Author(s): Tahir ZORKUL
Utopia in terms of origin has been derived from the words of ou which means “non-existent/none”, eu which means “the one that is perfect” and topos which means “place/land/country” in Greek. Its widespread usage occurs with Utopia written by Thomas More in 1516 upon being inspired by Plato’s The Republic. Utopia has not remained only as the name of More’s book and has become a concept which corresponds to a literary genre in time. Even though the concept of utopia is remembered with Thomas More, it is possible to to come by many works which can be considered as utopia before More as well. Therefore, the beginnings of utopia are rooted in much earlier periods than More. Another phenomenon which needs to be underlined at this point is the concept of “antiutopia/dystopia”. Whereas utopias offer an ideal life, anti-utopias/dystopias are of “scary, dreadful” quality and warn people of the dangers in the future. One of the most significant examples of this genre in the West is book 1984 written by George Orwell in 1949. The insecurities people experience in the existing order, the injustices in social structrure, disorders, unease lead them to disconnect from the environment they leave in. Thus, as a resulf of this disconnection, they embark on a quest to seek ideal life. They mostly try to fulfill this longing with the hope of a distant “island” in the middle of oceans. They take refuge in the happy loneliness of the “island” in their hearts as they feel suffocated in the harsh realities of the daily life. In this manner, utopia emerges with the thought that the “island” is a better place and a more peaceful living space than the “world”. As in the famous book by Thomas More which gave the genre its name, utopia is the embodiment of a better and a more beautiful society ideal which functions according to different rules. For this reason, the island becomes the most suitable place for the purpose of the utopia writer. An island which is sheltered against all kinds of external effects has indeed been considered as the most suitable place since Plato. Features such as “self-enclosure”, “self-limitedness”, “standing-time form” are the main factors which make the island environment suitable for the purposes of the writer. While these features render the “island” a place of the desired order, safety, calm, it makes the rest of the world a place where disorder, fluctuation and change prevail. In the beginning, paradise of the earth was thought as a bright island. Later on, thinkers like More, Campanella, Bacon did not confine themselves to the order of societies and resorted to establish the ideal society they longed for in an island in the middle of open seas. In the Medieval literature, the “island” concept is usually side by side with the teaching of heaven in Christianity. The aim of the island utopias in the beginning of Modern Ages is to present the laws, functions and lifestyle of the ideal society. While the social utopia draws up the order of a happy society which has been established with exemplary laws, it also displays the defects of the writer’s own society. The constant advancement of navigation in the 19th century and, hence, the world seas’ becoming totally known have added a different dimension to the concept of utopia which cannot be thought separate from the island since the beginning. The utopia writer who cannot think of a “neverland” in the physical area of the earth starts to think about the time dimension. Even though the whole territory of the earth is known, the “future time” still preserves its mystery. Moreover, “time” is considered as a more suitable plan for the constant advancement of the age in both social and technical areas with its continuing flow. Utopia is no longer a nameless island which is surrounded by waters from all sides or an isolated corners of the earth which has not been discovered. Utopia writers now prefer to seek the imaginary islands they long for in the unknown infinities of space instead of oceans. In sum, utopias are lifestyles which emerge as the result of people’s pursuit of happiness and are seen as ideal. Works which are considered as being in the utopia genre can be encountered since antiquity. All writers producing works in the utopia genre imagine and fictionalize a perfect lifestyle for their own societies. Memduh ?evket Esendal, who is the subject of this article, also fictionalizes an ideal lifestyle for his own society. The Yurda Dönü? (Return to Homeland) story establishes the ideal life Esendal dreams of. Despite its mature examples in the West, it is not possible to encounter examples which can be considered strictly in the scope of utopia in Turkish literature including the Yurda Dönü? story. When the ideal life which has been fictionalized by Memduh ?evket Esendal is examined, it is observed that he designed an alternative lifestyle which is mostly based on agriculture and can be referred to as agricultural civilization. In this lifestyle, villages are in the forefront considerably and are the main centers of the civilization the writer has designed. In the story, villages are of urban quality far beyond small settlement areas which are advanced in all fields, make their own production, provide their own economic cycle and have social opportunities. Villagers are people who have improved themselves in many areas along with their agricultural activities. Another striking point in the story is women. Beginning from the first lines of the story, women are strong individuals who have gained their economic freedom, are self-sufficient and have a voice in agricultural activities as well. Esendal believes that villages and villagers which constitute the basis of the civilization must be the cornerstones to a create a more advanced civilization. At this point, it can be stated that the idea “if village and villagers develop, so does the whole civilization” has been adopted. These ideas are the policies of CHP (People’s Republican Party) towards villages of that time. It is certain that CHP’s policies towards villages have affected Memduh ?evket Esendal, who served as a CHP deputy for a period. Because the lifestyle envisaged by Esendal corresponds to the social and political policies of CHP at that time. It can be said that Esendal introduces a new lifestyle to eliminate the defects of the existing order instead of suggesting a society order which is complete with its laws, institutions and functions in his Yurda Dönü? story.
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