Yenişehirli Avnî’nin Mir’ât-ı Cünûn’u Bağlamında Delilik Kavramı

Abstract

As hospital records regarding mental disorders were limited in Eastern civilizations prior to the era of psychiatry, the primary sources available regarding the concept of madness are bibliographical collections, travel books and literary works. In this context, classical Turkish literature offers a rich area of study on the subject of madness. Narratives about madness dating back to the periods before the 19th century usually describe an ideal journey starting from human love and rising to divine love, as in the story of Layla and Majnun. The story line of this journey is mainly based on the shift from abundance to unity. Mir’ât-ı Cünûn, a hezliyat (i.e. poetry with an ironic and derisory tone) written in the form of a Masnavi verse in the later days of Ottoman poetry, has a different perception of madness compared with the narratives on insanity in the classical era. There are 27 types of people with madness described in this literary work, and these types are, on the surface, seemingly normal people that can be encountered in various institutions of society. Avnî Bey preferred to hold a mirror to madness, showing the selfish behavior of these types, how they were enslaved by their passions, and how they marginalized one another. At the same time, Avnî Bey’s descriptions of madness can also be seen as a representation of society. It is one of the sources that helps us understand how the line between the normal and abnormal is drawn, and how to read the cultural codes of the society. Mir’ât-ı Cünûn covers the discrepancies and controversies experienced in certain institutions of society in the face of the changes that occurred in the 19th century; the social psychology of crisis; people’s approaches towards novelty and change and towards each other; interactions between social types and groups; opposing behaviors; and the contradictions of society. The aim of this study is not to propose a scientific theory about the concept of madness. Instead, the main purpose of the study is to reach a holistic perspective regarding the perception of madness in Western and Eastern civilizations and literatures, and, based on this perspective, to contribute to the analysis of the sociocultural structure of the relevant times by investigating the types of perceptions on madness which are put forward in the Mir’ât-ı Cünûn, and how the limits of the normal and abnormal are defined. Due to the difficulties in defining the limits of the concept of madness, a historical method has been used in this study. During our study, we have observed that İlmü’n-nefs, which is also known as the science of psychology in Islamic civilization, embodies ancient and significant information about human psychology and the existential dynamics of madness. İlmü’n-nefs characterizes various states of self, or soul, and explains the causes of deviation from normal behavior and the related illnesses, as well as its catharsis, management and treatment. As a result of this wisdom on the realities of humanity, the psychological situations that help ensure the healthy development of personality, as well as the basic motivations guiding behavior, can be examined in a comprehensive manner.