The Time Regulation Institute as a Satirical Allegory

This paper focuses on Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar’s The Time Regulation Institute (1961) as a modern satirical allegory in order to foreground the novel’s critical attitude to the mentality that equates modernization with Westernization. The paper aims to pinpoint that in The Time Regulation Institute Tanpınar intends to shed light on the issue of Turkey’s problematic engagement with modernity and modernization. Unlike A Mind at Peace (Huzur 1949), Tanpınar’s narration in The Time Regulation Institute is not structured around argumentative dialogues between the characters. Rather, the latter depicts Turkey in transformation as a consequence of the project of modernization; more precisely, this study aims to demonstrate that a version of Turkey before, during and after the transformation is humorously displayed. This study aims to contribute not only to the scholarship on Tanpınar’s fiction whose fictional works have rarely been examined as a satirical-allegory but also to the modernity studies.

___

  • Adorno, T. and M. Horkheimer, (1944), The Dialectic of Enlightenment, Trans. John Cumming, The Continuum Publishing, New York. Ahıska, M. (2003), “Occidentalism: The Historical Fantasy of the Modern”, The South Atlantic Quarterly, Vol: 102, No: 2/3, 351-379. Bayramoğlu, Z. (2001), Huzursuz Huzur ve Tekinsiz Saatler: Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar Üzerine Tezler. Yapı Kredi Yayınları, İstanbul. Bergson, H. (1934), The Creative Mind: An Introduction to Metaphysics. (1946) Trans. (La Pensée et le mouvant 1934), Kensington Publishing Corp, İstanbul. Ertürk, N. (2011), Grammatology and Literary Modernity in Turkey, Oxford and New York, OUP. Göçek, F. M. (1996), Rise of the Bourgeoisie, Demise of Empire: Ottoman Westernization and Social Change, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford. Gürbilek, N. (2003), “Dandies and Originals: Authenticity, Belatedness, and the Turkish Novel” in The South Atlantic Quarterly Vol: 102, No: 2/3, Duke University Press. ______ . (2004), Kör Ayna Kayıp Şark: Edebiyat ve Endişe. Metis, İstanbul. Hobsbawm, E. and Terence R. (1992), The Invention of Tradition, OUP, London. Jusdanis, G. (1991), Belated Modernity and Aesthetic Culture: Inventing National Literature, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. Koçak, O. (1996), “Kaptırılmış İdeal: Mai ve Siyah Üzerine Psikanalitik Bir Deneme,” Toplum ve Bilim, Sayı: 70, 94-152. Marcuse, H. (1964), One-Dimensional Man. Beacon, Boston. Moran, B. (1983), Türk Romanına Eleştirel Bir Bakış Vol: 1, İletişim Yayınları, İstanbul. ______ . (2001), “Time Regulation Institute” Preface to The Time Regulation Institute. (Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü 1961). Trans. Ender Gürol. Madison, Turco- Tatar Press, USA. Parla, J. (1990), Babalar ve Oğullar. İletişim Yayınları, İstanbul. Poyraz, S. (2006), “Thinking about Turkish Modernization: Cemil Meriç on Turkish Language, Culture, and Intellectuals” in Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Vol: 26, No : 3, 434-445. Riker, M. (2018, May 15). A Ramshackle Modernity: The Time Regulation Institute by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar Retrivied from www.nytimes.com Shayegan, D. (1989), Le Regard Mutilé: Schizophrénie Culturelle: Pays Traditionnels face à la Modernité, Albin Michel, 83, Paris. Shohat, E and Robert S. (1994), Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media, Routledge, London. Tanpınar, A. H. (1949), A Mind at Peace (Huzur), (2008), Trans. Erdağ Göknar, Archipelago Books, Brooklyn, NY. ______ . (1951), “Medeniyet Değiştirmesi ve İç İnsan” [The Civilization Conversion and Inner Man] in Yaşadığım Gibi [As I Lived]. (1970), Haz. Birol Emil. Dergah Yayınları, İstanbul. ______ . (1961), The Time Regulation Institute. (Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü), (2001), Trans. Ender Gürol, Turco- Tatar Press, Madison, USA. ______ . (1993), “Mehmet Kaplan’a Mektup” [“A Letter to Mehmet Kaplan”] in Kutup Noktası, Oğuz Demiralp, YKY, İstanbul. Timur, T. (1991), Osmanlı-Türk Romanında Tarih, Toplum ve Kimlik. İmge Press, İstanbul. Yavuz, H. (2004), Modernleşme: Parça mı, Bütün mü? Batılılaşma: Simge mi, Kavram mı? Modern Türkiye'de Siyasi Düşünce Modernleşme ve Batıcılık (Cilt 3), İletişim Yayınları, İstanbul.