Abstract:

Imagology, which emerged as a sub-discipline, a minor branch in comparative literature studies, helps to know the impressions of a nation against another nation in a certain period. Researchers' interest has generally focused on examining the image of the other in literary works. However, in this study, the image of Arab in the work called Akhlāq-i ʿAlāʾī, which is one of the most important books written in the field of morality in the Ottoman Empire, is discussed. This work was written by Qınālızāde ʿAlī Çelebi (1510-1572/916-979 H.), who spent a part of his life as a judge in Arab cities such as Damascus, Cairo and Aleppo. In this study, the elements that make up the image of Arab in the mentioned book, which includes many comments, stories, news and poems about the Arabs are examined. The negative and positive features, mentioned by the author, about Arabs are declared. It is noteworthy that the Arab image in the book seems generally positive. The formation of the image in this way was related to the historical context in which the book was written, the strong religious factor, the multiculturalism of the author and the diversity of the sources he used.

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