The Limits to Renewal
Beginning with a prevalent definition and the types of the history of literature, this article aims to detect the historical boundaries, characteristics and the early representatives of the renewal period according to the histories of literatur composed in Turkish. In this context, the works of some leading historians of literature have been examined such as Abdülhalim Memduh, Şahabeddin Süleyman, Ali Ekrem, Faik Reşad, Fuad Köprülü, İbrahim Necmi, İsmail Habip, İsmail Hikmet, Mustafa Nihad Özön, Nihad Sami Banarlı, Vasfi Mahir Kocatürk and Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar. The beginnings of renewal or Westernization in Turkish literature have been associated with the two decades following the political Tanzimat and identified with Sinasi in person. The histories of literature exhibit both shared and differing values and personalities with respect to the extent of this renewal and its early representatives.
M. ORHAN OKAY
