KÜLTÜREL MİRAS KAPSAMINDA EDEBİYAT TURİZMİ DENEYİMİ: SAİT FAİK ABASIYANIK’IN İZİNDE OTOETNOGRAFİK BİR ÇALIŞMA

Edebiyat turizmi, yazarların doğduğu, yaşadığı, eserlerini kaleme aldığı müze statüsündeki gerçek mekanlara; yazarların eserlerindeki kurgusal karakterlerle bağlantılı yerlere ya da edebi figürlerden dolayı popüler hale gelmiş destinasyonlara yapılan seyahatleri ifade etmektedir. Özellikle yazarların doğduğu, hayatlarının bir kısmını geçirdiği ve çalışma alanı olarak kullandıkları evler otantiklik, nostalji ve yazarla bir bağlantı kurmak arayışında olan edebiyat turistleri için oldukça çekici mekanlardır. Yazarla bağlantılı bu gerçek mekanlara yapılan seyahatler kültürel miras deneyiminin de bir parçası olmaktadır. Bu çalışma, kültürel miras kapsamındaki gerçek mekanlara yönelik edebi mekan deneyimini otoetnografik bir yaklaşımla ele almaktadır. Kültürel deneyimi anlamak amacıyla kişisel deneyimin betimlendiği bir yöntem olarak tanımlanan otoetnografiyi kullanarak çalışmada, müze yorumlama biçimlerinin, otantikliğin, edebi farkındalığın ve diğer edebi mekan özelliklerinin edebiyat turizmi deneyimi üzerindeki etkisi tartışılmıştır. Bu amaçla araştırma alanı olarak, Sait Faik Abasıyanık'ın yaşadığı, pek çok eserini kaleme aldığı ve 1959'dan bu yana müze ev statüsünde hizmet veren İstanbul Burgazada'daki Sait Faik Abasıyanık Müzesi seçilmiştir. Çalışmadan çıkan en önemli sonuç yazarla bağlantılı gerçek mekanlar açısından yorumlama biçimleri, otantiklik, nostalji, edebi farkındalık, yazarla kurulan duygusal bağlantı gibi kavramların birbirleriyle bağlantılı olduğu ancak bunların içinde en önemlisinin yorumlama biçimleri olduğudur. Edebi bir mekanda seçilen yorumlama biçimleri diğer kavramları da olumlu ya da olumsuz şekilde etkileyerek edebiyat turistinin nihai deneyiminde belirleyici olmaktadır

LITERARY TOURISM EXPERIENCE AS PART OF CULTURAL HERITAGE: AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF SAIT FAIK ABASIYANIK

