Tehmine and Others as a Loud Venus in White Port and The Sixth Floor of a Five-Storey Building

Abstract

Anar, one of the prominent names in the modern period of Azerbaijani literature, especially in the 60s and 70s, published The Sixth Floor of the Five-Storey Building in 1981, which is the continuation of his novel White Port, published in 1970. The love story of Tehmine and Zaur, which was widely read at the time and was adapted into a movie, also reveals the stuckness of Azerbaijani society between tradition and modernity in the background. In these two narratives, which examine the struggle for existence, especially through female characters, many issues such as social control mechanisms, gender discrimination, gender roles, family relations and the pressure on women are brought to the agenda and criticized by using the contrasts between the characters. While the narratives are created in a very immersive structure by making use of the power of music and cinematography, the distinct aspects of the characters, their areas of representation and their opposition are underlined with various symbols. In both narratives, women are the ones who determine the course, nurture and end the conflict, and have both the first and last word. The woman’s voice and identity is the most obvious element that reveals the difference between the modern and the traditional. Tehmine became an iconic character, with her brave and remarkable aspects for her time and, of course, her story. The two novels are evaluated as a whole in this article, with the atmosphere they create, the characters and the concepts they open to criticism.