REPRESENTATION OF GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN OTTOMAN AND. TURKISH EROTIC LITERATURE levity Ceale scrice’ [MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY However widely it may be consumed by the masses in the privacy of thelr homes, erotic literature sues from significant neglect when it comes to the hallowed hall of academe, And thsi ll he more true ofOtomn and ‘Turkish erotic literature. To seme extent, ths omission may of course be ‘due to prudishness onthe part of specific individuals bt suspect the main ‘reason i the lack of sources As modest first step in remedying this ack, Thereby offer tis brief survey, focusing mainly on the representation of sender and sexuality i Ottoman and Turkish eote literature. Bees i {rev out of work ona commissioned encyclopedia article, the text I el Lively dense and each subjects probably not as well developedas one might ave ed il thopes ibe fond weal bathineand ouside the “There are areas of verbal production thet remain poorly studle: popular tales curses, riddles and tongue-twisters, jokes? broadsides, graft, and ‘various other ephemera can ll ley cai to membership in the Goma of literature, and they all have significant erotic components. They are not ‘covered here, however, due to the near-tota absence of published sources, UUewise the mere presence of sexual dimension does ot qualify alter ‘ary workcas erotic thus, mystica iterature for example andarytalesare ‘also excluded here. A broader survey ofthe theme of sexality in Ottoman ‘and Turkish literature is Konur tops TirkEdebiytnda Ses, vo which this {The sstnes of ite Bn se Sem Sr Rr, Neo and sant edly aed {regulon estan, ot eed Cott vin ir de Geir a Some hy sly eg ara eatwn RF. Rar "he aes ot trie Ant home arse th ners of ning’ cnt 3 fg. Amma chime erty at ot 9 even —nuh Lect ind iti eyed So elo ay Atl Sy ara ib a Ones Ret 99) er eal mca pe ‘or ering Dee Chang Sen Dart tan eld ‘Barn ers Angulo ono Univer of aoa res. 280 "heh Sade ein: a‘hs eighoe ery mites «Ande Frm th eatin ft ae Eden ey cee smblane to the clabrted Iarbal neste, ‘tiphanes mars TSS oa bys ede string sagging» ato aime,articles partly indebtedshowever, because the material thre wa originally Serialized in popular art magazine, i lacks any scholarly appara. slso nearly thirty years old and dees not cover recent literature. Ottoman Prose Viorks written in prose and known as béhnie (book of libdo/inter- course) were part medical, par-orotc treatises covering a wide range of subjets—fom taxonomies of genitalia and catalogues of sexual postions to aphrodisiac recipes and risqué anecdotes. The earliest such work dat Ing from the Ottoman period that has come to light thus fa is Bhnéme- podith? imperial Book of Lbido/intercourse), translated into Turkish by ais b. esd fom a Persian text ateriouted to Nagi al-Din a-TOst 75/1278), and presented to Sultan Mured I (. 824-88/1421-44,B45- 55/1945-51)° Other important werk in this genre nciude Ahmed’, Yast aL Tifishr's ja ahah dh fl quar lab (Restoration of the (ld ean to Youth through the Power of Lbido/intercoure), expanded ard translated in 1519 onthe orders of Sultan Sem (t918-26/1512-20) bythe great scholar and jurist Ahmed’, Stleyman, Inown a5 Kemélpasa-zide (or {bn Kemal Pos) (940/183) and again by several others—incuding at other great scholar, Gelibolulu Mustafa AM (2008/1600), under tae name Rahat nfs (The Carnal Souls’ Comfort (a. 156), for Prince Mehmed (later Sultan Mehmed ir. 1003-10:2/1595-2608) on the orders of his ta- ther Prince wurad (later Sultan Mura Ie $82-1003/1574-95)? Tuhfed veal peared fir hari haben sabe TS tod Sesuraroly, Osman Peja ve kel” VTE Tarh anges Ana 02 15 Kee Sura Be ara Teh Tr Rss ‘fel 00) 26 Thatcher Ta renner "deste Soran Yok Det for scomparoon aie catcatons, elie Uric atrial brine 130-3 ‘er samples mths earlier trrltion se Marat Barak, Oma ek rade (Gra butt (abel vy, 98) S25. 