Author(s): Pelin ASLAN
Canistan is an unfinished novel written by Yusuf At?lgan and it can be read as the construction of manhood in terms of friendship, enmity, violence and revenge. This article focus on the protagonist of the novel, Selim who wants immediately to leave behind his “childhood” and be “man” in order to exist in the powerful class. In his childhood Selim’s best friend is a son of the “agha” and this makes him feel despised. According to Selim, there is only way to get rid of this feeling is to use the power that is gained by manhood as the weapon of violence but this also ruins him. In this respect the purpose of this article is to analyze the relationship between power/powerlesness and masculinity, the relationship between power and social gender through Selim and to describe of the constitutive role of sexuality and violence in these relations. This kind of analysis from the perspective of Yusuf At?lgan facilitates us to negotiate the manhood which is determined and gained as a target in terms of the reward and the cost.
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