Textual Agency and Emotional Resonance in Araba Sevdası

This paper reexamines the role of texts, arguing that they are not passive vessels of authorial intent but autonomous agents shaping emotional, cognitive, and relational dynamics. Using Recaizade Mahmut Ekrem's Araba Sevdası as a case study, it explores how novels, letters, and poems act as dynamic mediators that influence the protagonist Bihruz's emotions, imagination, and identity. These texts generate both harmony and tension, actively participating in the construction of meaning. Drawing on Rita Felski's concepts of attunement, identification, and interpretation, the article investigates how texts transcend their materiality to create emotional resonance, inspire self-reflection, and generate new understandings. Attunement reveals how texts align with Bihruz's inner world, while identification highlights the ways he selectively mirrors himself in characters and narratives. Interpretation, in turn, emphasizes his creative engagement with textual meanings, demonstrating the transformative potential of literature. The study further explores the dual nature of the texts in Araba Sevdası as sources of emotional resonance and agents of disruption. While novels like Paul et Virginie shape Bihruz's romantic ideals, their inability to integrate seamlessly into his reality exposes the fragility of mediated identities. The article underscores the agency of texts in reshaping emotional rhythms, fostering imagination, and influencing interpersonal connections, offering a nuanced view of literature's active role in human experience.