The genre composition and writing tradition of the epos Oghuz

Abstract

Oghuz being one of the Turkic nations during the Ancient and Early Middle Ages had created the rich culture. Before the chronology of Christianity there were considerations about the existence of epic examples in oral tradition of Oghuz nation. The written epic examples belonging to the 6th-16th centuries strengthen these considerations. Because the epos Oghuz had lived in oral form for a long time and had saved its signs in Turkic runic writings. Oghuz epos represents some lyric examples such as «soylama» and «boylama», some epic genres such as «otuk», «boy» and some paremiological examples such as cheers, curses, praises, proverbs. The examples of Oghuz epos belonging to the 6th- the 8th centuries have come todays in runic writings «bitik», «letters» and «books» written in Arabian alphabet. In the article the genre structure of the epos Oghuz is investigated and the the relation with the writing tradition is cleared up.