Papers by Elif Sezer Aydınlı
Zemin, 2023
Özet: Tarihin akışına düz bir çizgi gözüyle bakan evrimci/gelişmeci yaklaşıma göre, varoluşunun b... more Özet: Tarihin akışına düz bir çizgi gözüyle bakan evrimci/gelişmeci yaklaşıma göre, varoluşunun belirli bir aşamasına varmış olan her toplumda s zlü kültür giderek tümüyle yerini yazılı kültüre bırakır. Oysa yazılı kültürün ortaya ıkmasından sonra da sözlü kültür türlü şekillerde varlığını sürdürdüğü
gibi, yazılı kültür de sözlü kültüre ilgin biçimlerde nüfuz etmiştir. Bu makalede bilhassa on yedinci yüzyıl ve sonrası Osmanlı İstanbul’u ekseninde sözlü/yazılı kültür ilişkisi incelenmekte, özgül olarak da yazılı metinlerin eşitli ortamlarda cereyan etmiş olan kamusal sesli okumaları ele alınmaktadır. Şehrin ses havzasında nemli yer teşkil eden bu okumalar, zuhur ettikleri ortamlar ve amaçları bakımından dini törenler, ilim ve edebiyat meclisleri, eğlence mek nları gibi gruplara ayrılabilir. İlk grupta Kur’an tilaveti, Mevlid-i Şerif kıraati yahut zikr ve vird gibi tarikat ehlinin grup halinde yaptığı metin seslendirmeleri; ikincisinde edeb meclislerdeki şiir sunumları ve metin tartışmaları; üçüncüsünde ise kahvehanelerden konaklara, devlet dairelerinden bekar odalarına kadar türlü mekanlarda hik ye, masal ve destan gibi popüler eserlerin hazıruna okunması söz konusudur. Bu makalede Şer’i mahkeme sicillerinden şuara tezkirelerine, yabancı gezginlerin anılarından haşiye notlarına farklı kaynaklar ışığında Osmanlı İstanbul’unda kamusal okuma pratikleri tartışılmakta, hangi tür yazılı kaynakların seslendirildiği, okuma meclislerinin nitelikleri, seslendirici ve dinleyici arasındaki etkileşimin okumayı nasıl performansa dönüştürdüğü gibi sorulara cevap aranmakta,
bu şekilde şimdiye kadar müstakil bir mesele olarak ele alınmamış olan İstanbul’daki metinsel performansların şehrin işitsel kimliğini oluşturan ok nemli bir ge olduğu ortaya konmaktadır.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Yazılı kültür, sözlü kültür, kamusal okumalar, edebi meclisler, dini ritüeller.
Abstract: At a certain stage of every society’s existence, according to an evolutionary/linear view of history, oral culture is gradually and definitively replaced by written culture. Yet, not only does oral culture persist in various forms after the emergence of written culture, but written culture permeates oral culture in myriad interesting ways. This article discusses the relationship
between oral and written cultures by focusing on Ottoman Istanbul during and after the seventeenth century and, more specifically, on public readings of written texts in a variety of social contexts. Such readings and recitations held an important place in the city’s aural landscape and can roughly be subdivided into several groups according to their locations and functions: religious rituals, scholarly and literary salons, and places of entertainment. The first group includes Qur’an recitations, public readings of Süleyman elebi’s Mevlid, and sufi ceremonies centered on dhikr and wird; the second group includes poetry readings and textual criticism in poetic salons;
and the third includes public readings of stories, tales, and heroic epics in various locations, from coffeehouses to mansions, from government offices to bachelors’ apartments. Based upon diverse sources such as religious court records, biographical dictionaries of poets, European visitors’ travelogues, and marginal manuscript annotations, this article discusses public reading practices in Ottoman Istanbul while it seeks answers to such questions as what kinds of written sources were read aloud, what characterized gatherings where such public readings were held, and in what ways the relationship between reader and auditor transformed readings into performances. Textual performances in Istanbul, a subject hitherto not addressed in its own right, are thus shown to be a highly important element in the constitution of the city’s sonic identity.
