Analysis of Duha Kocaoglu Deli Dumrul Narrative within the Framework of Literary Semiotics

Abstract

Oral narrative tradition dates back centuries, and it has a great variety of rich culture and colorful motives in literature. Within this cultural wealth, one of the most significant works of art is Dede Korkut narratives accepted as the oldest epic tales belonging to Turks which are the stories that can be shown as the earlier examples of oral literature in Turkish culture. The common point of the tales is to have fantastic expressions. The heroes are Turks, and they usually fight against different actants which can be real or abstract. Moreover, the tales put forward the form of life, moral and cultural values in Turks’ life. Among the tales, one of the most outstanding tales of Dede Korkut is The Story of Delu Dumrul that is read and interpreted in the sense of semiotics. In this study, we handle the struggles and testings of Deli Dumrul as an actant within the context of Paris Semiotic School’s actantial schema. It is a fact that folk tales have some special features such as good is always rewarded while bad is punished. By adhering to the literary semiotics perspective of the school, it is the point of departure of this research to reveal if the situation is valid for this epic tale. At the end of the research, the validity of the general fact belongs to the folk tales stated above is partly actualized in Deli Dumrul narrative. The state of the result in the narrative is solved by taking the support of the supernatural forces and religious values. In this case, the positive ending of the narrative depends on fulfilling the function of both belief and religion positively in the society.