2 hata Ah oa a Et Gels, chat an sinclar fo Mohd preted vata vos, eprint ears Slesota nlnatwn al ar ab 1967), 8 Tete are contro test suspec delay deers to hater rns kanal de ely ad lt he ware ebro Cosma adalat #5) ag festa lon pane Gnd 1). were wen bythe traplatr tel teins akan ok ind ‘stiri owner act, iT hg eyes oer fm, wae by An gic Baoan ar lex Carengton, 190) Thess omen the Sond at of The Oa ang ar Care Carrngean 199) onal Fitcher ret a lial in te komen pe the sein af i ist pct, Frnestan Unies Pres 180, 5 2“Te TURKISH STUDIES ASSOCIATION JOURNAL /24-2.0200) teen leolenowmas Age ont (for those Who ‘re Mand, or Nature's Encoursgr inthe Drive fr Sexual intercourse, tranlated daring the evi elgheenth century by Mustafa thi eye “afro eworkby Abdal-abrnanb Nasal Shayea (77/2372 ond ult CTretice on Libio/iterourse) by the ht Physician KaRo- ide Nehmed Ref (.183/2760-0), abcokthat dels patsy onthe ‘bject of reviving dilnished sexual appetites Many of these work were arty or fly translated from Arabic or Persian sources, but tants EEely revised the originals, adding end sutracting at will The presence of stinent mainstream scolar among the thors and tena of tse Werks s notewerty, asthe fact that many were commisioned by and/or Presented to imper ptrons ‘dinimes generally contained both stories and scenife/prescriptive rmateral and there ate some stl differences betwen te way in whlch achtypooftextapproschedgenderand sexual The stories tonto rect, tosome degre, gener stereotypes prevalent invocey at arge women at often represented a materi, wily and layla ae sijelo, nd nt teebiy bright Prescriptive sections onthe other hand, general ‘approach the sexes with a neable degree of symmetry They dopo sociological sytem In which Individuals have prescribed eles fo ply cording ther sex ad seal orientation but hese rles are nt geared ‘Soar the exclusive enjoyment o ele party On the contrary, bes ‘eqaed seo fulllment as equally the domain of women and men. Tey ‘ew suai 2 ealthy and good enjoyed in moderation, and se thelr {wm function a teaching readers howto make the sexual “oystem” work well as posi, forte sake of ther personal flllment and that o thle Partner andl a ameane of paying homage Co's creation. ‘Som Ottoman works In prose were largely homoereti, ae fr exam ple Daf umn rau (Expeler f Sorrows and Remover of Woe) composed by ehoed Gash, lnown a Ds iader 2942/3535), foe Princ Koka (72-91/1467-e2-1513), son of Sultan Bayer I, some. tine during the period 463-1519" and Dede ala oy ving Book 4. “Teka ante abn cle” 195-20. The compte, snotty renders arth coger reeniy aod oop ‘Saat oye alec ane or Cal karts “ln a 67} Ly oi owe saree ‘mental dpe ff fd ee ‘ot ak tal ses Tart 1950, 2 issn rt karaSox nthe To el aes DT goin AREA nin oman or Canon ora of ae any nos ting ae eden Sptch era Scholar be eae sad aaa gun cf Ind unpbed Phi dso, Departmen ot Wes ers angge en‘ofthe Messeur), written i 1686 by Deri mal, chief ofthe bathkeapers:* ‘Both books focus on bathouses 2 an all-male erode worl: homosocility isa common theme in Ottoman literature, sometimes, though not always, tinged with eroticism. eturn to this matter below. ‘As with bhndmes,feregn sources were also important for Ottoman erot- fe tales; once again, translations were seldom faithful tothe originals and translators often eal expended and embaldered upon them. In particlar, ‘the