A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Reşat Nuri Güntekin's Novel Yaprak Dökümü from an Object Relations Theory Approach

This study aims to analyze Reşat Nuri Güntekin’s novel Yaprak Dökümü from an Object Relations Theory perspective, offering a psychodynamic account of the characters’ intrapsychic worlds, early object representations, and relational cycles. While the established literature on the novel predominantly approaches the work through socio-cultural lenses, a significant gap remains regarding the application of contemporary relational psychoanalysis to the text’s interpersonal dynamics. The theoretical backbone of the study is Otto Kernberg’s structural object relations model, complemented in an integrative fashion by Melanie Klein’s and W.R.D. Fairbairn’s frameworks, D.W. Winnicott’s conceptualization of the false self, Heinz Hartmann’s ego psychology, and Heinz Kohut’s theorization of narcissistic injury. Employing document analysis and close reading techniques, this study reveals that Ali Rıza Bey constructs his children as narcissistic extensions, compelling them to develop defensive false selves. The familial network extensively utilized primitive defense mechanisms—splitting, projective identification, primitive idealization, and devaluation—which hindered whole-object integration and object constancy. These oscillations align with the structural features of borderline personality organization. By situating these intrapsychic conflicts within the broader matrix of Turkish psychoanalytic literary criticism, this research contributes an interdisciplinary depth to the dialogue between psychology and literature.