Ottoman Literature in the 17th-18th century

I read the article by Hatice Aynur on "Ottoman Literature" in The Cambridge History of Turkey, Volume 3: The Later Ottoman Empire, 1603-1839, 2006: 481+; mostly to get familiarize with some names of notable literary figures. 

 

Some notes:

- Primacy of poetry vs. prose

- 17th and 18th c. literature has been "much neglected" vs. the 16th (high point in Turkish writing) and the 19th (transition to modern nationalism)

- key figures who died in 17th c.: Nevizade 'Atayi; Veysi (model prose author); Nef'i (a poetic genius!); Evliya Celebi (travelogue); Karacaoglan ('popular' poems)

- key figures who died in the 18th c.: Nabi (dominant gazel poet); Nadim (poet using Istanbul speech); Seyh Galib (poet excelling in multiple genres)

- The whole period In a simple formula: 3N's - Nef'i, Nabi and Nadim!

- Some popular poetry genres gradually gained elite acceptance

- As in Arabic and Persian practice, divan includes all poetic output other than mesnevis

- gazel was the central genre of Ottoman poetry; has social function among elites (e.g. lines can be added to texts already in existence) (note: compare Chinese poetry especially in Song dynasty)

- mesnevi reached peak of popularity in the 16th c.

- verses hiding dates is called tarih

- hundreds of historigraphical prose from the 2 centuries (but not covered in article)

- rhymed prose (suslu) - key authors are basically poets

- (I realize my transliteration below of Turkish without diacritics is atrocious ... but probably as much for all my other postings involving diacritics!)

 

Some names, dates and works: (not exhaustive!!!)

- Sehi's Hestbehist (1538) - first Ottoman reference work focusing on poets

- Gelibolulu Mustafa 'Ali's Mahasinu'l-adab (1596)

- Nevizade 'Atayi: Hamse-i 'Atayi (1617-1627) (set of 5 mesnavis), Menakib Seyh Mahmudel-Uskudari (vita of 'Aziz Mahmud Hudayi (d. 1628), founder of Celvetiyye order); suslu prose author

- Veysi (1561-1628): obtained office many times, admired by Evliya Celebi; poems addressed social problems, economic difficulties, dubious policies and corrupt power-holders; suslu prose author, prose works Siyer-i Seysi and Hvab-name-i Veysi were considered models by authors of the 18th c.

- Nef'i (d. 1635): Siham kaza ('the shafts of doom'), his collection of satirical poems with harsh criticisms, threats, insults and indecencies; improvisation skill is at the highest degree; also has Persian divan; most prominent 17th c. kaside poet (62 pieces produced); Fahriyye kaside, praised the merits not of some patron but of his own poety, became model for many successors

- Nergisi (d. 1635): suslu prose author

- 'Aziz Mahmud Hudayi (1541-1648): religious poet

- Fehim-i Kadim (1627-1648): representative of the Indian style (sebk-i hindi)

- Nesati: representative of the Indian style

- 'Abdulahad Nuri (1594-1650): religious poet

- Naksi-i Akkirmani (d. 1654): religious poet

- Cevri (d. 1654-5): first to mention palace women by name, particularly the ruler's powerful mother Kosem Sultan

- Oglanlar seyhi Ibrahim (1591-1655): religious poet

- Gufti from Edirne: Tesrifatus-suara (1658-60), unusual tezkire in 2,4000 couplets of nesnevi verses containing information on 106 poets.

- Vecdi (d. 1661)

- Na'ili the Elder (d. 1666):  first ot include sarki in his divan

- Alaybeyizade Mehmed Emin (d. 1666): Vefeyat pur-'iberliuli'l-elbabimen'ihteber (death dates and short bigraphies of 7000 people)

- Ahmed Nami (1600-1673): one of few poets with several divans

- Gaybi Sunullah (1615-1676): religious poet

- Evliya Celebi (1611- after 1683): author of famous 10-volume prose travelogue; recorded ~500 verses hidding dates in the first 4 volumes of his travelogue; not so much esteemed by contemporaries but by late 19th and 20th c. critics; described geography and ethnography of the Ottoman world while showing a vivid appreciation of story-telling traditions 

- Niyazi-i Misri (1618-1694): religious poet

- Karacaoglan (17th c.): towering figure among 'popular' poets

- Sidki Hanim (d. 1703): female poet

- Fatma Fa'ize Hanim: female poet, sister of Sidki Hanim

- Ani Fatma Hatun (d. 1710): female poet; famous for her knowledge; calligrapher

- Ferdi (d. between 1708-1710)

