Puclic sphere and leisure activities in Tanzimat novel

ABSTRACTPUBLIC SPHERES AND LEISURE ACTIVITIES IN TANZIMAT NOVELSGünaydın, Ayşegül UtkuM.A., Department of Turkish LiteratureSupervisor: Assistant Professor Laurent MignonJune 2007The Tanzimat period overtly accelareted the Westernization process and assuch, it brought about various socio-cultural changes, and these changes aredistinctly observed in the realms of public sphere and leisure activities whichrepresent social vivacity to the greatest degree. Hence, the focus of this thesis is thedetailed study of the reflection of this social transformation in the Tanzimat novelwith reference to the theories of public sphere and leisure. To this end, five Tanzimatnovels, which stand out among others on the grounds of their emphasis on publicsphere and leisure, constitute this thesis?s object of study. These novels, written inthe second half of the nineteenth century, in order of their year of publication are:Akabi Hikyayesi (1851) by Vartan Paşa, Esrâr-ı Cinayât (1884) by Ahmet MithatEfendi, Araba Sevdası (1889-Year of publication: 1896) by Recaizade MahmutEkrem, Udû (1899) by Fatma Aliye Hanım and Bir Kadının Hayatı (1890) byMehmet Celâl. In the discussion of public sphere and leisure activities presented inthese novels, the status of men and women are analyzed in their particular contextsand also from a comparative view-point. A primary conclusion drawn from thiscomparative analysis is that, in these novels, the changes in people?s everyday lives,induced by the Westernization process, are made manifest mainly through theintegration of certain symbols of Western society into the new life styles and throughthe reformation of the public sphere. It is also worthy of attention that although thereshaping of the public sphere is chiefly determined by secularisation and thepromotion of a new conception of entertainment, the public sphere still serves, aboveall, the socialization of men, especially those from the elite class; it is evident inthese novels that the factor of social class is the dominant factor in the reformation ofpublic sphere and leisure. Consquent to the discussion of how men?s and women?sleisure activities differ from one another and how these activities bring forthmasculine and feminine discourses, it has become apparent, contrary to the generalassumption, that the extent to which these activities are indicators of social statusvary greatly. This thesis aims, accordingly, to account for and interpret theconnections between the formation of public sphere, leisure and gender as well asdifferent social statuses in the Tanzimat novel.Keywords: Tanzimat novel, Westernization, public sphere, leisure activitiesiv