Pertev Naili Boratav, born Mustafa Pertev (September 2, 1907 – March 16, 1998) was a Turkish folklorist and researcher of folk literature. He has been characterized as 'the founding father of Turkish folkloristics during the Republic'.Arzu Öztürkmen

Folklore on Trial: Pertev Naili Boratav and the Denationalization of Turkish Folklore], ''

Journal of Folklore Research The ''Journal of Folklore Research: An International Journal of Folklore and Ethnomusicology'' is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on folklore, folklife, and ethnomusicology. It was established in 1942 and is published ...

'', 42:2 (May-August 2005), pp.185-216.

Life

Pertev Naili Boratav was born in 1907 in

Darıdere Zlatograd ( bg, Златоград, , ) is a town in Smolyan Province, southern-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Zlatograd Municipality. In December 2009, the town had a population of 7,110.

- today known as Zlatograd, in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, but then a town in the Sanjak of Gümülcine in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

. He was educated at Istanbul High School before entering

Istanbul University , image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg , image_size = 200px , latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis , motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü , mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future , established = 1453 1846 1933 ...

in 1927, graduating from the Turkish Language and Literature Department in 1930. In 1931-32 he worked as an assistant to the historian

Mehmet Fuat Koprulu Mehmed (modern Turkish: Mehmet) is the most common Bosnian and Turkish form of the Arabic name Muhammad ( ar, محمد) (''Muhammed'' and ''Muhammet'' are also used, though considerably less) and gains its significance from being the name of Muh ...

. In the period between 1941 and 1944 he was among the directors of a monthly sociology journal entitled ''

Yurt ve Dünya ''Yurt ve Dünya'' ( Turkish: ''Homeland and the World'') was a sociological and political magazine which was headquartered first in Ankara and then in Istanbul, Turkey. It was first published in the period between 1941 and 1944 and then between ...

'' based in Ankara. It was banned in 1944 due to its communist leaning. After establishing Turkey's first Department of Folk Literature in 1946, Boratav was one of three professors who in 1947 were accused of promoting socialism and undermining nationalism. Though eventually acquitted in his 1948 trial, his department was closed and he was forced to move to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

in 1952. He died in Paris in 1998. A student of Koprulu and

Georges Dumézil Georges Edmond Raoul Dumézil (4 March 189811 October 1986) was a French philologist, linguist, and religious studies scholar who specialized in comparative linguistics and mythology. He was a professor at Istanbul University, École pratique d ...

, Boratav was also influenced by the writings of

Arnold Van Gennep Arnold van Gennep, in full Charles-Arnold Kurr van Gennep (23 April 1873 – 7 May 1957) was a Dutch–German-French ethnographer and folklorist. Biography He was born in Ludwigsburg, in the Kingdom of Württemberg (since 1871, part of the G ...

. He was pioneering in giving attention to performative aspects of folklore. The classification of Turkish folktales which he undertook with

Wolfram Eberhard Wolfram Eberhard (March 17, 1909 – August 15, 1989) was a professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley focused on Western, Central and Eastern Asian societies. Biography Born in Potsdam, German Empire, he had a strong ...

modified the comparative approach of Antti Aarne, by insisting that detailed classification of folktales of a particular culture needed to precede attempts at cross-cultural research.

Works

* '' Köroğlu destanı'' he Köroğlu epic 1931 * ''Halk hikâyeleri ve halk hikâyeciliği'' olk Narratives and Folk Narration 1946 * (with Wolfram Eberhard) ''Typen türkischer Volksmärchen'' ypes of the Turkish Folktale 1953 * ''Les histoires d'ours en Anatolie'' he Bear Stories of Anatolia 1955 * ''Türkische Volksmärchen'' urkish Folk Tales 1967

Life

Works

References

Further reading