Onat kutlar's poems in the context of city and individual

Abstract

Onat Kutlar (1936-1995), one of the 1950 generation artists, is known to be a poet, short story writer, scrpitwriter and critic. Like other existentialist writers of his generation, Kutlar's works reflect depression originating from city. Escape and pursuit for other lives determine the thematic pattern of his only short story book, ishak (1959). Besides his short stories, Kutlar has two poem books, Pera'li Bir Aşk için Divan (1981) and Unutulmuş Kent (1986), and he does not separate his poetry from his story authorship with sharp boundaries. This is why literary effects of stories could be traced down in his poems and vice versa. Location is based on the city and spreads in a vast geography. In both of his poem books, deep impressions of Istanbul, Beyoğlu, Galata and its vicinity, Pera with its former name, forms the structure of thematic pattern. Confinement of individual by city, and pursuit and alienation of individual in city are combined with love, past, sadness and aspiration. City scenes function as the representation medium of psychologic crisis of individuals. This article examines the relation of city and individual, taking conditions of the period in which these poems were written into account. © 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.