Literary and Biographical Sources*

doi:10.1017/9781009086202.005

2 - Literary and Biographical Sources*

from Part I - Sources and Structures

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2025

Hatice Aynur

Edited by

Alexis Wick

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Alexis Wick: Affiliation:
Koç University, Istanbul

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Summary

Ottoman literary culture encompasses a diverse collection of texts, primarily composed in verse, which explore a wide range of life’s facets and contribute significantly to intellectual discourse. Participation in this literary discourse was a notable marker of distinction among the educated elite, signifying membership of an exclusive circle. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of Ottoman literary culture, with a specific focus on poetry, serving as an invaluable asset to Ottoman studies. Various literary forms and genres pertinent to historical research – such as poetry, prose, divans, mecmuas, mesnevis, versified and prosimetrum history books, tezkires, hagiographies, surnames, sergüzeştnames, and tevarih manzumes – are succinctly introduced. Additionally, annotated references are provided to facilitate further study. Overall, this chapter seeks to enrich our comprehension of Ottoman literary culture and illuminate its paramount significance within the realm of Ottoman studies.

Keywords

Ottoman literary cultures and genres divans mecmuas mesnevis versified and prosimetrum history books tezkires hagiographies surnames sergüzeştnames tevarih manzumes

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Companion to Ottoman History , pp. 27 - 41

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009086202.005 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2025

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References

Suggested Further Reading

Akün, Ö. F. 2013, Divan Edebiyatı (Divan Literature), Istanbul: TDV (An inclusive snapshot of the main issues relating to Ottoman literature)Google Scholar

Ambros, E. G. 2015, Life, Love and Laughter: In Search of the Ottomans’ Lost Poetic Language, Istanbul: Isis Press (Detailed treatment of various topics in Ottoman literary research)Google Scholar

Andrews, W. G. and Kalpaklı, M. 2005, The Age of Beloved: Love and the Beloved in Early-Modern Ottoman and European Culture and Society, Durham, NC: Duke University (Demonstrates the value of Ottoman literary culture as a source for historical research)Google Scholar

Aynur, H. 2012, ‘Ottoman Literature,’ in Faroqhi, S. N. and Fleet, K., The Cambridge History of Turkey, Vol. 2: The Later Ottoman Empire, 1603–1839, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 481–520 (Novel information on Ottoman literary culture from the seventeenth to the mid nineteenth century)Google Scholar

Dedes, Y. 2005, ‘Süleyman Çelebi’s Mevlid: Text, Performance and Muslim-Christian Dialogue,’ in Günay, K. and Büyükkarcı Yılmaz, F., Şinasi Tekin’in Anısına: Uygurlardan Osmanlıya (In Memory of Şinasi Tekin: from Uygurs to Ottomans), Istanbul: Simurg, pp. 305–50 (Shows the historical and cultural context of the appearance of Mevlid – Birth of the Prophet Muhammed – Texts and evaluates the genre)Google Scholar

Erünsal, I. 2008, Türk Edebiyatı Tarihinin Arşiv Kaynakları (The Archival Sources of Turkish Literary History), Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press (A new approach to using archives in Ottoman literary studies)Google Scholar

Gibb, E. W. J. 1900–09, History of Ottoman Poetry, 6 vols, London: E. W. J. Gibb Memorial Fund & Luzac and Co. (The first and only book on Ottoman literary history in English covering the period between 1300 and 1900)Google Scholar

Halman, T. S., Horata, O., Çelik, Y. et al. (eds.) 2006, Türk Edebiyatı Tarihi (History of Turkish Literature), Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı (Turkish literature beyond time and geography, treating genres, movements, developments, and authors of Ottoman-period literature in the light of new sources and approaches)Google Scholar

Havlioğlu, D. and Uysal, Z. (eds.) 2023, Routledge Handbook on Turkish Literature, New York: Routledge (This edited volume contains articles on major themes and debates in Ottoman literature, such as kaside, gazel, mystical poetry, translating practice, and gender, in the light of current modern scholarship)Google Scholar

Holbrook, V. 1994, The Unreadable Shores of Love: Turkish Modernity and Mystic Romance, Austin: University of Texas, 1994 (Focuses on Şeyh Galib’s Hüsn ü Aşk romance, and offers new thinking about the mesnevi genre, poetic functions, and the impact of Orientalist scholarship and Turkish ideologies of modernity on analyses of Ottoman poetry)Google Scholar

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Kuru, S. S. ‘Literature of Rum,’ Faroqhi, S. N. (ed.), The Cambridge History of Turkey, Vol. 3: The Later Ottoman Empire, 1603–1839, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Offers new perspectives on Ottoman literary culture in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries)Google Scholar

Levend, A. S. 2014, Türk Edebiyatı Tarihi Giriş (History of Turkish Literature: An Introduction), Istanbul: Dergâh (Defines Ottoman literature as a research topic, then includes all poets/authors and their works)Google Scholar

Levend, A. S. 2015, Divan Edebiyatı: Kelimeler ve Remizler Mazmunlar ve Mefhumlar (Divan Literature: Words and Symbols, Conceits and Concept), Istanbul: Dergâh (The earliest useful introductory book on Ottoman poetry)Google Scholar

Niyazioğlu, A. 2016, Dreams and Lives in Ottoman Istanbul: A Seventeenth-Century Biographer’s Perspective, London: Routledge (Focuses on the biographer Atai (d. 1637), biography writing, and dream narratives in Istanbul)CrossRef Google Scholar

Onay, A. T. 2019, Eski Türk Edebiyatında Mazmunlar ve İzahı (Terms in Old Turkish Literature and Their Explanations), ed. Kurnaz, Cemal, Ankara: Kurgan (Over 1,000 entries, covering unique terms, names, customs, concepts, and archaic words found in Turkish poetry, illustrated with examples)Google Scholar

Pala, İ. 2005, Ansiklopedik Divan Şiiri Sözlüğü (Encyclopedic Dictionary of Divan Poetry), Istanbul: Kapı Yayınları (Covering most topics related to Ottoman poetry with explanations and examples from poems: a true ‘students’ dictionary’)Google Scholar

Şentürk, A. 2016–, Osmanlı Şiir Kılavuzu (Guide to Ottoman Poetry), Istanbul: OSEDAM (The most ambitious ongoing project: an encyclopedic work, based on approximately 2,000,000 couplets belonging to more than 650 divans and mesnevis; defines literary terms and Ottoman-related words used in poems, with examples)Google Scholar

Sooyong, K. 2018, The Last of an Age: The Making and Unmaking of a Sixteenth-Century Ottoman Poet, London: Routledge (sixteenth-century Ottoman literary culture in the light of poet Zati’s career)Google Scholar

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Uslu, M. F. and Altuğ, F. (eds.) Tanzimat ve Edebiyat: Osmanlı İstanbulu’nda Modern Edebi Kültür (Literature and the Tanzimat: Modern Literary Culture in Ottoman Istanbul), Istanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür (Sixteen articles by fifteen authors, exploring Turkish and non-Turkish languages and literatures that were generated in Istanbul; explores literary and linguistic exchange in the Ottoman Empire’s final century)Google Scholar