THE USE OF EPISTOLARITY FOR DOCUMENTING THE PAST IN FILMS FROM TURKEY

Selime Büyükgöze

This article focuses on the epistolary form in unconventional films from Turkeypreoccupied with a traumatic past. The formal approach to epistolarity dependson Hamid Naficy’s (2001) description of accented style. The epistles in selectedfilms are categorized according to medium and are analyzed as formal and asnarrative elements. Epistolarity is discussed as one of the prominent strategiesfor engaging with the past, and its function as documentation of the past is understood in terms of Marianne Hirsh’s (2008) conceptualization of postmemory.