Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Milli Folklor, cilt.12, sa.99, ss.27-40, 2013 (Scopus, TRDizin)
The Ottoman Empire experienced the transition from oral and written culture to print culture in the 19th century. It is not possible to comprehend the dynamics of Ottoman literature in full, unless the effects of this transition are sufficiently questioned. Furthermore, literary interactions among various ethnic and religious Ottoman communities played an important role in the making of literature. In folklore, the interaction gains yet more importance. In the histories of the 19th century Ottoman literature hitherto written, it can be observed that neither the characteristics of print culture are paid enough attention, nor adequate tools are produced that would help question transitions among literary genres. The monochrome perspective that literary genres are divided from each other distinctively, obstructs a deeper understanding of qualities inherent in the Ottoman literature. In fact, similar to the communities in the 19th century, there is a close interaction between literary genres that we accept as separate today. In the production and dissemination of modern fiction, the evolution of classical and traditional genres played an important role. In this study, setting off from works printed by various Turcophone communities of the Ottoman Empire, the interaction and diversity among Ottoman millets in the 19th century in the context of literary folk productions are examined. Meanwhile, the relationship between oral culture and print culture, and the conditions that foster the development of modern literary genres are discussed. As a result, it is observed that diverse works of folk literature from one-page poems to folk tales are transformed from oral and written culture to print culture. The fact that the transformations are made in Armenian and Greek script as well as in Arabic script revealed the depth and width of folkloric interactions between the Ottoman communities. The role of folk literature in shaping the attitude and habits of modern reader of print culture is also highlighted.