Semra Yaman, in her 2025 work The Biography of the Antihero and Its Journey in the Turkish Novel, traces the figure of the antihero from mythological times onward. Although there is not yet a universally agreed-upon definition among theorists, the study examines the trajectory of the antihero—positioned as the counterpart of the hero and often characterized as ugly, unsuccessful, weak, untalented, cowardly, and unloved. After analyzing in detail the political, economic, and social conditions that prepared the ground for the emergence and development of the concept, Yaman offers an in-depth exploration of it from multiple perspectives. The study argues that the transformation of the individual as a result of modernism and modernization has undermined the traditional understanding of the hero, and that the antihero should be regarded as a product of this transformation. Beginning with myths and drawing on selected examples from world literature, Yaman identifies the features, development, and boundaries of the antihero before turning to examples from Turkish literature. In this context, twenty novels from the period between the Tanzimat era and 1950 are examined chronologically to demonstrate the emergence of the antihero in Turkish literature. Through close readings of fifteen novels from the period 1950–1980, the development of the antihero is then analyzed in a comprehensive manner.
