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theses

This dissertation examines nationalism, secularism, and identity issues in the works of three controversial writers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries: Philip Roth, Salman Rushdie, and Orhan Pamuk. Through a comparative analysis of the theory and literature on national, religious and secular belonging, this study aims to clarify the function of metafiction as a literary technique, the novel as a genre, literature as a medium that questions, shapes or endorses identities, and Comparative Literature as a discipline that creates a link between theory and literary works. This study challenges one-sided and uncritical accounts of nationalism, secularism, and identity. I argue that, in direct or indirect dialogue with theory, the novels of Roth, Rushdie, and Pamuk all question forms of exclusivism in national, religious, and secular forms of belonging. This is shown through their use of metafiction and other literary devices that serve to engage in self-reflexivity. The examination of this literary production leads me to make explicit ways in which the forms of the novel and literature not only help to question forms of exclusion, but also are instrumental in calling for new, alternative, and non-exclusivist forms, definitions and possibilities of co-existence.

ETD_7842

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Hüseyin Ekrem Ulus

doi:10.7282/T3DF6TN1

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.