Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu's novel Yaban, published in 1932, is one of the works written about the intellectual-people distinction in Turkish literature. The novel contains not only a personal disappointment but also a sociological analysis of an era.

Subject and Structure

The novel's main character, Ahmet Celal, is a reserve officer who lost his arm in World War I. After the occupation of Istanbul, upon the invitation of his orderly Mehmet Ali, he settles in a village near Porsuk Stream, in the vicinity of Eskişehir. While his expectation was an Anatolian life integrated with its people; the scene he encountered leads him to a deep disappointment. The novel progresses with the memories recounted from Ahmet Celal's diary.

Themes and Main Idea

One of the main themes of the novel is the conflict of mentality between the urban intellectual and the rural populace. Ahmet Celal wants to educate and enlighten the villagers, but he becomes isolated in the face of their ignorance and indifference. With this depiction, Karaosmanoğlu aims to show a historical consequence of the Republican elites' inability to establish a connection with the people.

Narrative Techniques and Style

Yaban is written in the form of a diary, recounting Ahmet Celal's personal observations. This structure aims to allow the reader to penetrate the character's inner world. Karaosmanoğlu uses realistic descriptions when depicting village life. It is known that the Western-origin words found in the novel's first editions were simplified over time.

Characters

• Ahmet Celal: An intellectual, urban, idealistic but disillusioned officer. The events in the novel are narrated from his perspective.
• Emine: The woman Ahmet Celal falls in love with; she is married.
• Mehmet Ali: Ahmet Celal's orderly.
• Salih Ağa: One of the village bullies, he exerts pressure on the people.
• Villagers: Generally characterized by ignorance, they are depicted as a collective, not individual, mass.

Social and Historical Context

Yaban is a documentary novel that attempts to depict the social structure of the Turkish War of Independence years. Written during a period when the Republican ideology was being tried to be adopted by the people, this work advocates the view that the people were not ready for these ideals. For this reason, the novel has been criticized for its negative depictions of villagers and its one-sidedness.

“Yaban has been highly praised either for sincerely expressing the chasm between the intellectual and the villager, courageously probing this wound, and laying bare the realities of the Anatolian villager before us, or it has been criticized for being one-sided, distorting the facts, and depicting only the negative aspects of the villager. The issue that has always been debated is this: Does the villager depicted by Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu conform to reality or not?”^【1】 

Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu's novel Yaban demonstrates not only an individual's disappointment but also an intellectual generation's attempt and failure to connect with the people. Yaban, one of the works of Republican era Turkish literature, is a valuable work considered by researchers from both literary and sociological perspectives.