Postmodernism, which carries the meaning of post-modernism or beyond modernism, emerges with the claim that modernism has lost the values it once held. The source of this emergence stems from the failure of modernism to realize its promises of a better, more advanced, and peaceful world, and a comfortable, happy life from economic and social perspectives. Furthermore, postmodernism, which argues that goals and expectations have led to exploitation, wars, and many destructive phenomena, demonstrates a stance against modernism. While modernism is characterized by elements such as sustainability, centrality, limitation, determinacy, specific genres, design, and the existing, postmodernism manifests itself through randomness, pluralism, hybridity, anarchy, and intertextuality, creating its own artistic aesthetics. In this regard, postmodernism establishes a relationship between the reader and the text, utilizing the reader’s background, and creates unconventional compositions by combining independent elements. Play and carnival are among the fundamental elements that postmodernism benefits from.  Play not only allows the reader to find a place in the fictional world of the postmodern novel but also involves them in the creation process. Thus, an artistic companionship is revealed between the reader and the writer within the axis of the novel’s plot. The carnival, introduced into literature through the novel, relies on the juxtaposition of dissonances and emphasizes pluralism and free participation.This study aims to identify and illustrate the use of play and carnival techniques in four novels by Kaan Murat Yanık, a prominent contemporary Turkish writer, which can be evaluated as postmodern: Butimar: Sessizliğin Kanatları (The Wings of Silence), Uzakların Şarkısı (The Song of the Distant), Dünyasızlar (The Worldless), and Sular Üstünde Gökler Altında (Above the Waters Below The Sky). The focus is on how these techniques are incorporated and utilized by the author, demonstrated through dramatic examples.

Postmodernism, postmodern novel, play, carnival, Kaan Murat Yanık.