The symposium titled “The Problem of Prose in the Transformation of Turkish Literature” (Türk Edebiyatının Dönüşümünde Nesir Sorunu) was held at the University of Cologne on May 24, 2025.
The event began with the opening speech by Béatrice Hendrich, and featured presentations by Johann Strauss, Mustafa Altuğ Yayla, Günil Özlem Ayaydın Cebe, Atiye Gülfer Gündoğdu, Fatih Altuğ, Seval Şahin, and Servet Gündoğdu.
During this day-long academic meeting, the idea, production, and reception of prose in the transformation of Turkish literature were addressed at historical and theoretical levels. The discussions extended into the lines of Yahya Kemal’s article titled “Lack of Image and Lack of Prose” (Resimsizlik ve Nesirsizlik) and deepened through dialogues that developed around the presented papers. This gathering also offered an indirect examination of the name, direction, and aspirations of the journal “Nesir: Journal of Literary Studies” at a symposium level. The questions and comments directed at the papers, along with the concluding evaluative sharing, made this gathering one of the rare examples of dialogue-based collective thought production.
It is anticipated that the publication of the symposium papers into a book will create a fruitful ground for reading and discussion for those who wish to critically re-examine the intellectual foundations of modern Turkish literature.