Paper Title
On Love, Desire and Death in Nezihemuhittin's 1934 Novel: A Landru in Istanbul

Abstract
İstanbul’daBirLandru (A Landru in Istanbul, 1934) written by NeziheMuhittin is a peculiar novel that might be related to the female gothic tradition and thus be considered as having a distinct place among other writers in the Republican Period. In the Republican Period where Muhittin took place, realism was central to Turkish literature. However, Muhittin uses gothic narrative elements in this work, unlike her time and prove to be a unique author that writes on taboo subjects without hesitation. A Landru in Istanbul tells a story of an uncanny love affair of a young woman named Princess Nazlı. To get away from her idyllic days, Nazlı leaves her home for a while with her assistant BeşirAğa and started to live in an airy hotel. The princess cant stop admiring Monsieur Nils, the young man she met at the beach. She can't save herself from his attraction and can't stop being a voyeur. The story ends when the princess discovers that Monsieur Nils is a murderer who travels the country and kills women because of her necrophilia desires. Parallel to Muhittin's being a controversial figure in the political arena her text makes non-ordinary interpretations and revolves around taboo subjects such as fascination with dead bodies, voyeuristic desires and gazing woman. It narrates a desiring woman rather than picturing desiring man in accordance to patriarchal society. In this sense, making a psychoanalytic reading of the novel depending on writings of Linda Williams and Laura Mulvey, the aim of this article is to analyze the reasons why Muhittin has used elements from female tradition and how she subverts ideas on death, desire and love and makes a critique on the Republican ideology. Keywords - Female gothic, uncanny, death, gaze, necrophilia, NeziheMuhittin, voyeurism.