Devising the Community by Novels From 1960s to February 28: Popular Manifestations of Political Islam

Novels of Guidance (Hidayet Romanları) published in 1960s played a very important role in the construction of the cultural identity aimed by the Islamist movement, and contributed to the development of Islamist culture industry and also mass culture. In 1980s different perspectives emerged as Turk-Islam synthesis reigned. In 1990s, when the culture and personas suggested in Novels of Guidance became common and generations who grew into adulthood reading such novels came into prominence in the struggle for hegemony, political Islam got closest to power, novels including self-criticism appeared. In this article, the legacy of Novels of Guidance are evaluated with Minyeli Abdullah (1967) and Huzur Sokağı (1969) at the explicit focus and two self-critical novels, Mehmet Efe’s Mızraksız İlmihal (1993) and Halime Toros’s Halkaların Ezgisi (1997) are examined with an aim to discuss popular representations of political Islam in literature and self-criticism in Islamist novel.