The "Media-Culture-Literature" panel organized by Bilkent's Center for Turkish Literature was held on Wednesday, December 9. Mahmut Mutman and Ahmet Gürata from Bilkent University, Gürsel Korat from Gazi University and Nebi Özdemir from Hacettepe University spoke as members of the panel.
Hilmi Yavuz from Bilkent University Department of Turkish Literature delivered the opening speech, followed by a talk given by Mahmut Mutman. Mutman commented on the process of integrating literature into the mass media industry. He spoke about how works of art have been commodified at the end of this process. Yet, however powerful the market forces are, they are unable to deprive literature of its singular force. Literature itself is made by a movement of disappearance that is completely different than the market logic of sales and profit.
The second speaker of the panel, Ahmet Gürata, stressed the industrialization of literature and the perception of a book as an object. Following that, Gürsel Korat redefined the notions of "media," "culture," and "literature." He continued his speech by saying that these three notions are developing independently from each other and with this, their aims are different. According to Korat, the media is addressing the community in order to gain profits. On the other hand, literature's main interest is not sustainability or addressing large audiences, but to be "aesthetic." Also touching on the effects of media on community perception, Korat suggested that at times where visualization could not stand out, perception towards literacy changed into looking and watching as a result of today's visual-heavy media.
The last speaker Nebi Özdemir, talked about the shifting of verbal culture to cinema, television and radio. Giving numerous examples, Özdemir argued that some television series, films and radio programs are regenerating the tradition. The panel ended with a question and answer session.
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