iuzbiflayahwatayah (Book ofthe Thousand and One Nights} wastwice translated Into Ottoman daring the seventeenth century, and the translar tion by Mus b. Mehmed BeySnt (dated 1046/3636) contains significantly ‘more erotic materlal than the Arabic original ™ The autograph manuscript ofthis translation, dedicated to sultan Murad 1V ( 1032°49/1623-0), was taken to France by Antoine Galland (1715), and probably provided the ‘origin of some ofthe more sexually explicit stories in @ number of west tern transltions ofthe Nights. The frame story ofthis popular et of tales is (quite misogynistic: convinced tat all women are faithless, King Shahryr decides to marry a different one each day and have her executed the fol~ lowing morning: the tales are the result af Shahrazae’s creative efforts to stay alive by telling him stores and keeping him in suspense. May indl- ‘ia tales thin the collection also exist some hostility toward women, who are depicted as cunning mischievous. and treacherous, not to mention ‘sexually voracious. simular frame stories are present in other books of (at least partial ero popular in torn Tee, uch as Ted {Book ofthe Parrot translated from a Persian text atevibuted Za ‘Nakthab (751/950) nich an eloquent parrot prevents hs ater’ ‘wife from being unfaithful oh by distracting er each night with adifer- ent story" the fourteenth(}-century Th Kirk ec (History ofthe Forty ‘Viziers) by Seyhadde, written nthe form of a dialogue between forty vziers intent on proving women evland forty ladies equally committed to defend Ing thete gender; and the anonymous Mek Zendn (The Wiles of Women), nto Harvard Unies, 200, “Bada oman set 153m Iebin “eee in. Vp Copan Nal Yana Bue ‘era the” Tr Tp 20 (00). Ths book was pulsed series in Otonan. An glshrasation, ‘ecu the eso te The Tot Mame ooo art (eet re don) eben) hese io many bowser vera 1 Ths boa ee ws pabled maple ines n Geman an Engram, myc sey vit saps are hen sth orginal Turkish (reste, 'SShnlnzhda th sary ofthe rt ar hyo ery Mrs ain haiti) mit] eb nar re as‘of wiich many vorsion exis in numerous languages indeed, ii highly ‘noteworthy thatthe frst printed edition ofthe Hebrew version of ths ist collection, Mile Sendebar (Tals of Sendebar), was published in Istanbul at early a8 15162" These tales have historically played an imporcant role the construction of gender, in that they "work to produce masculinity within & cultural context structured by the homasocially of ally practices" Classica Poetry ‘TheOttomen high-culture literature known asdvanpoety) was intense ly preoccupied with the theme ove. Although ks imagery and vocabulary Were codified and its tenor was generally more rca tan etl, zens ‘ousmess and even sexual themes were fr Grom absent, particularly during the siteenth and again the eighteenth centuries. Some poets were quite ‘exuberant in their treatment of the female bod, asin the following couplet by Arpa-emin-e Sim (@.1145/1732-33) end galvrin i psem ks ner nol ‘Yarn esa bag asian ge ee (GF untied the trousersring and ksed the sot uve, what of #2 / The splitripe peach of the orchard of union Is quite delicous)” More often, FRowever, itis an abstract ad highly stylized fale form tat is clebrated by ivan poets fllowing well-established conventions and metaphors" 26 sl rf tag Tse ae Kata Sale. tan 17 29). Seyetin eg metons unter eon ofthe Farka sta Jv notacen i Atzalitn nto French fa Turks apt yh ee "i ds oes senna a ap ep ore a cil, ‘Jet etrtdaphe) Decousomarc als Eines! ero Ekeur 180 nts {hs erch et nas trae ito Engchae Tee often ane Oo ile ‘hth rs lsh New Yrs ina Ma eng il Pres 1929 "Moris gain, oad tae” Tee Snr Pha: The ea llleion cel of Amerie 107 8 Seesleok.carmalyenaie orig sir Senda Sage” hls de Sel ras doen tee aly ais Mens tae Oh — ‘hafah stata, Rosdng We of Wome Sore a Fcton asc” rman sates el tty on cl ne or ea, ‘al hosodb and ts inne et (oto: Poos 200) Wren ie DS Bae aaah, Alara on sch ntaphrs shar bn rss An Uy ee ‘¢g.cherfean Rm, icra deerme rere de ‘hesitant (len tart Pa view, 8) %“The authovial voice in dvanpooty is overwhelmingly mal, often even when the poet wasn facta woman.