Changes in the eighteenth century Ottoman poetry and Sünbülzâde Vehbî's Şevk-Engîz

ABSTRACTCHANGES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY OTTOMAN POETRYAND SÜNBÜLZÂDE VEHBÎ?S ŞEVK-ENGÎZSürelli, BahadırM.A., Department of Turkish LiteratureSupervisor: Yrd. Dç. Dr. Nuran TezcanMay 2007An obvious change can be seen in the Ottoman Poetry and especially in the?mesnevi? tradition towards the end of the eighteenth century. The most popularsamples of this change which is called ?localization? (mahallûleşme), have beenwritten by Bosnalı Sâbit, Enderunlu Fâzıl and Sünbülzâde Vehbû. In the works ofthese writers, most distinctive components that appear are local way of speaking andsexual contents. Şevk-engûz is one of the poems that has these features andSünbülzâde Vehbû, for the first time, made ?sex object? debatable for the mesnevigenre. With the daily-life of stanbul, its both neighboorhoods and well-knowninhabitants have been cited in Şevk-engûz which is also, at the same time, the firstbook ever censored. This mesnevi in which two fictional protagonists argue aboutwhich one (women or young boys) is the ?best? as a ?sex object?, brought manyinnovations to both ?münazara? and ?şehrengiz? tradition. Although this work whichhas so many manuscripts and printed versions, gained popularity in its period, it hasbeen standing far from the attention of literature histories and criticism. This periodof time has an obvious change in miniature painting and architecture, as well.Especially, the changes which are seen in miniature painting has lots of similaritieswith mesnevis of the poets mentioned above that are ?realistic? and a little bit?obscene? and can be evaluated as ?pre-modern? attempts. Basically, miniaturepainting and poetry resemblance, in terms of appearance of sexual contents andrealism, is one of the major artistic changes of the eighteenth century. A similarchange is also exact for the Ottoman architecture which created the rococo style and?Turkish baroque? due to Western influence, so this field?s products may be seen insquare fountains (meydan çeşmesi), residences in Western style, sultans? rooms inmosques (hünkâr mahfili), and especially on the façades of mosques. Primarily, inthe dissertation, the changes in the eighteenth century poetry are examined togetherwith the innovations in other arts and reflections of Sâbit influence in the mesnevitradition, especially in Fâzıl Bey?s and Vehbû?s works, were tried to be shown. Theposition of the Şevk-engûz among the eighteenth century mesnevis, and its similaritiesor differences with the şehrengiz and münazara texts are other topics of the thesis.The transcription of the printed version of the text in 1869 has been placed in the?Appendix? in order to understand better and so as to make the Şevk-engûz which hasnever been translated before, ?readable?.Key words: mesnevi, sexuality, change, miniature, architecture