The term Grand Narrative was introduced by Jean-François Lyotard, a poststructuralist/postmodern thinker. This concept is especially used for philosophical or religious teachings, and major ideologies in the modern period, but also frequently used in the postmodernism studies.
Published in Chapter:
Chingiz Aitmatov's Grand Narrative
Ömer Çakın (Ondokuz Mayıs University, Turkey) and Mehmet Akif Günay (Gümüşhane University, Turkey)
Copyright: © 2021
|Pages: 20
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-4903-2.ch004
Abstract
Beyond political and cultural criticisms, grand narratives have the authority to disclose real facts. This authority is most effective in the field of culture. Grand narratives are the universal presentation of local culture. In a culture dominated by grand narratives, the dominant ideology of the regime is to control knowledge. Grand narratives play a role in generalizing and transferring information skillfully while describing the contemporary situation. A novelist was defined as a mirror reflecting the period and society in which he lived. Likewise, Chingiz Aitmatov tried to depict the political, social, and cultural structure of his period, and accordingly, formed his own grand narrative. The author skillfully revealed the facts of the period regarding the Marxist tradition and described the social, cultural, and political structure of the period using a tentative language in parallel with the facts such as analogy, myth, and legend.