Metaethic Theory of Folklore with Existential Philosophy in the Poetry of Âşık Veysel in the Context of Albert Camus's Absurd Ethics
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Abstract
The roots of the aşık style of poetry lie in the ozan-baksı poetry tradition of the Turks in Central Asia. During this period, listening to epics recited by ozans around a fire lit in the middle of the camp at night was one of the most important social activities in the steppe life of the Turks. When the ozan-baksı tradition was brought to Anatolia, it began to be performed in coffeehouses that opened in Istanbul in the 16th century and evolved into the aşık style of poetry. Ozans, who were raised in Turkish communities and served as the tradition bearers of their societies, were regarded as folk sages.Âşık Veysel Şatıroğlu is one of the most important representatives of the Turkish âşık tradition. In Âşık Veysel's poetry, works representing the ontological and ethical aspects of existentialist philosophy can be seen because âşiks express the folk philosophy of their communities through their saz instruments, epics, and folk songs, and try to give meaning to their existence. Âşık Veysel sometimes expresses the feeling of loneliness defined by Sartre as "nausea" and Camus as "absurd," the meaninglessness of life, and sometimes expresses Kierkegaard's moral sphere of existence and ethical values.The subject of this study is to examine the poems of Âşık Veysel within the framework of existentialist philosophy and to analyze the poem "Dostlar Beni Hatırlasın" (May My Friends Remember Me) in the context of the reality of death in Albert Camus' The Absurd. The theory I will follow in my study is the Folkloristic Metaethical Theory, which I have developed through interdiscipli-nary approaches in the fields of folklore and metaethics, and the method is the Folkloristic Foundational Metaethical Analysis Method, which is the examination method of the Folkloristic Metaethical Theory.
Keywords
Aşık style poetry tradition; Bard-baksı tradition; Aşık Veysel; Albert Camus; Ex-istentialist philosophy
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How to cite this paper
Metaethic Theory of Folklore with Existential Philosophy in the Poetry of Âşık Veysel in the Context of Albert Camus's Absurd Ethics
How to cite this paper: Sacide Çobanoğlu. (2025). Metaethic Theory of Folklore with Existential Philosophy in the Poetry of Âşık Veysel in the Context of Albert Camus's Absurd Ethics. Journal of Literature Advances, 2(1), 64-76.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jla.2025.06.010
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