Kemal Bekir’in Hikâyelerinde Yoksulluk
Poverty in The Stories of Kemal Bekir

Summary/Abstract: Poverty is one of the oldest issues in the history of civilization. At the core of all significant events that have marked turning points in human history, economic problems play a fundamental role. Wars, rebellions, revolutions, and upheavals have directly impacted the economies of societies, serving as major events that either triggered or deepened poverty. As a reflection of society, the issue of poverty has always found a place in literature, being addressed by authors from various perspectives. It is noteworthy that many great works within world literature classics are also those that scrutinize and reveal the poverty of societies. In Turkish literature as well, beginning with the Tanzimat period and continuing to the present day, numerous works have focused on the economic hardships faced by Turkish society. Since the proclamation of the Republic, all social and economic issues have been explored in various ways in novels and short stories. Since the publication of his first story in 1947, Kemal Bekir has centered many of his short stories on the lives of impoverished individuals from the lower strata of Turkish society. The fact that no academic study has been conducted on Kemal Bekir’s storytelling world up to now has been a contributing factor to the emergence of this research. In this study, the stories in Kemal Bekir’s collection that address the issue of poverty have been identified and examined. Following an “Introduction” section that briefly presents the changing state of the Turkish economy during the years when Kemal Bekir wrote his stories, the stories that focus on poverty are categorized under two subheadings and analyzed accordingly.

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