An Evaluation of Reşat Nuri Güntekin's Story "Lawyer"

Abstract

Abstract

Having personally experienced the foundation period of the Republic of Turkey and the last years of the Ottoman Empire, Reşat Nuri Güntekin has masterfully addressed the social problems and general issues of the people of these two important periods in his literary works. Being able to travel every inch of the Anatolian region due to his duties as a teacher and inspector, Reşat Nuri Güntekin had the opportunity to get to know the people of Anatolia closely and observe their real living conditions during these travels. He transferred these different experiences to his various works and put the lives of his people and the problems of the country on paper with a simple narrative. Reşat Nuri Güntekin's story The Lawyer addresses the effects of the Republic years, the problems experienced, the deficiencies and the general troubles of the society, and draws attention to the issues of the people and the problems in the individual and family structure. The evaluation made for the story The Lawyer will be evaluated based on the published works titled Story Analysis by Mehmet Kaplan and Story Art by Ali İhsan Kolcu.

He says, "Because I have known Reşat Nuri for a long time and closely, I cannot say that he has a classical culture... Therefore, I insist that this great art be attributed solely to his genius" (Önertoy; 1991: 21). Although the storyteller Reşat Nuri Güntekin is known for his novels and plays, his stories have also been subjected to different evaluations. His stories can be evaluated into two main parts in terms of subject matter and content. These two parts can be divided into emotional and social stories. Güntekin's stories mainly focus on social issues: emotional conflicts, forbidden relationships, betrayal, and similar themes.