Representation regimes of reality in Servet-i Fünun (1896-1901)

This dissertation focuses on the publication of Servet-i Fünun, the illustrated popular science and culture magazine, between 1896 and 1901, when it accompanied the Edebiyat-ı Cedide authors. It analyses the connection between the discourse of reality in the columns and the regimes of representation in the stories simultaneously published in the magazine. The discourse of reality in the magazine is based on the phenomenon of actuality, which is perceived as a cumulative mass of events in the world, occurring naturally or through human agency, indexed to the here-and-now, supported by visuality, and orientated towards progress. Through the discourse of reality, it exhibits the magazine's intricate network of interaction and competition between the Ottoman Empire and the contemporary world. This understanding of reality, which was an extension of Ottoman modern culture at the end of the 19th century, also transformed the narratological, thematic and aesthetic construction of 137 stories. "Actual" agendas such as science, technology, reason, modern daily life, and modern individuality were the subjects of the stories. These subjects were narrativized in accordance with historical and photographic reality through experimental techniques such as authoritative narration, dialogue, letters. In some stories, the representation of reality is reconciled with the progressive ideals that are integrated with reality in columns, while in others, the ideals attributed to reality are distanced from or questioned. Thus, the dissertation argues that the regimes of representation of reality in the stories of Servet-i Fünun diversified on a spectrum from idealism to modernism, two mutually exclusive extreme aesthetic attitudes.