Poetry
Mihnet-keşân
Not translated into English
Keçecizâde İzzet Molla · 1824
Synopsis
A court scholar, exiled to Keşan, recounts in verse the journey to his place of exile, his stay, the people of every sort he meets there and his return, according to the Küre and turkedebiyati.org. He also paints his own portrait, notably in the mirror of the carriage, the best-known passage according to Derya Tüzin, where he converses with his reflection. Britannica stresses that the narrative has no other aim than to tell of its author's trials and misfortunes, in a humorous tone; the Küre sees in it a social satire rich in popular material.
Context
The poem was written at Keşan around 1824 or 1825 according to the Küre, in 1823-1824 according to Britannica, and was printed in Istanbul only in 1269 AH, after the author's death. To the narrative in couplets are added odes, ghazals, quatrains and chronograms. Britannica reports that some critics see in it the first work of modern Ottoman literature; Derya Tüzin contrasts it with the traditional verse narratives, peopled with types and the marvellous, because it puts forward an individual, an era and a specific milieu. The critic Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar has called it a novel of manners.
Who it is for
A narrative in verse in Ottoman Turkish, with no French translation; a scholarly edition with a study was published at Harvard in 2007.
Prizes and reception
Turkedebiyati.org regards it as its author's most remarkable work; its simple language brings the verse narrative closer to the novel.
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