The suspense-producing potential of textual configurations in Aynada Üç Ölüm: A scene-based literary-geographical analysis

Abstract

This study examines the suspense-producing potential of textual configurations in Hakkı Suat Yılmazer's novel Aynada Üç Ölüm [Three Deaths in the Mirror]. Time, space, unpredictability, and narrative rhythm were treated as four indicators, and, across 11 purposively selected illustrative scenes, the suspense-producing potential associated with each indicator was coded separately at low, moderate, and high levels using predefined structural criteria. Intra-coder agreement was assessed using linearly weighted Cohen's kappa (κw = 0.82, 95% CI [0.69, 0.95]). In a second analytical stage, conducted after and analytically distinct from the indicator-based coding, the spatial profiles of the scenes were interpreted through Soja's trialectics of spatiality. The findings revealed asymmetrical co-occurrence patterns among the indicators. In every scene where the suspense-producing potential associated with space was coded high, the suspense-producing potential associated with time was also coded high; likewise, whenever the potential associated with time was coded high, the potential associated with unpredictability was also coded high. These relationships, however, did not consistently hold in the reverse direction. In scenes where all four indicators were high, temporal pressure, spatial restriction, informational uncertainty, and rhythmic intensification co-occurred, whereas mixed-profile scenes showed that the indicators did not necessarily vary together. Spatial-profile interpretation further showed that similar indicator configurations could be situated within different combinations of material, conceived, and lived spatialities. By integrating scene-based indicator coding with a subsequent geographical interpretation, the study provides a systematic and traceable framework for analysing suspense-producing textual configurations from a literary-geographical perspective.