Nesir Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi , 2022
Osmanlı yazma eser kültüründe metin üretimi, günümüzde tek bir şahısa ya da şahıslara atfedilen y... more Osmanlı yazma eser kültüründe metin üretimi, günümüzde tek bir şahısa ya da şahıslara atfedilen yazarlık olgusunu aşan daha eşitli ve katmanlı bir görüntü sunmaktadır. Bu yazıda, 18 ve 19. yüzyılda üretilmiş ve okunmuş popüler kahramanlık hikayeleri üzerinden; sahaf, müellif/müstensih, okur gibi farklı znelerin dahil olduğu kolektif ve aynı zamanda kümülatif bir yazarlık bi imi üzerine düşünülecektir. Kolektif yazarlığın bir tezahürü olarak, oğunlukla toplu kıraat meclislerinde okunmuş ve elden ele dolaşmış bu hikaye külliyatının üzerindeki temellük ve istinsah gibi harici kayıtlar ve metinsel özellikler incelenmiştir. Nadir olarak görülen temellük ve istinsah
kayıtlarından dolayı bu kitapların gerek sahiplenme gerek üretimlerinde kişilerin değil tüm bir okur cemiyetinin etkin olduğu iddia edilmiştir. Bu iddiayı desteklemek üzere; ana metinde müstensih dışında karşımıza çıkan el yazıları, orijinal istinsahtan sonra yapılan tamir-tadilat ve eklemeler görseller üzerinden incelenmiştir. Osmanlı’da yazarlık otoritesini ulema-dışı metinsel üretim örnekleriyle farklı türler üzerinde düşünmeye çağıran bu çalışmanın, “Osmanlı kitap kültürü” ve “okuma/yazma tarihi” alanlarına katkıda bulunması amaçlanmaktadır.
Journal of Islamic Manuscripts, 2018
New social groups such as janissaries, artisans, madrasa students, and ‘middle-class’ bureaucrats... more New social groups such as janissaries, artisans, madrasa students, and ‘middle-class’ bureaucrats have gradually increased their visibility in the social, cultural, and literary landscape of early modern Ottoman Istanbul. Scholars have discussed this new visibility, among others, by observing official regulations, contemporary Ottoman chronicles and travel accounts, artistic and architectural transformation, diversification of literary genres, and the socio-economic background of their writers. In this article, I offer another modest and intimate first-hand source for elucidating the habitus of these new urban agents: visual and written notes on the manuscripts of popular storybooks dating from the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Thanks to these notes on hundreds of manuscripts, we learn about political standings, literary tastes, codes of identity formation, the ways of self-depiction, social networks, and emotions of Ottoman individuals. By focusing in particular on the n...
Zeytinburnu Belediyesi , 2021
Sabah Ülkesi, Sayı 65, 2020
Hikâye kahramanlarının ruhuna Fatiha
okumak caiz midir? Bu kuşkusuz provokatif
bir soru ve bildiğ... more Hikâye kahramanlarının ruhuna Fatiha
okumak caiz midir? Bu kuşkusuz provokatif
bir soru ve bildiğim kadarıyla konuyu
aydınlatacak bir fetva da yok. Ancak
18. ve 19. yüzyılda dolaşımda olan hikâye elyazmaları
üzerindeki yüzlerce okuyucu notuna binaen, kıraat
meclislerinde edilen dualar –hatta beddualar – ve bu
duaların toplumsal hafıza ile ilgili bize neler söylediği
kafa yormaya değer bir mesele gibi duruyor.
Books by Elif Sezer Aydınlı
In contemporary studies of Ottoman literature, a two-layered scheme is used which divides Ottoman... more In contemporary studies of Ottoman literature, a two-layered scheme is used which divides Ottoman literature into two parts, ‘folk’ literature and ‘court’ literature. In these studies, the oral is totally attributed to folk literature, while court literature is considered entirely written. However, these two ways of producing, transmitting, and consuming literature, the oral and the written, have always existed together, nourishing and transforming each other. This book challenges the constructed binary opposition between the oral and the written in Ottoman literature studies, focusing on a popular work called the Story of Fîrûzşâh, widely read throughout the eighteenth century. For the purposes of this book, Fîrûzşâh is especially important because of its paratextual elements. The manuscript under study, actually the forty-fifth volume of the entire story, contains many marginal notes. These notes give information about the names of the public readers, and the places and dates of the public readings. In addition, there are notes that show the daily, aesthetic, and even political reactions of the readers in the eighteenth century. Depending on these reactions, four types of readers were identified and named the romantic, the pedantic, the foul-mouthed and the Janissary. Focusing on the case of the Story of Fîrûzşâh, it has been shown that aspects of oral culture and their everyday expressions can also be traced from written texts.
