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CHAPTER 3 – SOME TOPOI IN THE KURTULUŞ EDEBİYATI 
80 
The canonical Turkish literature of the War of Independence exhibits certain topoi 
and it may be helpful before examining their use in the works of Halide Edip and 
Yakup Kadri to see them elsewhere, specifically in works in which the war itself 
plays little part. 
One such work is 
Çalıkuşu 
by Reşat Nuri Güntekin which exhibits the theme of the 
woman teacher used quite differently by Halide Edip in 
Vurun Kahpeye
. 
Çalıkuşu
is 
a work of enduring popularity. Its exceptional historical interest arises from the fact 
that it was the first Turkish novel set in Anatolia to have an appeal to the wider 
public
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, that it appeared while the war was still continuing and yet that, as shall be 
shown, it has no overt reference to the war at all.
Çalıkuşu
was initially written as a four act play (
İstanbul Kızı-
The Girl from 
Istanbul); this was not staged because of the practical demands on the set requiring 
unusual backdrops and too many changes of scene. It was rewritten as a novel which 
appeared in serial form in the periodical 
Vakit 
(Time) during 1922 and subsequently 
in a single volume. It is three times as long as 
Vurun Kahpeye
(Strike the Whore)
 
and 
has been translated into English.
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Nabı-Zâde Nâzım’s 
Karabibik
of 1890-1891 which appeared 1ong before the publication of 
Çalıkuşu
is 
considered to be the first Turkish novel to represent the peasants’ life in Anatolia. It has the length of a long short 
story but has not left a great impact on the reading public. Kudret I, 149-155 and Kurdakul I, 22. 

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