The Role of the Scribe in the Creation of a Literary Work - In the Example of the Book of Dede Korkut
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Dede Korkut epics have come until today as two copies, the names of which are Dresden and Vatican. For many years, supposed to be more valuable than Vatican copy, Dresden copy has been taken as a basis and this situation has affected also folklore studies. However, if two copies are examined, it is seen that sometimes there are critical differences. These differences vary from the choices of the words to the construction of the narratives. In this study, the interventions that the scribes of the Book of dede Korkut made while transcribing its two copies and the effects of these on the structure and ideology of the work will be analysed. From this poinr of view, through a limited number of works, the presence of the scribe in the literature of the Middle Ages will be exposed primarily as a reader and then as a critic. The effects of scribes who read and intervened the texts when necessary will be discussed. At this point, it will be suggested that ther effect is beyond the Book of Dede Korkut and will be pointed out that there are many examples of this in folk poetry, which is extant through written sources, as well as Divan poetry and prose. Hence, it will be suggested that the effect of the scribe's manipulations on the text be taken into consideration in literary studies. As known, the existing paradigm in text publication is called the technique of edition critique. In the essay, whether this technique has an impoverishing impact on textual interpretation will be examined. Inorder to prevent such an impact, methods will be offered as well, even if it is a necessity to publish a work with tens of copies as a edition critique.