Novel
Muhâderat
Not translated into English
Fatma Aliye · 1892
Synopsis
Fâzıla has received an education, but her father, Sâî Efendi, beats her. Widowed, he marries Câlibe, who quickly gains the upper hand over him, separates the young woman from Mukaddem, whom she loves, and has her married to Remzi. He marries her for convenience and is unfaithful to her. Fâzıla wants to leave him, her family opposes it; tempted by suicide, she gives it up out of faith and enters a large household as a servant, under another name, according to a university article published on DergiPark.
Context
It is the first book its author signed with her own name, according to turkedebiyati.org. The novel is said to set out to refute the idea that a woman cannot forget her first love; according to the Humanities Institute, it describes the family life of Ottoman high society and the difficulties of women. The subject of the forced marriage was common in the literature of the Tanzimat. The novel was reissued in 1908, and the author's books were translated into Western languages during her lifetime.
Who it is for
A novel in Ottoman Turkish, transcribed in modern editions, with no known French translation.
Prizes and reception
The first novel written by a woman in the Ottoman Empire; turkedebiyati.org regards the author as the first Turkish woman novelist.
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The pages consulted to check this page.