Edebiyat öğretmenliği, dergi yöneticiliği, ansiklopedi yazarlığı, gazetecilik ve televizyon programcılığı yapmış olan Mustafa Kutlu (1947 Erzincan-) 1968'de Hareket dergisinde çıkan "O" adlı öyküsünden beri tahkiyeli metinlerini yayımlamaktadır. Öykülerinin yanı sıra Kutlu'nun deneme ve inceleme çalışmaları da bulunmaktadır. 1999'dan itibaren her yıl bir uzun öykü yayımlayan Kutlu, 2015'te Tirende Bir Keman isimli eserini yayımlamıştır. Kapağında "Hikâye" ibaresi bulunan kitap, özünde bir "türkü roman" olarak kurgulanmıştır. Kutlu be eserinde toplum gerçeğine de İslami duyarlıkları ve kısmen toplumcu gerçekçi bir eda ile yaklaşmıştır. İslami duyarlıkla yazan öykücülerden Mustafa Kutlu, Tirende Bir Keman adlı eserinde Şark anlatı geleneği içindeki roman arayışını sürdürmüştür. Eserinin hem içeriğinde hem de kurmacasında türkü ve şarkılardan olabildiğince yararlanmıştır. Bu itibarla yazarın Tirende Bir Keman adlı eseri türü bakımından "türkü roman" olarak adlandırılabilir. Kutlu, bu eserinde 1950-1980 arası İslami duyarlıkla yazan öykücülerden Necip Fazıl Kısakürek, Sezai Karakoç, Şevket Bulut, Rasim Özdenören, Cahit Zarifoğlu, İsmail Kıllıoğlu, Durali Yılmaz, Ali Haydar Haksal, Hüseyin Su ve Ramazan Dikmen gibi isimlerden de kısmen ayrılmış; Anadolu-taşra hayatını şehir insanına/hayatına kıyasla yücelten gelenekçi anlayışa yeni bir bakış açısı getirmiştir. Yazar, üç kuşak müzisyen bir aileyi anlatının merkezine alarak okurlarını, gerek İstanbul bağlamında şehir gerçekleri ile gerekse Adana, Mersin, Antep ve ismi anılmayan yüzleştirmiştir. küçük bir kent bağlamında taşranın gerçekleriyle yüzleştirmiştir.

Mustafa Kutlu (1947 Erzincan-) who has been studying as a Turkish-literature teacher, director of literature magazine, writer of encyclopedia, journalist and television programmer has published his firs story “O” on the magazine named Hareket in 1968. Kutlu has been publishing his long-stories hitherto. In addition he has been publishing essays and reviews. He has been publishing a long-story every year since 1999. Kutlu has published Tirende Bir Keman (A Violin in Train) in 2015. There is word “Story” on the cover of that book. However this book can accept a novel because it has been edited as a ballad-novel. Kutlu has taken hand social truths both in terms of Islamic sensitivity and particularly in social realism. Story-teller Mustafa Kutlu who writes on İslamic sentiment has maintained searching novel kind in Oriental narrative tradition at his work named Tirende Bir Keman. Kutlu has benefited from songs and folk-songs both in fiction and the content in his text. Therefore his text Tirende Bir Keman could be named as “ballad novel” in terms of its gender. Kutlu has partially deviated from storytellers between 1950-1980 had wrote in Islamic sentiment as Necip Fazıl Kısakürek, Sezai Karakoç, Şevket Bulut, Rasim Özdenören, Cahit Zarifoğlu, İsmail Kıllıoğlu, Durali Yılmaz, Ali Haydar Haksal, Hüseyin Su and Ramazan Dikmen. Kutlu has brought a new perspective to the traditional comprehension that had glorified Anatolian / provincial human contrary to the life of the city people. Author has confronted his readers to the truths in the context of both Istanbul and provincials as Adana, Mersin, Gaziantep and a nonamed small town, taking three generations of a family of musicians to the center of theirs narration. Mustafa Kutlu’s approach to Turkish novel history likes Ahmet Hamdi Tanpnınar’s approach. Kutlu accepts Turkish novel history as a journey to westernization. He takes hand this issue in regard to changing civilization. However he believes that a forced changing like this is impossible in context of Islamic tradition. Kutlu warns us that nowadays the literature has become consumption merchandise on all over the world in which the capitalism had become unique ruling except from some real reader end writer. (Kutlu, 2002: 736, 737) Kutlu has continued his novel render search in the oriental narrative context with his new book Tirende Bir Keman which we introduced it as a ballad-novel. The narrator of this book gives information about each song and composer in question by every suite situation or folk-songs that come remind. The first song said in the story is “Canımın yoldaşı ol gönlüme bin neş’e bırak/ Be my soul’s fellow traveler; leave in my heart a merriment” (Uşşak melody-by Şükrü Tunar), the