Intertextual Reading of the Ashik Tale " Asli and Karam": Alteration and Development of the Hero Role in a Literary Tradition

This study is aimed at examining the alteration and development process of characterization of heroes and heroines in the Ashik oral tradition through the procedure from epic genre to Ashik tales. Therefore the question of this research is that how alteration and development of society in various historical situations had influenced the characterization of Heroes and heroines of Turkic tales? For answering this question the Ashik tale of “Asli and Karam” has been studied which has emerged from Turkic Ashik oral tradition and spread throughout Caucasia, Anatolia, Asia Minor, Iran and even Armenia and Georgia. By studying literary evidences of this passage, we may discover the literary tracks of conversion of nomad Turks’ spirit of world-seizure into simple ruralist or urbanist and transformation of their understating of woman and family. In addition, studying the characters of each of these literary genres and examining the power relations between them can bespeak values of the work’s target society and its creators.