The Analysis Essay of Halit Ziya U？akl？gil's Story "About Love" in The Context of Empathy Theory

Reader-centered Empathy Theory was created by Theodor Lipps. According to Lipps, empathy is the process in which a person reflects himself / herself on an object, such as a work of art, that he / she feels himself / herself within it and in this way he / she understands it by absorbing. Lipps, in his studies after 1897, mentioned that “einfühlung” might emerge during the perception of people as well as objects. In this article, the love of Haf？z Nevzat Efendi, the hero of Halit Ziya U？akl？gil’s story “About Love”, more precisely his platonic love was analyzed. Empathy Theory was used for this analysis. Haf？z Efendi lives his love without expressing his emotions and without having a physical intimacy with the woman. Haf？z internalizes the woman he loves by means of empathy. Rather, it seems as if he replaced her instead of himself. Haf？z is together with the sick woman who doesn’t even know that she is loved by him. However, he reflects his feelings only to the azans and ghazals he recites. Haf？z Efendi who dissolved himself in the presence of the woman he loves commits suicide upon her departure from the village