second song is belongs Hacı Arif Bey that begins with words “Olmaz ilaç sine-i sad-pâreme / Çare bulunmaz bilirim yâreme—There is no any medicine for my chest divided hundred pieces / I know no-one can find a treatment for my love injury”. In this context the last approach gives a folk-song. One person of the story Sadullah has look for his wife Şefika. A few troublesome men have kidnapped Şefika. Sadullah comes across Şefika in a train car when singing “Keklik gibi kanadımı süzmedim / I didn’t behave coquettishly like partridge”. In this ballad-novel there are also many oriental music terms like “taksim / improvisation, buğulu ses / steamy sound, hüzzam, suzinak, mahur, Hüseyni, Hicaz / Hijaz, Nihavent, notaya basmak / pressing on note”. Mustafa Kutlu’s works known as story different from recently “event history” and “case history”. His works show diversities from concept of long-story also. Kutlu has wanted to carry today’s literature his main literary sources like religious and national traditions, the oral literature and ancient Sufi literature’s narrative approaches. The story-teller Kutlu wants to capture the readers’ hearts by his word-worlds established with language and emotions to the contrary described events in story. He has carried out giving patterns of orientaltraditional novels in the effect of Tanpınar who had said our novels are our folk-songs. Kutlu has realized Tanpınar’s opinion. Writer who wants to understand human has benefited from songs intensively at first and from folk-songs secondary. Technique differences between song and folk-song genders have disputed to present in context of İstanbul-the provinces, “aruz-hece / poetic structure”, the old aristocrat literature and folk literature. Kutlu has been showing us that each gender of poetry is same with his new ballad-novel. Two type of poem has similar speech, problems, ones spoken to and performers. Most of speakers of Mustafa Kutlu have been emphasizing that his stories are different stories assert the villages are places of virtue and the big countries are spaces of alienation (Çoşkun, 2010: 405, 406). Yet Kutlu doesn’t exalt village-life and run down city-life in his work Tirende Bir Keman. He changes traditional comprehension in this topic. He also put forward a new sensitivity on the contrary of social realists. He confronts his readers to other un pleasant truths of rural society. We cannot explain the situation of comparison, mistaking for and transition the genders novel and story merely with not knowing of these gender’s limits and today’s postmodernist attitude that claim the genders have no-border. The postmodernist practices of Mustafa Kutlu in this ballad-novel virtually based on traditional oriental narrate. The narrator has undertaken important functions in this ballad-novel. It has confronted us with society who is totality of positive sensitivities and negative insensitivities. The writer has been allowed the narrator who isn’t a person of novel interfering with the text, conversing with reader, asking to reader, giving answers, making decision about people and circumstances. The writer both has used means of modern literature’s expressions and counterfeited narrators like Meddahs, Ahmet Mithat Efendi with his preferences. Thus he has kept on traditional narration. Kutlu has settled tree person father, son and grandchild to the center of novel with their sorrowful wife’s. Thus he has reflected unspoken truths of slum in Islamic sensitivity. Kutlu has used very kind of literary humor like “difficult situation humor, slang, untrained lover humor, comic of name and copying speech of Meddah”. The reader simple has been captured with its heart thanks to best lingual endeavor in novel Tirende Bir Keman. There are many name tricks like Kemani Kenan in the book. The dialogs, joys, sorrows, emotional turmoil and calms are ranked in the context harmoniously. Author has put forward the representatives of traditional/religious life especially via women characters. We understand through this book that every literary narrative is a journey story, the lifetime is a road, the life is a stage, human is a performer. The flat caves in west epics, the vertical caves in oriental tales; physical, inner, metaphysical, and extraterrestrial, futuristic, fantastic or otherworldly journeys don’t alter this universal conclusion