19th century Ottoman modernization in the light of the will of individualization/autonomy

This thesis is premised upon the conception that the Tanzimat novels produced in the 19th century can be read within the context of the demand for individualization/autonomy. In this regard, the novels Taaşşuk-ı Talak ve Fıtnat (1872), Müsâmeretnâme (1872), Hasan Mellah (1874), and Intibah (1874) are comparatively analyzed. In these novels, fatherlessness and love are discussed as an "incident," the self/nefs, the fight between conscience and willpower, and the subject's revenge and suicide as an "act"; and the subject's morality as a "statement," and attention is drawn to the desire of autonomous and subjective existence that seized the end-of-the-period generation, the difficulties that this desire met, and the weaknesses that became pronounced during the struggle. In this thesis, it is aimed to demonstrate that not only the male characters but also the female characters were in a struggle to redefine their identities for their "own" desire. Thus, it is shown that the characters were not passive; that they carried out an active and willful struggle for existence contrary to the common repeated position regarding this period's novels that the characters were subject to obedience in the face of the control and threat of authority. Another point presented to the attention of the reader in this thesis is that in the struggle for existence was a demand for the elimination of the practices and regulations as well as the modes of thinking that fell behind the times for the sake of developing criticism and self-criticism. It is pointed out that the subjects who were shaped by the traditional mentality interacted with the modern mindset through these struggles and took initiative to discuss the notions of "equality", "rights", "liberty", "freedom", "autonomy", and "justice". It is argued that the struggles defining the desire of the male and female subjects' maturation intentions were also in parallel with the Ottoman Empire's survival struggle that gained ground in the 19th century. In this context, it is shown that the desire for an autonomous and subjective existence can be observed not only in the realm of the novels but also in the realm of the politics. Consequently, it is proven that the process that the Ottoman Empire experienced in 19th century was an original modernization process in both political and socio-cultural field and the subjects who had their share of this experience went through a valuable struggle for both their own desire and the empire's survival.