Discourse: Nature/Man According to a Novel by E. Shafak

Abstract

For centuries, the intellectual world of humanity has been inte­rested in the cardinal issues of the relationship or influence of nature and man. This has continued and has been shaped by different, oppo­sing views in the last three centuries. Since the 80s of the XIX cent­ury, the Georgian writer Vazha-Pshavela (1861-1915) has given this topic an amazing development. Although his thoughts could not be tra­nslated into European or Asian languages ​​at that time. However, independently of him, in the XXI century, the excellent Turkish wr­iter (Turkish and English-speaking) Elif Shafak (1971) begins to expl­ore the issue of Adam's relationship with nature in a new way in her new novel "The Island of Missing Trees", which will be presented in this article. Using the existing literature on solid scientific research and using imagination, Elif Shafak tries to solve the current world problem using the example of one sacred tree, a fig tree, and the rela­tionship between people - the conflict of inhabitants of one island of forced migration, the issues of death, love, father-son, friendship or ali­e­nation. The main characters of the work, which is included in the genre of the novel, are people, plants, insects, animals and, perhaps, all natural phenomena.

However, in the process of research, it turned out to be unkn­own to us how close the world of Elif Shafak's novel is to the ideas of the Georgian writer Vazha-Pshavela. We believe that the comparison of them and the common features that emerged (against the backdrop of animism, anthropomorphism, ancient polytheism, and fundamental religions prevalent in modern times) as they revealed the only truth ab­out the necessity of the harmonious existence of the world and man, nature and man, would be important for the scientific society. This is also an expression of Elif Shafak's versatile writing talent and mastery.