Images related to the falling-in-love episode in printed folk tale books in Arabic script in the style of âşık (minstrel) storytelling

Pictures in Folk Tales

Abstract

The subject of illustrations in folk tale books published in written media has been addressed in only a limited number of studies. Some of these studies made no distinction between various forms of written media—such as manuscripts, lithographs, and letterpress books—while others failed to consider the thematic variations of the tales, including romantic, religious-legendary, and realistic narratives. However, it is essential to evaluate each medium and genre separately.This study examines illustrations depicting "falling in love" scenes in twelve aşık-style folk tales printed using letterpress (hurufat baskı) between 1913 and 1928. "Falling in love," a key motif in folk tales, is classified into four categories: falling in love in a dream, falling in love by seeing a picture, love at first sight, and falling in love upon discovering that two people who grew up together are not actually siblings.The illustrations in these storybooks are analyzed in terms of their relationship to the text: their alignment with the narrative, their role in supporting the plot, and their reflection of the social and aesthetic values of the period. In most cases, the illustrations aim to directly visualize the narrative, though in some instances, shifts in meaning occur during the visual translation. These illustrations in hurufat-printed folk tale books are more than mere decorative elements; they function as visual extensions of the narrative, aids to reader comprehension, and documents of the cultural memory of their time.