Ahmet Midhat’s Hulâsa-i Hümâyunnâme
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Zehra Toska
Abstract
The Kelile and Dimne stories originally written in Sanskrit have been translated into various languages through the centuries. This book on ethics and politics, penned with the purpose of providing guidance to rulers by means of animal stories has been reshaped in each translation, sometimes bearing different titles, depending on the cultural context of the target languages while its essence and teachings remained the same. Ahmet Midhat Efendi’s Hulâsa-i Hümâyunnâme, commissioned by Sultan Abdülhamit II, printed in 1888, but banned from publication, is an interesting case in point. It was based on the illustrious 16th-century translation, the Hümâyunnâme, by Ali bin Salih Çelebi, which he presented to Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. This essay draws on a comparative study of both translated texts, focusing on Ahmet Midhat’s work as a “renewed” version of the source text, written in the plainer style of 19th-century Ottoman Turkish prose. It also probes into the question of why this work was banned.
Abstract
The Kelile and Dimne stories originally written in Sanskrit have been translated into various languages through the centuries. This book on ethics and politics, penned with the purpose of providing guidance to rulers by means of animal stories has been reshaped in each translation, sometimes bearing different titles, depending on the cultural context of the target languages while its essence and teachings remained the same. Ahmet Midhat Efendi’s Hulâsa-i Hümâyunnâme, commissioned by Sultan Abdülhamit II, printed in 1888, but banned from publication, is an interesting case in point. It was based on the illustrious 16th-century translation, the Hümâyunnâme, by Ali bin Salih Çelebi, which he presented to Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. This essay draws on a comparative study of both translated texts, focusing on Ahmet Midhat’s work as a “renewed” version of the source text, written in the plainer style of 19th-century Ottoman Turkish prose. It also probes into the question of why this work was banned.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- In memoriam Elif Daldeniz Baysan xi
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Introduction 1
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Ottoman conceptions and practices of translation
- On the poetic practices of a “singularly uninventive people” and the anxiety of imitation 27
- Exploring Tercüman as a culture-bound concept in Islamic mysticism 53
- Ahmet Midhat’s Hulâsa-i Hümâyunnâme 73
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Transition and transformation
- On the evolution of the interpreting profession in Turkey 89
- Saved by translation 107
- The “official” view on translation in Turkey 125
- Translation, imported western legal frameworks and insights from the Turkish world of patents 145
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The republican revolutionary turn
- The Turkish language reform and intralingual translation 165
- John Dewey’s 1924 report on Turkish education 181
- Pseudotranslations of pseudo-scientific sex manuals in Turkey 199
- Censorship of “obscene” literary translations 219
- Ideological encounters 233
- An overview of Kurdish literature in Turkish 253
- The identity metonymics of translated Turkish fiction in English 273
- Notes on contributors 297
- Index 303
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- In memoriam Elif Daldeniz Baysan xi
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Introduction 1
-
Ottoman conceptions and practices of translation
- On the poetic practices of a “singularly uninventive people” and the anxiety of imitation 27
- Exploring Tercüman as a culture-bound concept in Islamic mysticism 53
- Ahmet Midhat’s Hulâsa-i Hümâyunnâme 73
-
Transition and transformation
- On the evolution of the interpreting profession in Turkey 89
- Saved by translation 107
- The “official” view on translation in Turkey 125
- Translation, imported western legal frameworks and insights from the Turkish world of patents 145
-
The republican revolutionary turn
- The Turkish language reform and intralingual translation 165
- John Dewey’s 1924 report on Turkish education 181
- Pseudotranslations of pseudo-scientific sex manuals in Turkey 199
- Censorship of “obscene” literary translations 219
- Ideological encounters 233
- An overview of Kurdish literature in Turkish 253
- The identity metonymics of translated Turkish fiction in English 273
- Notes on contributors 297
- Index 303
