The most widely accepted definition of the legend, which is a type of oral literary tradition created in an oral cultural environment, is “a story told by believing that it is true about a real or imaginary person, incident or place”. The systematic description of the three main elements in this short and concise definition is as follows: 1) The legend is appropriate within the concept of the narrator's historical time. a) The legend is combined with a certain historical (real or imaginary) event. b) The legend is combined with a particular person, that is, a historical (real or imaginary) personality called a name. 2) The legend is in accordance with the concept of the narrator's geographical area; that is, it is combined with a certain place; 3) The legend is a story believed to be true. Though he works with supernatural incidents, but he is believed to be true by his narrators. It is respected as if it belongs to the world in which the narrator and the listener live. It is among the most basic features of legends that these elements are combined with a certain “historical” event and person and combined with a “specific geographical” place.
Published in Chapter:
Myths, Tales, and Symbols: Anatolian Legends and Cultural Memory in the Footsteps of the Past
Pelin Agocuk (American University of Cyprus, Cyprus) and Dilan Ciftci (Cyprus International University, Cyprus)
Copyright: © 2021
|Pages: 17
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-4655-0.ch009
Abstract
Since the emergence of humanity, symbolic communication has been considered a creative language that has attracted the attention of many different disciplines. Due to the indifference of culture, the phenomenon of folk tales and legends claims that there is more space in literature. The purpose of this study is to create a knowledge base for spatial and cultural memory and to define the cultural heritage of Anatolia, which has hosted many civilizations, through historical periods. This study, which will contribute to a better understanding of the causes of cultural memory in terms of transferring stories for generations, aims to explain the relationship between space and cultural memory through Anatolian legends. For this reason, the study will explain folk tales with a semantic approach in terms of symbols and values. Within the scope of Anatolian legends, the codes and secrets of myths, fairy tales, and legends will be explained using qualitative research method and document analysis technique, and the relationship between space and cultural memory will be examined.