Bir cumhuriyet çocuğunun anılarında Manisa

Abstract

Republican Child is an autobiographical work of Nihal Yeğinobalı that she writes her memories. Memoirs provide information about periods and places in which cases take place beside the cases themselves. Moreover, memoirs can uncover historical cases, and also give information about the locations. This paper aims to identify the information about social life, culture, geographical features and society in Manisa during the period of the Turkish War of Independence and first years of the Turkish Republic in Republican Child. Events in Republican Child begins with the birth of Nihal Yeğinobalı on 16 November 1927 and ends with the death and funeral of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on 10 November 1938. Although the memories take place for 11 years, Nihal Yeğinobalı goes back to previous years to express some cases witnessed by the family elders. Besides Manisa; Gördes, which is one of the towns of Manisa, and İstanbul also take place in the memories. In this work, Manisa is a city which tries to bind up its bounds after the big fire, enthusiastically participates in the national celebrations, and has a secondary school but not a high school yet. Furthermore, the reader knows Manisa where the famous Tarzan of Manisa dries all its marshes, and where people make vine cultivation for living. The geographical and climate features of Manisa in the first days of the republic, and social and cultural life in Manisa also take place in the work