LONELINESS AND HUMOUR IN AZIZ NESIN AND NEIL SIMON: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

This comparative study explores how Aziz Nesin and Neil Simon, representing different literary canons, treat and reflect upon the incorporation of loneliness and humour in Hadi & Ouml;ld & uuml;rsene Canikom! [Let's Kill Me Honey!] (1970) and The Odd Couple (1965), respectively. Both playwrights examine the loneliness that has caught urbanised and atomised humans in two metropolises: Istanbul and New York. Simon deals with the values, concerns, lifestyles, aspirations and problems of middle-class people in his plays with domestic realism. In contrast, Nesin's plays explore lower -working-class people's values, concerns and struggles. Moreover, it focuses on how Nesin and Simon employ humour, as a Lingua Franca of comedy, in their works. The study emphasises the two playwrights' incorporation of the humour theories of superiority , incongruity and relief into the selected dramatic texts. The interactions between the characters in the two plays are analysed according to the three traditional humour theories by assuming a discourse -analytic approach. The study has exhibited that in Hadi & Ouml;ld & uuml;rsene Canikom , all the humour theories have been explicitly observed. The humour largely stems from a case of mistaken identity, which creates incongruity. On the other hand, in The Odd Couple , humour is primarily evoked due to the incongruous characteristics of the roommates abandoned by their wives.