Authority, will, and subjectivity in Fatma Aliye's writings and novels

This thesis focuses on Fatma Aliye's emergence as a writer and her motivation to exist as a modern Ottoman woman subject in a male-dominated literary public. It achieves this aim mainly in light of Meram's publication process, the Turkish translation of Georges Ohnet's Volonté by Fatma Aliye. Thus, this dissertation has three interconnected arguments. My first argument is that her biography, Fatma Aliye Hanım yahud Bir Muharrire-i Osmaniye'nin Neş'eti, written by Ahmet Mithat Efendi, has shaped literary history and Fatma Aliye's reception until this day. Secondly, I argue that, on the one hand, Fatma Aliye did comply with Ahmet Mithat Efendi's perspective strategically with an effort not to lose the support of the most influential literary patron, on the other hand, while reconciling with this perspective, Fatma Aliye has found the place to manifest her conflict and objection to the patriarchy after the publication of Hanımlara Mahsus Gazete and her novel Refet. In order to highlight Fatma Aliye's conflict and objection against Ahmet Mithat Efendi's narrative about her authorship, this dissertation offers a new periodization for Fatma Aliye's writership dividing it into two periods. Thirdly, Meram is a root text. It does not only encapsulates Fatma Aliye's authorship capacity as a translator and writer, but also reflects and reveals key debates, contradictions, themes, and characterization in her novels. In light of Meram's inextricably linked roles, this dissertation examines the author's reconciliation and reckoning with her "fathers" and her relationship with patriarchy by focusing on the relationship between the concepts of will, authority, and patriarchy.