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Publication Open Access Entanglements between the Tanzimat and al-Nahdah: Jurji Zaydan between Tarikh adab al-lughah al-turkiyyah and Tarikh adab al-lughah al-'arabiyyah(Brill, 2019) Department of Comparative Literature; Arslan, Ceylan Ceyhun; Faculty Member; Department of Comparative Literature; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 280297This article analyzes comparisons between Arabic and Turkish literatures in literary histories from the late Ottoman period, with a particular focus on works by Jurji Zaydan (1861-1914). Drawing upon Alexander Beecroft's concept of "literary biomes," it argues that these comparisons overlooked intersections of Arabic and Turkish literatures in the "Ottoman literary biome" and depicted them as belonging to two separate "biomes." I define the "Ottoman literary biome" as the transcultural space of the Ottoman Empire that allowed the circulation of a multilingual textual repertoire and cultivated a cultural elite. Through foregrounding the transcultural context of Ottoman literary biome, I demonstrate that modern Arabic and Turkish literatures morphed in a reciprocal entanglement. My work finally calls for the fields of Arabic literature and comparative literature to further flesh out the diversity of literary biomes in which Arabic texts circulated.Publication Open Access OttMed: understanding the Mediterranean through comparative literature(European Dissemination Media Agency (EDMA), 2020) Department of Comparative Literature; Arslan, Ceylan Ceyhun; Faculty Member; Department of Comparative Literature; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 280297Publication Open Access Ottoman literature as Mediterranean literature: travel, imperialism, and c omparison in Hac Yolunda by Cenab Şahabeddin(Mediterranean Institute, University of Malta, 2019) Department of Comparative Literature; Arslan, Ceylan Ceyhun; Faculty Member; Department of Comparative Literature; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 280297The Mediterranean did not receive enough attention in research and scholarship on Ottoman literature, which has often been studied either as the precursor of modern Turkish literature or as a part of Islamic Middle Eastern literatures. Likewise, Ottoman literature did not receive significant attention in those branches of Mediterranean studies that have foregrounded interactions between Europe and the Maghreb. This article calls for an examination of representations of the Mediterranean in Ottoman texts, as well as the envisioning of Ottoman literature as Mediterranean literature. As a case study, I will be analysing a late Ottoman travelogue, the Hac Yolunda (On the Hajj Route; 1909) by Cenab Şahabeddin (1870–1934), a pioneering figure in Ottoman literature. I argue that the Mediterranean as a heuristic device can orient critics of Ottoman literature toward comparative and theoretical approaches that engage with fundamental debates in postcolonial studies and world literature.Publication Open Access Physician writers: hysteric poetry and the medicinal novel in Hayal ve Hakikat(Akdeniz University, 2019) Department of Comparative Literature; Arslan, Ceylan Ceyhun; Faculty Member; Department of Comparative Literature; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 280297When the novel genre began to become popular in the Ottoman Empire, many authors such as Ahmet Midhat emphasized that the novel was fundamental for society. These writers made use of “non-literary” discourses, such as medicine, and formed a new value system for literature. To demonstrate the engagement of these writers with medicine, a close reading of Hayal ve Hakikat (Imagination and Truth; 1891) is provided, which was co-written by Ahmet Midhat and Fatma Aliye. In particular, the article analyzes the “Hysteria” section of Hayal ve Hakikat and historically contextualizes it through examining both the literary criticism and the medical works that were produced in the nineteenth century. It shows that some Ottoman writers who lived when the work was composed depict medicine and/or science as an ideal for literature, and it is argued that these depictions have shaped critical judgments on genres such as poetry and the novel. These writers could foreground the “seriousness” of the new literature through comparing the old divan poetry with a woman or a sick person. This article shows the intersections between the history of literature and the history of science at a time when the novel could be considered the source of a cure. / Roman türü Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda yaygınlaşmaya başladığında, Ahmet Midhat Efendi gibi pek çok yazar bu türün toplum için elzem olduğunu vurguladı. Bu yazarlar ayrıca tıp gibi “edebî olmayan” söylemlerden faydalanarak edebiyat için yeni bir değerler sistemi oluşturdu. Onların tıp ile etkileşimini ana hatlarıyla gösterebilmek için Ahmet Midhat Efendi’nin ve Fatma Aliye’nin ortak çalışması Hayal ve Hakikat (1891) eserinin yakın okumasını yapacağım. Makalem, Hayal ve Hakikat’teki “Histeri” kısmını tahlil edecek ve bu kısmı on dokuzuncu yüzyılda yazılmış eleştiri yazıları ile tıp kitaplarını inceleyerek tarihî bir bağlama oturtacaktır. Böylece, eserin yazıldığı dönemde yaşayan bazı yazarların tıbbı ve/veya fenni edebiyatın ulaşması gereken ideal olarak tasvir ettiğini vurgulayacak ve bu tasvirlerin şiir ve roman gibi türler hakkındaki değer yargılarını şekillendirdiğini savunacaktır. Bu yazarlar, yeni edebiyatın “ciddiliğini” ön plana çıkarmak adına divan şiirini bir kadına veya hastaya benzetirler. Makalem, romanın şifa kaynağı olarak algılanabildiği bir dönemin bilim tarihi ve edebiyat tarihi arasındaki kesişimleri gösterecektir.Publication Open Access Spolia and textual reincarnations: a reassessment of the Hagia Sophia’s history(Brepols Publishers, 2021) Department of Comparative Literature; Arslan, Ceylan Ceyhun; Faculty Member; Department of Comparative Literature; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 280297A study of literary representations of buildings leads to intersections of comparative literature and art history. This article uses two concepts from spolia studies, “reincarnation” and “afterlife” to argue that the forms that a building adopts in literature can be considered textual reincarnations. It analyzes, as a case study, descriptions of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople/Istanbul in literary works from authors such as Paul the Silentiary (d. 575–580), Taşlıcalı Yahya Bey (d. 1582), and Edmondo de Amicis (1846–1908). The history seen through the Hagia Sophia’s textual reincarnations constitutes an alternative to its mainstream history, which has often considered its conversions to a mosque and a museum as the sole turning points. Although they may have no overt connections to the building’s original architectural structure, textual reincarnations of a building can still provide crucial insights into its reception in everchanging contexts.