A Symbolist Approach to Conceptual Elements in the Novel “Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü”

Abstract

Abstract:

The “Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü” is one of Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar's key works in modern Turkish literature, deeply exploring the individual and social transformations Turkish society has experienced during the modernization process. The novel's main character, Hayri İrdal, is a man struggling to find his social and individual identity and adapt to modern life. Hayri's life intersects with a group of people who aim to establish a “Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü” and strive to change society's chronic understanding of time. In this process, conceptual elements such as time, dreams, female imagery, ironic narrative, and psychoanalysis form the novel's fundamental building blocks. While time symbolizes change and loss at both the individual and societal levels, dreams pave the way for a questioning of the subconscious and the social order. Female images offer important clues about society's gender norms and the search for individual freedom. Irony, on the other hand, critiques the contradictions of modern society and individual existential angst. Psychoanalysis, on the other hand, helps the characters explore the depths of their subconscious and resolve their inner conflicts. By symbolizing these conceptual elements throughout the novel, Tanpınar questions the uncertainties brought about by modernism, the existential responsibilities of man, and social change.