This study critically examines the approach presented by Jorge G. Blanco Villalta in his article titled Literatura Turca Contemporánea, published in 1939, concerning classical Turkish literature. Villalta, an Argentine diplomat and writer, addresses Turkish literature from a historical perspective stretching from the pre-Islamic period up to the Republican era, and defines the classical period in particular as a time shaped under Persian influence, where formal mastery is emphasized while content is portrayed as weak and detached from reality. In this study, Villalta’s approach is evaluated in terms of the mazmun system, multi-layered representational structure, and aesthetic values of divan poetry. By highlighting aspects of classical poetry that are based on individual creativity, accumulation of knowledge, and socio-cultural reality, Villalta’s reductionist interpretations are discussed. Additionally, it is shown that his comments on classical prose are based on an incomplete reading that fails to take into account the rhetorical structure and historical context of the texts. In this respect, while evaluating Villalta’s views on classical literature within their own internal consistency, the study reveals the limitations in his understanding of the aesthetic system of Turkish literature.

Jorge G. Blanco Villalta, Classical Turkish Literature, Divan Poetry, Aesthetic Criticism, South America, Prose