This paper examines the impact underground literature (yeraltıedebiyatı) has on influencing the opinions and beliefsof Turkey’s youth regarding issues of contemporary importance. Inorder to understand the relevance of this genre to Turkish youth culture, wehave not only examined the debate surrounding the topic in popular and academiccircles, but also asked the readers themselves their opinions about theirexperience with the genre (in both its imported Western and homegrown Turkishvariants) and its relevance to their lives. For our purposes, theeffect of such texts on readers is the primaryfocus, and ours is the first mixed-media study to conduct a methodological,data-based investigation into the composition and opinions of undergroundliterature’s readers. Thus, our study supplements a lack in theexisting scholarship by offering concrete qualitative and quantitative data thatwill better elucidate our knowledge of the relationship between undergroundliterature and Turkish youth attitudes, as well as the potential the genre mighthold for the future of Turkey’s youth.
