A dark literary tourist at the end of life: Tezer Özlü

Abstract

The blending of dark tourism and literary tourism has created a sub-niche as dark literary tourism. It offers dissimilar experiences as it incorporates distinctive motivations from literary tourism and dark tourism. This study aims to provide a better understanding of dark literary tourism motivations and experiences by offering a perspective on the concept of dark literary tourism. For that purpose, the work Journey to the End of Life by Turkish author Tezer Özlü, in which she traced three authors, Franz Kafka, Italo Svevo, and Cesare Pavese, was selected. The work was subjected to qualitative textual analysis. As a result of the analysis, the data obtained on the concept of dark literary tourism were interpreted under three headings. The findings of the study show that dark literary tourists have both dark tourist and literary pilgrim motivations, travelling for motivations such as paying homage to authors and the past, understanding their feelings by establishing closeness and connection with the authors, empathizing with their suffering, acquiring the smallest details about their lives, and experiencing their daily lives. The most crucial finding of the study is that the dark literary tourism experience allows tourists an inner journey and provides awareness about their lives.