Podcast by Elif Sezer Aydınlı
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2NMv1A2_gw
https://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2015/12/osmanli-edebiyat-sozlu-yazili-kultur.html
Conference Presentations by Elif Sezer Aydınlı
This study explores the approximately three-hundred-book collection of the Research Foundation of... more This study explores the approximately three-hundred-book collection of the Research Foundation of Turkish Mystical Music and Folklore (TTMFAV) -formerly Jerrahi Sufi Lodge- situated in today’s Karagümrük, İstanbul. The lodge was established in 1703 with the support of Sultan Ahmed III after the name of Sheikh Nuraddîn al-Jerrâhî (d.1721), the founder of the Jerrahiyye branch of the Khalwati-Ramadani order. Although the lodge complex lacked a library building and experienced some serious fires, a collection of manuscripts has formed until today substantially through donations by the dervishes. Among these books, a serious bulk is the anthologies of hymns and poetry alongside the books of devotions and invocations as a reflection of this community’s interests and ceremonial practices. In addition, the Qurans, catechisms, almanacs, and the miscellanies of pharmacy are also remarkable and have never been subjected to any academic research.
This study especially focuses on the material aspects of the books in Jerrahi Lodge with a holistic approach. Apart from the textual content, it explores the material aspects of the books such as bindings, manuscript notes (waqf, ownership, colophon, reader notes), and embellishments. This study argues research on this materiality would illuminate the intellectual mindset, literary tastes, reading, and ceremonial practices of the Jerrahi community. With the support of archival documents, interviews with the current members, material research of the lodge complex, and participant observations of the ceremonies, this study aims to discuss the lodge’s manuscript collection in its architectural, historical, and mystical context.
A CONCEPTUAL APPROACH TO THE LATE OTTOMAN-TURKISH LITERARY FIELD FEBRUARY 29-MARCH 1, 2024 UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA
The ‘archival turn’ has recently found a strong echo in ‘manuscript studies’ by reappraising the ... more The ‘archival turn’ has recently found a strong echo in ‘manuscript studies’ by reappraising the archive as a set of social and cultural practices rather than merely a spatial repository. Inspired by this approach, this study aims to extend the meaning of ‘archiving’ as a social practice of certain groups in collecting, preserving, and ordering their collective memory. As a case, this study will focus on the ‘genre’ of cönks of the 18th and 19th-century Ottoman written world to discuss the content and ways of operation while archiving the Sufi memory.
Cönks -a specific format of miscellanies- awaits an exclusive study on their position within the history of reading and writing and how they served within certain reading groups. Although there are many studies on the literary content of these miscellanies, the paratextualities of the manuscripts such as personal notes, seals, handwriting, use of page layout are neglected despite their value in discussing the production, circulation, and perception of the genre, specifically within Sufi reading groups.
Thus, this study will interrogate the mystical content alongside the paratextual aspects of this genre by some questions: How we can explain the over-weighted numbers of Sufi poets/poetry in cönks? Is it possible to attain a Sufi identity for the majority of cönk readers? Does the rise in
cönk production by the 19th century signalize a preservation act of the almost lost Sufi memory? What is the evidence for the purpose of archiving -and maybe- disseminating the Sufi memory?