Literary tourism refers to trips to actual places in the museum context where authors were born, lived, wrote their works; to places associated with fictional characters in authors’ works or to destinations that have become popular due to literary figures. Especially houses where authors were born, spent a part of their lives and used as a work area are highly attractive sites in terms of literary tourists seeking authenticity, nostalgia and a connection with the author. The trips to these actual houses are also part of the cultural heritage experience. This study discusses literary places experience to actual places within cultural heritage with an autoethnographic approach. By using autoethnography which is defined as a method of describing personal experience in order to understand the cultural experience, the effect of museum interpretation forms, authenticity, literary awareness and other literary place characteristics on literary tourism experience is discussed in the study. For this purpose, Sait Faik Abasıyanık Museum in Burgazada, İstanbul where Sait Faik lived, wrote many of his works and where has been operated as a museum house since 1959 was chosen as research area. The most important result of the study is the concepts of interpretation forms, authenticity, nostalgia, literary awareness, emotional connection with the author are related to each other for literary places but the most important concept is interpretation forms. The selected interpretation forms influence the other concepts positively or negatively and are determinative in the ultimate experience of literary tourists Literary tourism which is an important and growing sector of the tourism industry originates when the popularity of a literary depiction or the stature of an individual author is such that people are drawn to visit the places that the author wrote about or was associated with (Busby and Klug, 2001). There are many different types of literary tourism. Butler’s (1986) study is the most accepted study among the studies that classify literary tourism. Subsequent studies have evaluated literary tourism based on this classification or have added new categories to this classification. Butler classified literary tourism in four categories (Butler, 1986 cited in Busby and Klug, 2001): 1. Aspects of homage to an actual location 2. Places pf significance in the work of fiction 3. Appeal of areas because they were appealing to literary and other figures 4. The literature gains popularity in a sense that the area becomes a tourist destination in its own right. “Travel writing” by Busby and Klug (2001) and “Film-induced literary tourism” by Busby and Laviolette (2006) was proposed as fifth and sixth type of literary tourism in this classification. In 2011, Mintel presented “literary festivals” and “bookshop tourism” as a kind of literary tourism. This study is included in the category of actual location related with the author which is the first type of literary tourism. This actual places where authors were born, spent a part of their lives and used as a work area have attraction component for their fans. There are some important concepts for actual places related with authors in the literary tourism. These are authenticity, nostalgia, interpretation forms, commodification, literary awareness and emotional connection with the author. Tourists are seeking “real thing” in other words an “authentic experience” but they also want evidence that these things are authentic (Stiebel, 2004). For this reason, authenticity requires careful interpretation in terms of place planners and managers. This may vary from elaborate multimedia displays to basic directional signs (Herbert, 1996). Nostalgia links to an emotional involvement with the past, the evocative power of objects and the need to escape a less meaningful present (Gentile and Brown, 2015). The emotional and intellectual relationship between the author and the reader also brings up literary awareness which is another important concept in terms of literary tourism. Literary awareness refers to the level of knowledge and interesrt in the author or his/her works. Method The aim of the study is to examine key concepts in terms of literary tourism through a personal experience of an actual place related to the author. For this purpose, autoethnographic approach was used in the study. Alongside my personal experience, I conducted an interview with the museum official to gain information about the history, functioning and interpretation forms of the museum. During my experience I took only photos. After my visit I took notes on each section of museum by means of these photos. Then I began to write autoethnographic report about my literary tourism experience with the help of photos, notes and interview data by examining thoroughly in terms of important literary tourism concepts such as interpretation forms, authenticity, nostalgia, literary awareness and emotional connection with author. As both the number of academic studies on literary places in Turkey is few and as literary tourism in general remains behind the other types of tourism, this cultural experience is crucial in mediating the development of concepts related to literary tourism. Results My admiration for Sait Faik is based on the last few years although I have read many of his stories in my education life. After reading more introductory articles about his life and memoirs about him, I began to look at him with a different eye and when I read his stories wtih this perspective I realized Sait Faik’s naive language, the sincerity in his narrative, the ingenuity of his narration about ordinary people in everyday life and his deep human love. It was at the same time that I have discovered Sait Faik in this real sense and I began an extensive research in the field of literary tourism. I conducted this research both as a literary tourist who admires Sait Faik and well-informed about his life and works and as a researcher who knows literary tourism characteristics and important elements in literary places that tourists seek. On August 16, 2017 I went to İstanbul Burgazada for the first time to go to Sait Faik’s house. When I entered Sait Faik’s house, I went towards guest room which is “Number 1” on the left. This is also connected with an intermediate door with the dining room which is “Number 2”. All the rooms in the house are numbered in this way. I realized that the general decoration of the museum adopts a very stylish and simple style as it is in these two rooms on the ground floor. There is not much objects in the museum and this simple design makes the museum more effective. The only message the museum wants to give to visitors is Sait Faik’s life story. So, according to this aim, many objects have been left out of concept. Through this interpretation form, I made my visit without moving from the story of Sait Faik’s life and without focusing on a different object which will lead to the breaking of my connection with him. I did not need a guide to accompany in the museum. Because all the information belonging to Sait Faik is presented on the big panels and under each of the exhibited documents, detailed explanations are written in Turkish and English. Just as in every literary tourist, I had also doubts as to whether the objects at home were really the objects used by the author. However, I can say that many of features in this house are in a position to remove these doubts. The museum was opened very shortly after his death. So, it seems quite possible to hide and preserve the original objects. The museum official are underlined that all the objects exhibited are original. The room that Sait Faik used as a bedroom and study room is a room that can emotionally influence every literary tourist who is a fan of the author like me. I can say that this is the most private room of the house in terms of nostalgia feeling. In other rooms on the same floor, important milestones of his life are exhibited through documents and personal objects. I had the opportunity to see the original documents and objects about these periods while reading the information about his life from the panels in these rooms. Personal objects such as identification card, cigarette box, glasses case, election certificate, pen rack are also exhibited which is very valuable in terms of authenticity and nostalgia. The more a literary tourist knows the author’s life and works, the more experience the literary tourist gets becomes different while visiting the house. The higher the level of literary awareness, the more likely the literary tourist establish an emotional connection with the author. In this respect, I see myself as a literary tourist with a high level of literary awareness because of my high level of interest in Sait Faik and knowledge about his works. The most important result of the study is that the concepts of interpretation forms, authenticity, nostalgia, literary awareness, emotional connection with the author are related to each other for literary places but the most important concept is interpretation forms. The selected interpretation forms influence the other concepts positively or negatively and are determinative in the ultimate experience of literary tourists. Through selected interpretation forms, literary places that can present the authentic experience with evidences and documents meet the expectations of literary tourists. A literary place in which the real objects of the author are exhibited also provides nostalgia feeling and in this sense it is appealing to literary tourists in terms of wittnessing a period. The actual literary places associated with the author should determine their interpretation decisions considering wishes and expectations of literary tourists and the elements that motivate them. The Sait Faik Abasıyanık Museum with its original design and decoration concept which focuses only on the message to be given, successfully presents the authenticity experience and feeling of nostalgia. Another important result of the study is that the concept of literary awareness increases the quality of literary tourism experience. Thus, literary places should consider the motivations of literary tourists with higher literary awareness level in their interpretation decisions and anecdotes or memoirs which are relatively less publicly known about the author’s life should be exhibited in the place. However, interpretation decisions should be made that provide information about the author’s works or life story to literary tourists with lower literary awareness level or serendipitous tourists for the purpose of recognizing the author

