A LITERARY WORK OF FATMA ALİYE HANIM ON HISTORY: AHMET CEVDET PAŞA VE ZAMANI

Abstract

The work entitled as Ahmet Cevdet Paşa ve Zamanı written by Fatma Aliye provides information about early stages of Ahmet Cevdet Pasha’s life and people and events related to that period. The work is one of two works written by the author on history. Although Fatma Aliye is renowned as first women novelist, she was possibly the first women who write history in Ottoman period. Fatma Aliye was born in 1862 as the daughter of Ahmet Cevdet Pasha, renowned historian, statesman, and jurist. She had a quality education by taking private tutorials from various teachers. She learned French and followed works produced in the West and made translations. She wrote novels and columns in newspapers particularly focusing on problems of women. Having a historian father allowed her to take tutorials from her father which in turn led her to study history. Thanks to her father, when writing history she had privilege of accessing documents, knowledge and experience. Ahmet Cevdet Paşa ve Zamanı was built around resources that include stories her father told, works of her father and various documents left by her father. Although the work is, to large extent, based on Tezakir written by Ahmet Cevdet Paşa, it is an interesting piece of work because it includes many details that cannot be found anywhere else. In this study, firstly details about the life of Fatma Aliye is provided. Then her work is analysed in terms of her use of sources and the way she deals with historical events. Afterwards, some inferences are carried out about Fatma Aliye’s historiography by also making comparison with her second history work, Tarih-i Osmanî’nin Bir Devre-i Mühimmesi Kosova Zaferi-Ankara Hezimeti Ahmet Cevdet Paşa ve Zamanı written by Fatma Aliye, provides insight into the first phases of Ahmet Cevdet Pasha's life as well as the connected people and events of the era. This literary work is one of the works written by the author on history. Fatma Aliye Hanım is not only acknowledged as the first female novelist, but also presumed to be the first woman, who wrote on history in the Ottoman period. Fatma Aliye the daughter of Ahmet Cevdet Pasha, who was a historian, statesman, and lawyer, was born in 1862 in Istanbul. She started her education at an early age by receiving tutorials from various teachers. Fatma Aliye did not only learn to read, but also read Quran from cover to cover. She also developed interest in foreign language courses, besides traditional courses. During that period, only few Muslim girls had the opportunity to learn a foreign language. In the later years, Fatma Aliye received lessons from İlyas Matar, who held both a law degree and a medicine degree, as well as French lessons from a young lady named Alfa.Thanks to the education she had received and her interest in foreign language, Fatma Aliye started translating novels from French and conducted meeting with foreign guests visiting the country. She did not only learn French but also took lessons on Arabic and Persian to improve her language skills. History was among the most significant subjects of the lessons she took. For she was the daughter of a historian, she had a fair share of a cultural knowledge background. Similarly, some of the lessons she took was indirectly linked to history, such as geography. Geography, which was one of the subjects she had been learning ever since the age of seven, provided knowledge on the names and geographical characteristics of places as well as their history. In other words, her geography teacher taught geography mixing it with history. Even though her father was a historian, she had not been able to benefit from her father's knowledge on history for long years, until she published a book. She was put in the limelight with her translation of a French book named Volante into Turkish as Meram. Following the publication of this novel, many people started paying more attention to her including her father Cevdet Pasha. After that they started having father-and-daughter conversations on evenings. During that time Pasha had plenty of time since he had quit working at the Courthouse Jail. Thus, he devoted himself to his daughter and science. He taught his daughter Fatma Aliye many subjects including History, in which they discussed current issues of the era. The fact that Fatma Aliye was educated by her father on various subjects besides history such as social sciences, which are closely related to history, enabled her to develop a wide perspective while evaluating events. Moreover, Ahmet Midhat Efendi, a famous author of that period, significantly helped her develop her writing skills. Even though Fatma Aliye received lessons from various teachers, Ahmet Mithat Efendi had a special place in her life. He and her father were two of the most important teachers in her life. Fatma Aliye would send her writings to Ahmet Midhat, who would review and edit the writings and eventually give her advice on her work. Ahmet Midhat Efendi did not only contribute to Fatma Aliye's development as an author by reviewing and editing her work, but also attempted to limit the subjects of her writings. Fatma Aliye wrote her novel Hayal ve Hakikat with Ahmet Midhat Efendi. Furthermore, she also inked Nisvan-ı Islam, in order to provide foreigners with accurate knowledge on the family life of Muslim people. Her writings were published on newspapers before she reached the age of thirty. Muhadarat, Udî, Levayih-i Hayat, Taaddüd-i Zevcat, Teracim-i Ahvâl-i Felasife, Tedkik-i Ecsam, and Enin ve İstila-yı İslam are some of her other works (Aşa, 1995:261). Some of these works are novels and research papers, whereas; some of them are related to philosophy. Ahmet Midhat Efendi did not only contribute to Fatma Aliye's development as an author by reviewing and editing her work, but also attempted to limit the subjects of her writings. For instance, due to the fact that Fatma Aliye was a woman, he found her interest in poetry and philosophy odd. In one of the let

Özet

Fatma Aliye tarafından kaleme alınan Ahmet Cevdet Paşa ve Zamanı, Ahmet Cevdet Paşa'nın hayatının ilk safhaları ile dönemdeki bağlantılı kişi ve olaylar hakkında bilgi vermektedir. Eser, yazarın tarihe dair yazdığı iki eserden biridir. Fatma Aliye Hanım ilk kadın romancı olarak bilinmesine rağmen muhtemelen Osmanlı döneminde tarih yazarlığı yapan ilk kadındı. Meşhur tarihçi, devlet adamı ve hukukçu Ahmet Cevdet Paşa'nın kızı olan Fatma Aliye, 1862'de İstanbul'da doğdu. Muhtelif hocalardan aldığı özel derslerle iyi bir eğitim sürecinden geçti. Öğrendiği Fransızca ile Batı'da yazılan eserleri takip etti ve çeviriler yaptı. Kadın sorunlarına eğilerek roman yazdı, köşe yazarlığı yaptı. Tarihçi bir babanın kızı olması ve babasından aldığı dersler, tarihle uğraşmasında etkili oldu. Tarihe dair eserlerini yazarken babası sayesinde çok az insana nasip olabilecek belge, bilgi, tecrübe birikimine sahipti. Ahmet Cevdet Paşa ve Zamanı, yazarın babasından dinlediği bilgiler, onun eserleri ve bıraktığı muhtelif evrakın kaynaklığı ile vücuda gelmiştir. Eser, ağırlıklı olarak Cevdet Paşa'nın kaleme aldığı Tezâkir'den yararlanılmış olsa da Paşa'nın hayatına dair başka yerde bulunamayacak detaylar vermesi bakımından ilgi çekicidir. Çalışmada Fatma Aliye'nin hayatına dair detaylara yer verildikten sonra kaynak kullanımı, tarihi olayların ele alınış biçimi gibi eserin çeşitli özelliklerine değinilmiş, bu arada Tarih-i Osmanî'nin Bir Devre-i Mühimmesi Kosova Zaferi-Ankara Hezimeti adlı diğer eseriyle de kıyaslamalara gidilerek tarihçiliğine dair çıkarımlarda bulunulmuştur