LAYLA & MAJNUN Ajda B. Keleş Hi everybody. In my short presentation I will tell you a story by using storytelling. The name of the story is Layla and Majnun. I guess all of you heard some part of it, even so I hope you will enjoy while you’re listening some details about it in that presentation.

Subject: Turkish Literature Relevant concept in curriculum: Ottoman Literature between 14th-19th centuaries> Divan Poetry How to use it: As an introduction. Subject: Turkish Literature Target students: 10th grade high school students Objectives: Making the students familiar with a commonly used topic between 14th-19th centuries Turkish Poetry. Making students become aware of the prevalence of a legend. Let’s have a look on the objectives and relevancy of my presentation topic. As your see, this topic has a big role in the curriculum. Students will face with that story, Layla and Majnun, frequently while reading poems from that period of time. When it comes to how I will use that presentation, I would choose to use it as an introduction to the topic of Divan Poetry. After that presentation, I could give the students some lines from the poems written in that literary period, and ask them to find out which scene of the plot is described in the given lines.

Agenda Root of the story Works of art based on Layla and Majnun Layla and Mecnun (Fuzuli’s version) What I will talk about throughout my presentation is , as you see on the scene, the history of the story, the fame of it and then I’ll tell you one version of it.

Root of the story A classical Arab story Became popular by the work of a Persian poet, Nizami Ganjavi. Owner of the most famous version in Turkish is Fuzuli. The well-known Layla and Majnun story is based on a classical Arab story, actually kind a legend. It became popular by the work of Nizami Ganjavi. His poem which treats Layla and Majnun story written in 12th century, in Persian. The story is written by a lot of writters in Arabic, Persian or Ottoman Turkish. The most famous version in Turkish is Fuzuli’s Layla and Majnun.

Works of art based on that story POEMS by Alisher Navoi Jami Nizami Ganjavi Fuzuli Hagiri Tabrizi Mirza Hadi Ruswa Necati Gara Garayev As I said, the story is written too many times by different authors and in different languages. Here we have a list about it.

Works of art based on that story FILMS 1922- an Indian silent film 1927- another Indian silent film 1931- another Indian film 1936- an Iranian film 1949- another Indian film 1960- Tajik Soviet film-ballet 1961- Soviet Azerbaijani film 1962- another Indian film 1976- another Indian film 1996- an Azerbaijani film-opera As you see, the story didn’t inspire only poets, but it also inspired filmmakers too many times!

Works of art based on that story Ballet 1964- by K. Goleizovsky Opera 1908- by an Azerbaijani, Uzeyir Hajibeyov Moreover, a ballet and also an opera produced on the same story.

Layla and Majnun (Fuzuli’s version) Fuzuli is a very famous and successful Ottoman poet who lived in 16th century. To say the truth, the biggest part of his fame comes from his masterpiece Layla and Majnun. Even though, a lot of poets wrote that story in Ottoman Turkish, I’m sure most of you only remember Fuzuli’s name. I should admit that, up to me, he deserves that fame due to his unique style and the way he uses the language. Of course, I won’t be able tell the story like him. I will just make you remember the essense of Layla and Majnun.

Falling in love Both of them die Leyla leaves the school They meet in the desert Mecnun is a deep love Leyla marries with another man Leyla’s husband dies They meet in the desert again Mecnun finds the real love Both of them die Kays, who we know as Majnun(insane in Arabic) due to the fact that he became an insane, is the only offspring of an Arab gentleman. When he starts going to school, he falls in love with a classmate, Layla. She falls in love with him in return. However, it is not a good thing to be known as in love in those times in society and because of the rumors, Layla’s family takes her back from the school. After that, Kays becomes very sad and cries all the time. On this account he becamed called as Majnun. One day, they meet in the desert and their love relapses. While Majnun is a miserable condition and in a deep love, Layla’s parents marries her with an honourable man. Layla who is still in love with Majnun tells a lie to her husband and persuade him for not sleeping together. While Mecnun lives in the desert with animals with a great pain of his unavailable love, Layla’s husband dies. Layla goes to the desert and finds Majnun. She proposes him to be together but Majnun doesn’t even recognize her at the first sight. After Layla meets herself to Majnun, he tells that he found the real love and Layla means nothing to him anymore. Layla understands that Majnun found the love of God and respects him. However she still can’t stop her distress and dies. Soon after, Majnun also dies of his pain and people believe these two lovers reached to each other in the other world. This chart shows the plot in short.

Here, we have a picture of the lovers taken from one of the books published in that era. To conclude, I should say that this miserable but at the same time meaningful Arab story have a huge place in also Turkish Literature produced in 14th-19th centuaries. A lot of authors rewrote the story or at least mentioned it in their poems. You can easily see the signs of that story in the Turkish poems written in that era.

References http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyl%C3%A2_ile_Mecnun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyla_and_Majnoon http://www.yesevi.edu.tr/bilig/biligTur/pdf/29/8_29.pdf These are my references.

Thanks for your listening 