Abstract:

Westernization politics of the Ottoman Empire which was adopted in the 18th century and was first applied in military institutions, has been circulated in a broader sense since Imperial Edict of Reorganization in 1839. In this regard, among what has been imported, the Western literary accumulation has had a significant volume. In Reorganization Period lasting till 1876, the first generation, and in Abdulhamid II’s period lasting till 1909, the second generation and Servet-i Fünun writers has represented various understandings of literature according to political situations they live in. Yet, they collectively contributed to an indigenious literary accumulation under Western effect. Indigenious literature under Western effect was founded in Tanzimat period and with more concern in cultural Westernization during Abdulhamid II’s period, it started to have a broader application area. One of the most important proof for this is literature’s becoming a common occupation among the young generation. In this context, the existence of an interim period generation between the second generation of 1876-1878 and Servet-i Fünun writers of 1901 is significant to demonstrate the popularity of literature in this period. In history of literature, the interim period generation with its structure based on young literary figures has had a limited representation compared to its successors and predecessors and thus has not been thoroughly studied. However, it includes various materials to see the developmental dynamics of the indigenious literature under Western effect from a better perspective. In this regard, this paper is on an interim period literary figure Mustafa Rashid and his work “Gözyaşları” (Tears) which has characteristic features of the interim period literature. The Latinized version of the work is included at the end of this paper to give way to analyse the interim period literature in a more detailed way and a better understanding to position it in history of literature.

Keywords: