WESTERNIZATION AND REFLECTIONS OF WESTERNIZATION IN LITERATURE: “GÖZYAŞLARI” (TEARS) OF MUSTAFA RASHID, AN INTERIM PERIOD LITERARY FIGURE

BATILILAŞMA VE BATILILAŞMANIN EDEBİYATA YANSIMALARI: BİR ARA NESİL EDEBİYATÇISI MUSTAFA REŞİD’İN ‘GÖZYAŞLARI’

Abstract

Westernization politics of the Ottoman Empire which was adopted in the 18th century and was first applied in military institutions, has been circulated in a broader sense since Imperial Edict of Reorganization in 1839. In this regard, among what has been imported, the Western literary accumulation has had a significant volume. In Reorganization Period lasting till 1876, the first generation, and in Abdulhamid II’s period lasting till 1909, the second generation and Servet-i Fünun writers has represented various understandings of literature according to political situations they live in. Yet, they collectively contributed to an indigenious literary accumulation under Western effect. Indigenious literature under Western effect was founded in Tanzimat period and with more concern in cultural Westernization during Abdulhamid II’s period, it started to have a broader application area. One of the most important proof for this is literature’s becoming a common occupation among the young generation. In this context, the existence of an interim period generation between the second generation of 18761878 and Servet-i Fünun writers of 1901 is significant to demonstrate the popularity of literature in this period. In history of literature, the interim period generation with its structure based on young literary figures has had a limited representation compared to its successors and predecessors and thus has not been thoroughly studied. However, it includes various materials to see the developmental dynamics of the indigenious literature under Western effect from a better perspective. In this regard, this paper is on an interim period literary figure Mustafa Rashid and his work “Gözyaşları” (Tears) which has characteristic features of the interim period literature. The Latinized version of the work is included at the end of this paper to give way to analyse the interim period literature in a more detailed way and a better understanding to position it in history of literature The 1st Constitutional Monarchy declared in 1876 became a forerunner for a new era in terms of both Ottoman politics and literature. In fact, the emergence of the new era, with its political and literary characteristics, occured in the following two years, in other words, when the Assembly of Representatives was closed and the Main Law was abolished. Political developments happening in two years’ time were experienced in Abdulhamid II’s period, who was in rule until 1909. In this context, second generation of the Reorganization literature being active from 1876-1878 to 1896 and Servet-i Fünûn literature, coming immediately after it and being active until 1901, existed in the shadow of a 33-year-old government during which an understanding of ruling centralized in Sultan’s own existence was in practice, and hence these two literatures were similar in many aspects with the sameness of the political atmosphere they happened to be in. Abdulhamid II’s Period was a period in which Westernization was not supported in political terms but was on the agenda in cultural aspects. The Islamism politics adopted by the Sultan aimed at keeping Muslim people that created the Ottoman nation together and was applied with the motivation to expand the movement area of the state against the Western great powers. However, Abdulhamid II kept himself at arm’s lenght with the Western world when it comes to diplomacy and the domestic politics but was rather close to them in cultural terms, and did encourage cultural relations with the West. By means of journalism, increased in this period, every bit of information coming from the West was communicated to the public to raise the cultural level. Papers of the periodicals were filled with encyclopedic articles about science, geography, history, and technology. The tendency of sharing information about various fields such as discoveries and inventions of any kind, medical improvements, and applications of farming and agriculture enabled the continuation of literary activities as well since literature acted as a means to transfer the Western cultural accumulation. In this context, literature under Western influence, founded by the first generation of Reorganization Period, was inherited by the second generation and Servet-i Fünûn writers and was developped in terms of both form and content. In history of indigenious literature under Western influence spreading through generations, there is a group called the interim period generation consisting of 25-30 writers. Influenced by the second generation in terms of literary insights and literary activities, this group of young people influenced Servet-i Fünun writers, yet because they had limited artistic ability, they could not surpass their predecessors and were overshadowed by their successors, and thus are positioned as a follow-on generation that ties two periods in history of literature. The interim generation, continuing their literary activities in Abdulhamid II’s period, kept themselves at a distance from politics like the second generation whom they succeed and were generally not interested in public problems. This attitude enabled them to focus directly on literature and process the accumulation of indigenious literature under Western influence they had taken over in terms of form and content in depth. The interim period generation should be considered as a result of controversial ideas and not of absolute truths since they were active during a transitional stage. In this regard, the interim period generation was occupied mainly by two discussions: the new literature versus the old literature discussion, mainly by Recaizade Ekrem and Muallim Naci, and Romanticism versus Realism discussion mainly by Menemenlizade Mehmed Tahir and Beşir Fuad. Although the discussions did not reach a conclusion, they enabled the interim period generation to evaluate the traditional and Western literary accumulation of their predecessors and to continue a more conscious litera

Özet

Osmanlı Devleti'nin 18. yüzyıldan itibaren benimsediği ve ilk olarak askeriye kurumu üzerinden uygulamaya başladığı Batılılaşma siyaseti, 1839 Tanzimat Fermanı ile birlikte daha geniş bir alanda dolaşıma girmiştir. Bu çerçevede içeriye aktarılanlar arasında Batılı edebi birikim önemli bir yer tutmuştur. 1876 yılına kadar devam eden Tanzimat Dönemi'nde ilk nesil, 1909 yılına kadar devam eden 2. Abdülhamid Dönemi'nde ise ikinci nesil ve Servet-i Fünûncular, içinde bulundukları siyasi koşullarla bağlantılı olarak farklı edebiyat anlayışlarını temsil etmişler; ancak Batı etkisinde yerli bir edebi birikimin oluşturulması konusunda ortaklaşmışlardır. Tanzimat Dönemi'nde temelleri atılan Batı etkisindeki yerli edebiyat, kültürel Batılılaşmaya ağırlık verilmesiyle 2. Abdülhamid Dönemi'nde daha yoğun bir faaliyet alanına sahip olmuştur. Bunun en önemli göstergelerinden biri, edebiyatın genç kuşaklar arasında yaygın bir uğraş haline gelmesidir. Bu bağlamda 1876-1878 yıllarında ortaya çıkan ikinci nesille 1901 yılında ortaya çıkan Servet-i Fünûncular arasında yer alan ara neslin varlığı, dönem içerisinde edebiyatın sahip olduğu popülariteyi göstermesi açısından önemlidir. Ara nesil, edebiyat tarihi içerisinde genç edebiyatçılardan oluşan yapısıyla edebi yeteneği kendinden önceki ve sonraki nesle göre sınırlı bir temsiliyete sahip olmuş ve üzerinde yoğun çalışmalar yapılmamış bir nesildir. Ancak Batı etkisindeki yerli edebiyatın gelişim dinamiklerini daha yakından görmek açısından farklı malzemeleri bünyesinde barındırmaktadır. Bu çerçevede makalemizde ara nesil mensuplarından biri olarak Mustafa Reşid ve ara neslin karakteristik özelliklerini taşıyan Gözyaşları adlı eseri ele alınmıştır. Çalışmamızın sonunda Latinize edilmiş biçimine de yer verilen eserin ara nesli daha detaylı olarak çözümleme ve edebiyat tarihi içerisinde daha iyi konumlandırma konusunda yardımcı olacağı düşünülmektedir