The encyclopaedia of Istanbul, a novel : & Ottoman crossroads: coffeehouses, politics, theatres and storytelling, critical essays

Cizakca, Defne (2015) The encyclopaedia of Istanbul, a novel : & Ottoman crossroads: coffeehouses, politics, theatres and storytelling, critical essays. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The Encyclopaedia of Istanbul, A Novel
and
Ottoman Crossroads: Coffeehouses, Politics, Theatres and Storytelling, Critical Essays

This Creative Writing PhD consists of a novel, The Encyclopaedia of Istanbul, and accompanying critical essays, Ottoman Crossroads: Coffeehouses, Politics, Theatres and Storytelling.

The Encyclopaedia of Istanbul is historical in nature, and magically real in temperament. It is an account of fin de siècle Constantinopolis, and contains forgotten fairy tales, remnants of an ancient manuscript culture, Armenian playwrights, Turkish feminists, Greek fortune-tellers and Sephardim cantors. It tells the tale of six intersecting lives in 1876, a time known as “the year of the three Sultans” in Ottoman history. This period was filled with tensions between traditionalism and Westernization, but also new political possibilities forwarded by the Young Ottomans. While the characters in The Encyclopaedia of Istanbul are fictitious, they are inspired by historical events and figures.

The second element of my PhD, Ottoman Crossroads, is made up of four individual essays that focus on selected themes from the novel. They scrutinize, in order of presentation, the history of coffeehouse culture, the secretive society of the Young Ottomans and their political thought, the formation of Armenian-Turkish theatre, and the rediscovery of Ottoman fairy tales. Whilst the novel and essays are coherent independently, they also link to each other in ways that are sometimes direct, and at other times subtle.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Ottoman theatre, coffeehouses, Young Ottomans, Ottoman fairy tales, historical novel, fin de siecle Istanbul, encyclopaedia of Istanbul, magical realism, Turkish feminists, year of the three sultans, fortune telling
• Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BH Aesthetics; C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CB History of civilization; D History General and Old World > D History (General); D History General and Old World > DE The Mediterranean Region. The Greco-Roman World; G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GR Folklore; H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform; N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general; P Language and Literature > PI Oriental languages and literatures; P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General); P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater; P Language and Literature > PR English literature
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > English Literature
• Supervisor's Name: Reeder, Dr. Elizabeth and Strachan, Ms Zoe
• Date of Award: 2015
• Depositing User: Dr Defne Cizakca
• Unique ID: glathesis:2015-6713
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 30 Sep 2015 15:13
• Last Modified: 10 Jan 2023 09:06
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.6713
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/6713