society and its institutions. He fights against institutionalized society through his imagination, just as Kemal’s villagers desperately create stories and believe in themto avoid their oppressive living conditions under the control of domineering people such as Adil and Sefer in The Undying Grass and Iron Earth, Copper Sky.Therefore the aim of this paper is to explore the effects of myths and imagination upon human behaviors in Cervantes’Don Quixote and Kemal’sIron Earth, Copper Sky and The Undying Grass, which are existentialist works centered on individual and social freedom. Keywords: myths, imagination, dreams, freedom, reality, existentialist, institutionalized, life, death

Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed

2014

3514