Literary Work Readership and Its Relationship with Mentalisation and Empathy
Tez Yapısı
Section titled “Tez Yapısı”Dedication
Section titled “Dedication”The kidney that failed you, Aslan Bal. The driver that didn’t see you, Bayram Mutlu. The old age that took you, Saime Bal. The torture that unravelled you, Hasan Bal. And the stroke that unbaled and undid you, Feyzi Bal.
Stat rosa nomine, fabula per me vivit. This is for you.
Acknowledgements
Section titled “Acknowledgements”I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Burcu Ünlütabak, for her invaluable guidance, encouragement, and unwavering support throughout this study. Her insightful feedback, intellectual rigour, and patience have greatly shaped this thesis and my academic growth. I would also like to thank her for the opportunity to work as a research assistant in her TÜBİTAK3501 project, which provided funding for my academic career and invaluable hands-on experimental experience.
My heartfelt thanks go to Zeynep Coşkun, whose role in my life began as a classmate during our shared journey, and evolved into a close friend. Much of this thesis has been written with her not by my side but right across from me, with her typing away at her own.
Some of the dearest joys of this MA programme came from hallway conversations, shared glances during lectures, and much-needed coffee breaks with Nisa Ütücü, Alara Turgut, and Büşra Sarıkaya. Their presence throughout made the journey all the more meaningful.
I am deeply thankful to Oğuz Cebeci, whose Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism courses inspired me to explore the crossroads at which literature and psychology meet, and who supported me at the onset of my MA odyssey immensely.
I also wish to thank my mother and father for their emotional support and constant patronage, and my brother for paving the way ahead of me.
Finally, I wish to acknowledge Gülcemal and Zampanò, who gave me hallways to explore where once there were only walls.