Harvard-Yale Conference in Book History, 2020
In the early 1990s, Harold Love defined his term of “scribal community” as “the groups bonded by ... more In the early 1990s, Harold Love defined his term of “scribal community” as “the groups bonded by the exchange of manuscripts” which was conceptualized later as “manuscript network” and “manuscript community” by Jason Scott-Warren in 2000. In 2012, David Olafsson and Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon applied these ideas to the 19th-century Icelandic reading community, and, as Margaret Ezell, they emphasized the importance to reassess manuscript practices in predominantly print cultures. Informed by this literature, I discuss different uses of manuscripts that were produced, circulated, and read by the urban reading community in the 19th century Ottoman Istanbul. Readers from various socio-economic backgrounds (janissary soldiers, low rank religious men, artisans and craftsmen, newly-emerged bureaucrats, etc.) left innumerable notes on the manuscripts of storybooks in which they inform us about their collective and individual reading practices, These note, for example, include prayers for or curses against the stories’ protagonists; they sometimes include suggestions for further reading to other readers. They sometimes even squabbled with each other about contemporary political events. As such, these marginal notes left to us on the manuscripts of epic storybooks were veritable communication media. They acted as platforms through which individuals conveyed and advertised ideas, desires, and fears. They played the role of contemporary social media if except their platform is the analog page and pen.
Dots, Marginalia and Peritexts in Middle Eastern Manuscripts Workshop, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. , 2018
Graduate Colloquium in Ottoman Studies , 2019
Starting from the 17th century, different groups in Istanbul—such as wealthy merchants, warrior-t... more Starting from the 17th century, different groups in Istanbul—such as wealthy merchants, warrior-turned-artisan Janissaries, and unemployed madrasa students—became involved in the literary and intellectual life of the city. This involvement changed individuals’ relationship with books and created new types of literacies. This project will work to assess these changes by scrutinizing the notes made by readers in the manuscripts of popular genres such as Hamzaname, Eba Müslimname, and Antername which tell the heroic deeds of prominent figures in Islamic history. These notes, both written and visual, are important sources that offer an intimate view into the life of the Ottoman ‘everyday’. Written notes carry details about the names, origins, and titles of manuscript readers; the places where they read (such as coffeehouses or neighbourhood streets); and individual and collective reactions to the stories the manuscripts contained. Visual notes, on the other hand, offer simple and amateur depictions of a variety of subjects—from human portraits to doodles of weapons, flowers, and birds—and are valuable sources of information on popular Ottoman art history. Mainly through the medium of reader notes, but also other contemporary sources, this thesis aims to follow historical processes such as ‘urbanisation,’ ‘esnafization,’ and ‘bureaucratization’ of the Ottoman society as processes that went hand in hand with ‘the democratization’ of the written word. In the overall picture, this thesis proposes, in juxtaposition with the fountains, squares, coffeehouses and shops that have been frequently discussed by the Ottoman historians, the texts themselves would serve as the public space in which people from different socio-economic ranks come together and enjoy.
One of the breaks made by the writers of Annales School in the twentieth century was the historio... more One of the breaks made by the writers of Annales School in the twentieth century was the historiographical transition of the focus from great powers (the State, official institutions, rulers etc.) to the individuals. Called by Peter Burke as 'the discovery of people', 1 contemporary historians started to argue that culture is not the intellectual and privileged area of elite groups alone, but part of the lives of the whole community. Moreover, they tended to examine emotions and experiences of the disregarded populaces that compose the collective mentalité. In the following years, the studies on mentalité have extended to the domains of microhistoriography, memory studies, the studies on self-narration, social and everyday life, material culture, so on and so forth.
Uploads
Papers by Elif Sezer Aydınlı
gibi, yazılı kültür de sözlü kültüre ilgin biçimlerde nüfuz etmiştir. Bu makalede bilhassa on yedinci yüzyıl ve sonrası Osmanlı İstanbul’u ekseninde sözlü/yazılı kültür ilişkisi incelenmekte, özgül olarak da yazılı metinlerin eşitli ortamlarda cereyan etmiş olan kamusal sesli okumaları ele alınmaktadır. Şehrin ses havzasında nemli yer teşkil eden bu okumalar, zuhur ettikleri ortamlar ve amaçları bakımından dini törenler, ilim ve edebiyat meclisleri, eğlence mek nları gibi gruplara ayrılabilir. İlk grupta Kur’an tilaveti, Mevlid-i Şerif kıraati yahut zikr ve vird gibi tarikat ehlinin grup halinde yaptığı metin seslendirmeleri; ikincisinde edeb meclislerdeki şiir sunumları ve metin tartışmaları; üçüncüsünde ise kahvehanelerden konaklara, devlet dairelerinden bekar odalarına kadar türlü mekanlarda hik ye, masal ve destan gibi popüler eserlerin hazıruna okunması söz konusudur. Bu makalede Şer’i mahkeme sicillerinden şuara tezkirelerine, yabancı gezginlerin anılarından haşiye notlarına farklı kaynaklar ışığında Osmanlı İstanbul’unda kamusal okuma pratikleri tartışılmakta, hangi tür yazılı kaynakların seslendirildiği, okuma meclislerinin nitelikleri, seslendirici ve dinleyici arasındaki etkileşimin okumayı nasıl performansa dönüştürdüğü gibi sorulara cevap aranmakta,
bu şekilde şimdiye kadar müstakil bir mesele olarak ele alınmamış olan İstanbul’daki metinsel performansların şehrin işitsel kimliğini oluşturan ok nemli bir ge olduğu ortaya konmaktadır.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Yazılı kültür, sözlü kültür, kamusal okumalar, edebi meclisler, dini ritüeller.
