PhD in Philology
Assistant Professor
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
Tbilisi, Georgia
ORCID: 0000-0002-9094-6291
PhD in Philology
Assistant Professor
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
Tbilisi, Georgia
ORCID: 0000-0002-9094-6291
An Analysis of Aziz Nesin’s Works in the Context of Michel Foucault’s Theory of Power
Aziz Nesin is one of the most distinguished satirists of Turkish literature. Through his narratives, he not only depicts the tragicomic dimensions of individual existence but also deconstructs dominant discourses, thereby exposing the mechanisms of power dissemination in contemporary Turkish society. Nesin’s texts consistently represent bureaucratic control, socio-cultural regulation, moral repression, and practices of self-punishment.
The aim of this study is to analyze Nesin’s oeuvre within the theoretical framework of Michel Foucault’s concept of power. Foucault’s notion rejects the classical understanding of power as a purely centralized institutional force and instead conceptualizes it as a decentralized, discursively produced, and networked phenomenon. The theoretical axis of this research is grounded in Foucault’s key concepts—discipline, surveillance (panopticism), and biopolitics. The central research question is: How does Nesin employ the artistic representation of Foucauldian power mechanisms to critique society, and what implicit strategies of resistance emerge in his texts?
Discipline and State Structures
According to Foucault, discipline constitutes a form of power directed at the regulation of the body, time, and space, aimed at systematically controlling individual behavior. Such mechanisms typically do not rely on physical repression but on the establishment of norms and the internalization of self-subjugation. Nesin’s short story Vatandaş ve Polis (“The Citizen and the Policeman”) vividly illustrates the functioning of disciplinary power: the police act as a symbol of surveillance, compelling citizens to develop self-regulatory mechanisms. This dynamic resonates with Foucault’s model of panopticism, in which the subject exists under conditions of constant potential surveillance, thereby producing the “disciplinary subject”—an individual who reproduces and perpetuates the dominant order. Nesin’s texts underscore that state institutions do not exert power solely through physical or legal coercion; rather, they create an environment in which self-regulation becomes encouraged and naturalized. This aligns closely with Foucault’s concept of power as rooted not in violence but in knowledge, normativity, and structural production.
Bureaucratic Absurdity and Biopolitical Control
Foucault’s theory of biopolitics addresses strategies of power directed at regulating populations at the level of life itself—access to resources, health management, spatial organization, and administrative registration. In this context, Nesin’s stories provide particularly striking literary illustrations. In Bir İnsan Başarır (“When a Person Succeeds”), a character’s very existence depends upon recognition by the bureaucratic apparatus. The absurd circumstances of the story depict a system in which identity and social status are defined exclusively through administrative criteria. The protagonist becomes entangled in an endless chain of bureaucratic regulations, mirroring the Foucauldian biopolitical reality in which existence is acknowledged only when formalized and registered. Notably, Nesin’s characters actively participate in this system—filling out documents, requesting permits, and thus perpetuating the cycle. This dynamic exemplifies Foucault’s decentralized model of power, operating through consent, knowledge, and self-constitution. Nesin’s satirical discourse exposes the paradoxical reality in which individual life is subordinated to repressive mechanisms of knowledge production. In Foucauldian terms, this condition may be described as the “power of knowledge,” through which life is perceived not as lived experience but as statistical data.
Surveillance and the Mechanisms of Self-Punishment in Society
Foucault’s concept of surveillance transcends institutional control and manifests in socio-cultural self-regulation, generating internalized monitoring of behavior. This phenomenon is sharply rendered in Nesin’s stories through the mechanisms of moral discipline and public shaming. In Korkudan Korkmak (“Fear of Fear”), characters live under constant psychological pressure—not due to real persecution, but owing to the perception that every action is subject to potential judgment. This creates an internalized surveillance system, in which social shame and moral dogma function as instruments of control. Such structures reflect Foucault’s panoptic model, where the individual becomes their own overseer. In Nesin’s works, self-punishment emerges not merely as an expression of moral responsibility but as a systemic product that shapes obedient subjects. Society itself assumes the role of collective overseer, reinforcing moral conformity and normalizing fear-based behavior.
Keywords: Turkish literature, Aziz Nesin, Michel Foucault, Power theory.