Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil is one of our writers who attaches importance to the treatment of the subjects he deals with, the characters he creates, and the variety of narrative techniques he uses, rather than the diversity of them. His special attention to the female body, his portrayal of women in special dresses placed in special scenes and linking women portraits with different branches of fine arts most of the time, put him in a privileged place among the writers of the period. Just as the female body, stripped of its mythological identity, is depicted in real lines in the West, there is also a move away from the miniature tradition in our country. Especially in Halit Ziya's works, the depiction of the female body with realistic lines and details is undoubtedly an important innovation and can be associated with the figurative paintings of the period. During the Servet-i Fünun period, Halit Ziya depicted the female body in private areas, in accordance with the composed and flamboyant language characteristics of the period; but in his stories written after the Republic, in parallel with the simplification of the language, he depicts women in bright outdoor spaces and in simple and everyday clothes. The stories “Kırda Aşk” (Love in the Countryside), “Deli Fato” and "Abdi ve Karanfil", set in Izmir, are remarkable examples in this sense. In the stories “Kırda Aşk” and "Deli Fato", bright and illuminated places such as gardens and streets constitute the decor for women instead of closed spaces. These women who are reckless, integrated with nature, and full of life, stand in a very different place from the bored, hysterical women of the Servet-i Fünun period, such as Hacer, Bihter and Nihal, as they literally spill out onto the streets and reflect the free atmosphere of the geography they live in Izmir. In these memoir-story style works, the city of Izmir where Halit Ziya spent his youth was decisive with many of its features. Izmir's nature, symbolic plants, folk songs, streets and human relations are felt in the depictions of women. The influence of art moving towards impressionism can undoubtedly be considered in his transition from realistic female depictions, which he drew by paying attention to contours, to female depictions, which he made ambiguous by partially destroying the contours, and moved from line to light, from stability to dynamism
Halit Ziya, Women in İzmir, Depiction of Women