___

  • Abasıyanık, S. F. (2017). Semaver (9. Baskı). İstanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları.
  • Abasıyanık, S. F. (2015). Son Kuşlar (6. Baskı). İstanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları.
  • Abasıyanık, S. F. (2017). Şahmerdan (4. Baskı). İstanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları.
  • Bhandari, K. (2008). Touristification of Cultural Resources: A Case Study of Robert Burns. TOURISM Preliminary Communication, 56(3), 283-293.
  • Booth, A. (2008). Revisiting the Homes and Haunts of Many Russell Mitford. Nineteenth-Century Contexts, 30(1), 39-65.
  • Brown, L. (2016). Treading in the Footsteps of Literary Heroes: An Autoethnography. European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, 7(2), 135-145.
  • Busby, G. ve Devereux, H. (2015). Dark Tourism in Context: The Diary of Anne Frank. European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, 6(1), 27-38.
  • Busby, G. ve Klug, J. (2001). Movie-induced Tourism: The Challenge of Measurement and Other Issues. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 7(4), 316-332.
  • Busby, G. ve Laviolette, P. (2006). Narratives in the Net: Fiction and Cornish Tourism. Cornish Studies Fourteen (Ed: P. Payton). Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 142-163.
  • Busby, G. ve Shetliffe, E. (2013). Literary Tourism in Context: Byron and Newstead Abbey. European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, 4(3), 5-45.
  • Chang, H. (2008). Autoethnography as Method. New York: Routledge.
  • Chang, H. (2013). Individual and Collaborative Autoethnography as Method: A Social Scientist’s Perspective. Handbook of Autoethnography (Ed: S. H. Jones, T. E. Adams, C. Ellis). New York: Routledge, 107-122.
  • Duncan, M. (2004). Autoethnography: Critical Appreciation of an Emerging Art. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 3(4), 28-39.
  • Fawcett, C. ve Cormack, P. (2001). Guarding Authenticity at Literary Tourism Sites. Annals of Tourism Research, 28(3), 686-704.
  • Gentile, R. ve Brown, L. (2015). A Life as a Work of Art: Literary Tourists’ Motivations and Experiences at Il Vittoriale Degli Italiani. European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, 6(2), 25-47.
  • Hartmann, R. (2013). The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam: A Museum and Literary Landscape Goes Virtual Reality. Journalism and Mass Communication, 3(10), 625-644.
  • Herbert, D. T. (1996). Artistic and Literary Places in France as Tourist Attractions. Tourism Management, 17(2), 77-85.
  • Herbert, D. (2001). Literary Places, Tourism and the Heritage Experience. Annals of Tourism Research, 28(2), 312-333.
  • Hoppen, A.; Brown, L. ve Fyall, A. (2014). Literary Tourism: Opportunities and Challenges for the Marketing and Branding of Destinations? Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 3, 37-47.
  • Müller, D. K. (2006). Unplanned Development of Literary Tourism in Two Municipalities in Rural Sweden. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 6(3), 214-228.
  • Petroman, I.; Petroman, C. ve Brătulescu, M. (2008). Virtual Tourism: Balzac’s House in Paris (France). Research Journal of Agricultural Science, 40(3), 303-306.
  • Robertson, J. P. ve Radford, L. A. (2009). The Private Uses of Quiet Grandeur: A Mediation on Literary Pilgrimage. Changing English, 16(2), 203-209.
  • Robinson, M. (2002). Reading Between the Lines: Literature and the Creation of Touristic Spaces. Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa, 14(1), 1-28
  • Robinson, M. ve Andersen, H. C. (2002). Literature and Tourism. New York: Continuum.
  • Santesso, A. (2004). The Birth of the Birthplace: Bread Street and Literary Tourism Before Stratford. ELH, 71(2), 377-403.
  • Schwandt, T. A. (2007). The Sage Dictionary of Qualitative Inquiry (3. Baskı). Kaliforniya: Sage.
  • Smith, K. A. (2003). Literary Enthusiasts as Visitors and Volunteers. International Journal of Tourism Research, 5, 83-95.
  • Stiebel, L. (2004). Hitting the Hot Spots: Literary Tourism as a Research Field with Particular Reference to KwaZulu-Natal South Africa. Critical Arts: South-North Cultural and Media Studies, 18(2), 31-44.
  • Stiebel, L. (2007). Going on (Literary) Pilgrimage. Scrutiny2, 12(1), 93-106.
  • Squire, S. J. (1996). Literary Tourism and Sustainable Tourism: Promoting “Anne of Green Gables” in Prince Edward Island. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 4(3), 119-134.
  • Tolic, S.; Petroman, I.; Petroman, C.; Bălan, I. ve Popa, D. (2009). Literary Tourism: Eugene Ionesco and the Theater of the Absurd, Lucrări Ştiinţifice Management Agricol, 11(4).
  • Wallace, C. (2009). Yeats’s Country and “Yeats Country”: Conceptalizing Literary Spaces. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 7(1), 48-60.