- Nabi (1642-1712): one of the dominant figures in the Ottoman literary world of the 2H-17th and the early 18th centuries; representative of one of 3 major literary currents; acknolwedged arbiter elegantiarum; also has Persian divan; full collection of his poem published in 1997; poems reflect his biography; dominating figure of gazel-writing in the period; 'dominant' style (similar to Persian poets Sevket-i Buhari and Sa'ib-i Tebrizi)

- Saida (contemporaneous to Nabi)

- Rami Mehmed Pasa: another representative of Nabi's circle of poets

- Mehmed Feyzi: wrote a famous sarki

- Sani: Mevlevi dervish who wrote satires

- Fasihi (dates unknown)

- 'Omer b. Muhammed el-Kastamoni (dates unknown): Sufi hagiography

- 'Abdi

- Hazin

- Hasmet

- Ulfeti from Baghdad: obsessed with verses hidding dates

- Pirizade Sahib Efendi

- Nevresi Kadim: invented a couplet hidding 24 dates

- 'Abdulbaki 'Arif: religious poet, author of Miraciyye

- Diyarbarkirli Ahmed Mursid (d. 1700): religious poet

- Gevheri (17th - 18th c.): most famous saz sairleri

- Risale-i Garibe (anonymous) (probably early 18th c.)

- 'Asik 'Omer (1651?-1707?): most famous saz sairleri

- Rahim Kuburizade Havayi (d. 1715): set trend for satires

- Ibrahim Hakki Erzurumi (d. 1722): religious poet

- Kami (d. 1723): contested umpire among poets after Nabi

- 'Osmanzade Ta'ib (d. 1724): first poet laureate

- Ismail Hakki Bursavi (d. 1724): religious poet

- Nazim (d.1727): sarki

- Rahimi (d. 1727-8)

- Nedim (d. 1730): most brilliant among those favoring bringing literary expression closer to contemporary speech; first to include poems in hece metre used by 'popular' poets in his divan; foremost representative of kaside in the 18th c.; dominating figure of gazel-writing in the period; language closely modelled on Istanbul speech of the day, including pronunciation of Arabic and Persian verses

- Vehid (d. 1732): also use pseudonym Mahtumi when writing folk poems

- Levni (d. 1732)

- Sami (d. 1733): sarki

- Sakib Mustafa Dede (1652-1735): Mevlevi dervish; preferred lengthy gazels

- Rasid Efendi (d. 1735-6): author of poems and chronicle

- Seyyid Vehbi (d. 1736): poet alureate after Ta'ib

- Hasan Sezai (d. 1737): religious poet

- Zati Suleyman Efendi (d. 1738): religious poet

- Munif (d. 1743)

- Mirzazade Salim (d. 1743): mesnevi

- La'lizade 'Abdulbaki Efendi (d. 1746): Menakib Melamiyye-i Bayramiyye (biography of dervishes)

- Mu'minzade Hasib (d.1747): Silku'l-leal-i Ali 'Osman: notworthy collection of poets' biographies

- Ibrahim Rakim Efendi (d. 1750): Sufi hagiography

- Rahmi (d. 1751): sarki

- Fitnat Hanim (d. 1780): sarki; female poet; no trace of femail voice

- Uskudarli Hasim (d. 1783): religious poet

- Seyyid Hasib-i Uskudaris (d. 1785): author of biographical encyclopedia Vefeyat ekabir-i Islamiyye

- Mustakimzade Suleyman Sa'deddin (d. 1787): biographies of dervishes

- Hafiz Huseyin Ayvansarayi (d. 1787): most original of the vefeyat writers, also known for exhaustive reference work on mosques and dervish lodges of Istanbul; Vefeyat selatin vemesahir-i rical, Tercumetu'l-mesayihin

- Ramiz (1736-88): Adab Zurefa (biographical work cum anthology covering poets active between 1720-1784)

- Nasid (d. 1791): sarki

- 'Aziz Efendi (d. 1798): author of prose work Muhayyelat ledunn-i ilahi; not so esteemed by contemporaries, but because his fiction formed a link to the stories and novels written by Ottoman authors in 2H-19th c.; ambassador to Berlin (died there); text largely forgotten today but contains features considered typical of late Ottoman novels in the last quarter of the 19th c.

- Seyh Galib (1757-1799): sarki; religious poet; foremost representative of kaside in the 18th c.; Husnu 'Ask generally accepted as the last major work composed as mesnevi, and it has aroused much interest down to the present day

- Ilhami (d. 1808): sarki

- Fazil Bey Enderuni (d. 1810): sarki; composed a cenginame as a sequence of kit'as

- Sururi (d. 1814): compiled anthologies (mecmu'as) of most ingenious inventions of different poets (for verses hidding dates)

- Enderunlu Vasif (d. 1824): sarki

- Ziya Pasa (1825-1880): statesman, intellectual