French and Turkish women writers in the XIXth Century

Abstract

In the begining of the XIXth century was a period of very important changes for the French as well as for the Turkish women writers. After the French Revolution of 1789, the French women writers, by following Olympe de Gouges and Jeanne-Marie Roland who fought for the rights of women, shined out their social environment and by their novels. Being guided by women’s magazines, they wrote a great number of novels, stories and poems to present their situation, their impressions and their feelings. In this article, we dealt with the most famous among them, such as Germaine de Staël, George Sand and Daniel Stern as well as with the others whose biographies and works are not very well known. As for the Turkish women writers, they also were infleunced by the changes in Europe, particularly in France. In the Ottoman Empire, the occidentalisation (the Tanzimat) imposed itself and the Turkish women writers who were mostly poets blossemed and shined in their social environment and through their their literary works often entitled “Divan”. Just like their French sisters, they were not deprived of women’s magazines which had an undeniable influence on them. This artcile deals with numerous Turkish women writers originally coming from Istanbul such as fieref Hanım, Makbule Leman and Nigâr Hanım, and also with those who come from different Anatolian cities such as Kastamonu (Feride Hanım), Trabzon (Fıtnat Hanım) Diyarbakır (Sırrî Hanım). It aims to display the resemblances and the differences seen between the French and the Turkish women writers of the XIXth century by comparing their origins, educations, married life, their works and literary activities.