Hikâye: Turkish Folk Romance as Performance Art (review)

Başgöz begins with an introduction to hikâye as an oral narrative of love and adventure whose earliest origins are found in Iran, then Arab countries, and later in Turkey. The continuation of hikâye in Turkey has been closely associated with the aşik (teller-singer), who has carried the literary and musical tradition for centuries. Başgöz shares his first experience of collecting hikâyes in Kars in 1945 and includes the complete text of a hikâye performance of Aşik Garip and Şah Senem by Aşik Sabit Müdami. By focusing on the aşik's point of view and using quotations from interviews of various aşiks throughout the years 1943-82, Başgöz provides information about the life stories and professional training of aşiks; he concludes the introduction by providing his own analysis of the aşiks' lives.

In this book, Başgöz delves into the pattern of the hikâye, executing its structural analysis. He provides several main plot actions, including crisis in the family, struggle to establish a new family, obstacles, obstacles eliminated, and establishment of a new family. Başgöz probes the hikâye narration, the actual performance, including the process of selecting a hikâye for performance, the "entrance door" for beginning the story, "rounding," the "exit door" for ending the narration, and the function of folklore. He continues by addressing a critical component of hikâye performance, the audience, and the role the audience plays in the development and longevity of the hikâye as well as the role the audience can play in deciding what type of humor occurs in a particular performance. Başgöz leaves his readers with the thought that while traditional hikâye performance has been virtually extinguished due to different social environments and technological advances, he has hope that hikâye and Turkish folklore can survive in some form for future generations. He concludes the book with an appendix of the plot outlines for fifty of the hikâye romances on which he bases his research.

Başgöz's writing style is concise yet easy to understand, always quick to define any term or phrase the reader may find unfamiliar. His methodology of providing quotations from interviews with aşiks and then expounding on and comparing the various responses is a method that offers the reader much information to consider. The interviews with the aşiks give the reader a true glimpse at what the hikâye means in Turkey. He excels at letting the aşiks speak for themselves, using interviews to address both the aşik's personal background, his interaction with the audiences, and his own perception of what hikâye means. Başgöz makes a good point when he advises "The aşiks presented contradictory views on various issues; thus, an analysis based on a single viewpoint alone should be accepted with caution" (71). This point, as with any oral narrative on any subject, is essential to understand: no performance of a hikâye is the same, and no two people have exactly the same understanding of the hikâye.

Başgöz also draws information from other scholars, such as William Bascom, Thomas R. Williams, and Alan Merriam to examine the functional purposes of folklore and how those functions pertain to hikâye. His hypothesis concerning hikâye performance is that "To neither folklore in general nor to each folklore genre in particular should be attributed a constant, general function or functions, except entertainment. Function is variable, and each performance, depending on circumstances, may have a different function or functions" (198). The aşik intends a particular meaning or meanings to be perceived by his audience, though the audience may perceive something unintended. Oral historians should keep this in mind because by understanding that hikâye performances have different effects on different people, we can be attuned to the different...