Abstract: At a certain stage of every society’s existence, according to an evolutionary/linear view of history, oral culture is gradually and definitively replaced by written culture. Yet, not only does oral culture persist in various forms after the emergence of written culture, but written culture permeates oral culture in myriad interesting ways. This article discusses the relationship
between oral and written cultures by focusing on Ottoman Istanbul during and after the seventeenth century and, more specifically, on public readings of written texts in a variety of social contexts. Such readings and recitations held an important place in the city’s aural landscape and can roughly be subdivided into several groups according to their locations and functions: religious rituals, scholarly and literary salons, and places of entertainment. The first group includes Qur’an recitations, public readings of Süleyman elebi’s Mevlid, and sufi ceremonies centered on dhikr and wird; the second group includes poetry readings and textual criticism in poetic salons;
and the third includes public readings of stories, tales, and heroic epics in various locations, from coffeehouses to mansions, from government offices to bachelors’ apartments. Based upon diverse sources such as religious court records, biographical dictionaries of poets, European visitors’ travelogues, and marginal manuscript annotations, this article discusses public reading practices in Ottoman Istanbul while it seeks answers to such questions as what kinds of written sources were read aloud, what characterized gatherings where such public readings were held, and in what ways the relationship between reader and auditor transformed readings into performances. Textual performances in Istanbul, a subject hitherto not addressed in its own right, are thus shown to be a highly important element in the constitution of the city’s sonic identity.
kayıtlarından dolayı bu kitapların gerek sahiplenme gerek üretimlerinde kişilerin değil tüm bir okur cemiyetinin etkin olduğu iddia edilmiştir. Bu iddiayı desteklemek üzere; ana metinde müstensih dışında karşımıza çıkan el yazıları, orijinal istinsahtan sonra yapılan tamir-tadilat ve eklemeler görseller üzerinden incelenmiştir. Osmanlı’da yazarlık otoritesini ulema-dışı metinsel üretim örnekleriyle farklı türler üzerinde düşünmeye çağıran bu çalışmanın, “Osmanlı kitap kültürü” ve “okuma/yazma tarihi” alanlarına katkıda bulunması amaçlanmaktadır.
okumak caiz midir? Bu kuşkusuz provokatif
bir soru ve bildiğim kadarıyla konuyu
aydınlatacak bir fetva da yok. Ancak
18. ve 19. yüzyılda dolaşımda olan hikâye elyazmaları
üzerindeki yüzlerce okuyucu notuna binaen, kıraat
meclislerinde edilen dualar –hatta beddualar – ve bu
duaların toplumsal hafıza ile ilgili bize neler söylediği
kafa yormaya değer bir mesele gibi duruyor.
Books by Elif Sezer Aydınlı
Podcast by Elif Sezer Aydınlı
Conference Presentations by Elif Sezer Aydınlı
This study especially focuses on the material aspects of the books in Jerrahi Lodge with a holistic approach. Apart from the textual content, it explores the material aspects of the books such as bindings, manuscript notes (waqf, ownership, colophon, reader notes), and embellishments. This study argues research on this materiality would illuminate the intellectual mindset, literary tastes, reading, and ceremonial practices of the Jerrahi community. With the support of archival documents, interviews with the current members, material research of the lodge complex, and participant observations of the ceremonies, this study aims to discuss the lodge’s manuscript collection in its architectural, historical, and mystical context.
