Literary Criticism in the Ottoman-Turkish Literature: From Tanzimat to Republican Period Cover Image

Osmanl I-Türk Edebiyati Tarihyaziminda Tanzimat’tan Bugüne Çağdaş Eleştirel Söylem
Literary Criticism in the Ottoman-Turkish Literature: From Tanzimat to Republican Period

Author(s): Şeyda Başlı
Subject(s): Cultural history, Poetry, Turkish Literature, The Ottoman Empire, Theory of Literature
Published by: Uluslararası Kıbrıs Üniversitesi
Keywords: Literary criticism; Divan poetry; orientalism; formal/objective literary criticism; subjective literary criticism;

Summary/Abstract: Literary criticism has always been based on the literary realm as well as the political realm since the Tanzimat period. The first feature of the literary criticism in the Ottoman-Turkish literature is the transformation of itself into a symbol of modernization. Still another feature is that “formal/objective criticism” has not been well established as a critical approach for a long time. Literary texts, therefore, have been usually evaluated on the basis of personal judgements rather than objective theoretical criteria. The critics on Divan poetry seem to be an area where boundaries between the literary and political realms are the most blurred. The source of devaluing judgements, which have been repeated since the Tanzimat period and turned into stereotypical expressions, on Divan poetry are mostly shaped by these two features of literary criticism. To define, however, the position of Divan poetry not only in the Ottoman-Turkish but also in the world literature in a rightful way, it is necessary to foster “formal/objective criticism” in the field of literary criticism.

  • Issue Year: 22/2016
  • Issue No: 85
  • Page Range: 141-160
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: Turkish