Cönks -a specific format of miscellanies- awaits an exclusive study on their position within the history of reading and writing and how they served within certain reading groups. Although there are many studies on the literary content of these miscellanies, the paratextualities of the manuscripts such as personal notes, seals, handwriting, use of page layout are neglected despite their value in discussing the production, circulation, and perception of the genre, specifically within Sufi reading groups.
Thus, this study will interrogate the mystical content alongside the paratextual aspects of this genre by some questions: How we can explain the over-weighted numbers of Sufi poets/poetry in cönks? Is it possible to attain a Sufi identity for the majority of cönk readers? Does the rise in
cönk production by the 19th century signalize a preservation act of the almost lost Sufi memory? What is the evidence for the purpose of archiving -and maybe- disseminating the Sufi memory?
gibi, yazılı kültür de sözlü kültüre ilgin biçimlerde nüfuz etmiştir. Bu makalede bilhassa on yedinci yüzyıl ve sonrası Osmanlı İstanbul’u ekseninde sözlü/yazılı kültür ilişkisi incelenmekte, özgül olarak da yazılı metinlerin eşitli ortamlarda cereyan etmiş olan kamusal sesli okumaları ele alınmaktadır. Şehrin ses havzasında nemli yer teşkil eden bu okumalar, zuhur ettikleri ortamlar ve amaçları bakımından dini törenler, ilim ve edebiyat meclisleri, eğlence mek nları gibi gruplara ayrılabilir. İlk grupta Kur’an tilaveti, Mevlid-i Şerif kıraati yahut zikr ve vird gibi tarikat ehlinin grup halinde yaptığı metin seslendirmeleri; ikincisinde edeb meclislerdeki şiir sunumları ve metin tartışmaları; üçüncüsünde ise kahvehanelerden konaklara, devlet dairelerinden bekar odalarına kadar türlü mekanlarda hik ye, masal ve destan gibi popüler eserlerin hazıruna okunması söz konusudur. Bu makalede Şer’i mahkeme sicillerinden şuara tezkirelerine, yabancı gezginlerin anılarından haşiye notlarına farklı kaynaklar ışığında Osmanlı İstanbul’unda kamusal okuma pratikleri tartışılmakta, hangi tür yazılı kaynakların seslendirildiği, okuma meclislerinin nitelikleri, seslendirici ve dinleyici arasındaki etkileşimin okumayı nasıl performansa dönüştürdüğü gibi sorulara cevap aranmakta,
bu şekilde şimdiye kadar müstakil bir mesele olarak ele alınmamış olan İstanbul’daki metinsel performansların şehrin işitsel kimliğini oluşturan ok nemli bir ge olduğu ortaya konmaktadır.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Yazılı kültür, sözlü kültür, kamusal okumalar, edebi meclisler, dini ritüeller.
Abstract: At a certain stage of every society’s existence, according to an evolutionary/linear view of history, oral culture is gradually and definitively replaced by written culture. Yet, not only does oral culture persist in various forms after the emergence of written culture, but written culture permeates oral culture in myriad interesting ways. This article discusses the relationship
between oral and written cultures by focusing on Ottoman Istanbul during and after the seventeenth century and, more specifically, on public readings of written texts in a variety of social contexts. Such readings and recitations held an important place in the city’s aural landscape and can roughly be subdivided into several groups according to their locations and functions: religious rituals, scholarly and literary salons, and places of entertainment. The first group includes Qur’an recitations, public readings of Süleyman elebi’s Mevlid, and sufi ceremonies centered on dhikr and wird; the second group includes poetry readings and textual criticism in poetic salons;
and the third includes public readings of stories, tales, and heroic epics in various locations, from coffeehouses to mansions, from government offices to bachelors’ apartments. Based upon diverse sources such as religious court records, biographical dictionaries of poets, European visitors’ travelogues, and marginal manuscript annotations, this article discusses public reading practices in Ottoman Istanbul while it seeks answers to such questions as what kinds of written sources were read aloud, what characterized gatherings where such public readings were held, and in what ways the relationship between reader and auditor transformed readings into performances. Textual performances in Istanbul, a subject hitherto not addressed in its own right, are thus shown to be a highly important element in the constitution of the city’s sonic identity.
kayıtlarından dolayı bu kitapların gerek sahiplenme gerek üretimlerinde kişilerin değil tüm bir okur cemiyetinin etkin olduğu iddia edilmiştir. Bu iddiayı desteklemek üzere; ana metinde müstensih dışında karşımıza çıkan el yazıları, orijinal istinsahtan sonra yapılan tamir-tadilat ve eklemeler görseller üzerinden incelenmiştir. Osmanlı’da yazarlık otoritesini ulema-dışı metinsel üretim örnekleriyle farklı türler üzerinde düşünmeye çağıran bu çalışmanın, “Osmanlı kitap kültürü” ve “okuma/yazma tarihi” alanlarına katkıda bulunması amaçlanmaktadır.
okumak caiz midir? Bu kuşkusuz provokatif
bir soru ve bildiğim kadarıyla konuyu
aydınlatacak bir fetva da yok. Ancak
18. ve 19. yüzyılda dolaşımda olan hikâye elyazmaları
üzerindeki yüzlerce okuyucu notuna binaen, kıraat
meclislerinde edilen dualar –hatta beddualar – ve bu
duaların toplumsal hafıza ile ilgili bize neler söylediği
kafa yormaya değer bir mesele gibi duruyor.
This study especially focuses on the material aspects of the books in Jerrahi Lodge with a holistic approach. Apart from the textual content, it explores the material aspects of the books such as bindings, manuscript notes (waqf, ownership, colophon, reader notes), and embellishments. This study argues research on this materiality would illuminate the intellectual mindset, literary tastes, reading, and ceremonial practices of the Jerrahi community. With the support of archival documents, interviews with the current members, material research of the lodge complex, and participant observations of the ceremonies, this study aims to discuss the lodge’s manuscript collection in its architectural, historical, and mystical context.
Cönks -a specific format of miscellanies- awaits an exclusive study on their position within the history of reading and writing and how they served within certain reading groups. Although there are many studies on the literary content of these miscellanies, the paratextualities of the manuscripts such as personal notes, seals, handwriting, use of page layout are neglected despite their value in discussing the production, circulation, and perception of the genre, specifically within Sufi reading groups.
Thus, this study will interrogate the mystical content alongside the paratextual aspects of this genre by some questions: How we can explain the over-weighted numbers of Sufi poets/poetry in cönks? Is it possible to attain a Sufi identity for the majority of cönk readers? Does the rise in
cönk production by the 19th century signalize a preservation act of the almost lost Sufi memory? What is the evidence for the purpose of archiving -and maybe- disseminating the Sufi memory?
https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/36414
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Ottoman reading and writing practices were marked by the unprecedented expansion of the reading public that went hand in hand with the changes in the social structure and urban landscape as well as the systematic transformations in Ottoman politics, economics, and education. That expansion resulted in the emergence of new literary genres, new social groups in the written world, and new definitions of literacy that have been discussed by the scholars of Ottoman history and literature. As a contribution to this scholarship, this study focuses on a group of scribes, readers, performers, and hosts of reading venues who, as this thesis argues, formed a ‘manuscript community.’ That manuscript community is formed around heroic stories, specifically, the stories of Hamza and Ebū Müslim, which gained popularity and circulated in 18th and 19th century Istanbul.
Performance of these stories through reading aloud in the public spaces including but not limited to coffeehouses, shops, bachelor rooms, and schools was the main reading practice that has been recorded on the pages of the manuscripts. Scrutinizing these manuscript notes written by the members of this community alongside other paratextual elements of the manuscripts, this study discusses the features of scribalship and ownership, social and moral codes of heroism in the collective memory, social profiles of the community members, locations, and venues of collective reading, aspects of textual performance, and the issues and ways of communication
between the members through the physical pages of manuscripts. In this way, this study contributes to the fields of ‘manuscript studies,’ ‘history of reading,’ and ‘book culture’ as well as ‘the Ottoman literary, social and cultural history.’
The J.P. Gumbert Dissertation Award honours the best doctoral thesis defended in each year that contributes to any aspect of the study of manuscripts and other written artefacts. The award includes a prize money of 5,000 Euro and a fellowship for a research stay at CSMC.