*"The gender ofthe eject of the poet's Amorous attention, however, could be ambiguous and indeterminate, a ex- ‘pressed most notoriously In this couplet by Nedim(d 1143/1730}: Koln nanan eklevend edn Bela bn de bina frm alan msn ifr (Your coquetry is that of virgin git, your voice that ofa handsome man {Yon are a source of trouble; do nat know whether you are girl oF boy, {nfded) This embiguty is duo in part tothe fact thatthe Turkish language Isungendered,andinpartoa male-dominated homosorial culture in which relationships between males were more likely involve intellectual pers than relationship between men and women.” Its fart sty that takon asa whole vax poetry reflects nat two but three genders: adult men, adult women, and young boys—this latter defined Principally bythe absence of fecal hain" Recent writnge on the history ‘Dt sextality teach us nat to anachrnistically project labels like “homerex- tual” and “heterosexual” onto ages when the choice of sexual partner was relatively uid and considered a matter of practice, net identit:® Thus, for axample, Sevlnte (Provoke of Eagerness) by sUnbil-zide Vehbs (4, 1224/1619-10) isan smpasioned but ultimately inconcusve debate on the respective merits of sexual relations with women an with boys, continae nga theme goingback, through the Kia muftkharat aljowar wa a-ghiman (ook of Praise for Concubines and slve-boys) of asahie (2. 255/869), to 2 fe lo "gg ads oman Wen ot dt ou ary Manes nth Otoman Expt ie Ear en ely ade re, 8 Nadlne 28 Laden, Se Yo rls hl a 1. Ned Ned Die Neb Blac tabu ve Aka tah 972) 267 Se so el Say. man th osef h Oeman Cur Malian one eC Boonton nnd ner Pre, 13 Walter. Andrews ad Mahe aa, The Ago Beb Lo ate aed ‘egy Ser tema and opr Cave on Sosy arama Londo Dube Unersy Pre 3). {don Rowiedge 191) 38 One Pesan algun ee Aare jad, Names ‘staccato rs Gon adcotanata of anen Modeity ‘Gere Los Angeles end ado: Unreriy af alier Pee 20) 25: Oath slim wold el Roun, Bee ocx he ro ‘oir nag and don Unser ofcleapo res, 203)THE TURKISH STUDIES ASSOCIATION JOURNAL /273-2 2000) the Bots (Lovers) of Lucian of Samosata (dca. 180, Special caution must therefore be exercised in drawing societal conclusions from the prevalence of same-sex motifs in van poetry.” Inadaition othe standard poetic forms such s the gazel and yr, sexual themes are expecially present in sme areas of dion poetry, One such ares isthe body of satirical works known as help (Faetiae), in which com ‘mon way of insulting a rival was to cast aspersions upon his masculinity, ‘ie, to feminize him needles to says deep-seated misogyny underlies such practices. or example, Nef (ca. 1045/1635-39) wrote: Kalbe ivine tne ederim ar Birkand eb de taba ecb dig ‘ier haibeye bi kaa dad, Birla gee gyre alan digs (Would have stooped to writing stres on halts / Bu fate has decroed that histo wouldbemy let Itbecame nacesary that rece astrophe ‘thaviot / Upon which Rado dealin sar fasion witha whole vision ‘fwhores.” Tha the targets of Ne Ts atacks wereallmal leaves nodaukt ‘tothe at that housed feminization as toa of rhetorialsggresionIn ton ote wellknown rhs polemical sh Rad (rows fate) poets who exeled inhi genre nla ed (63/1535) and St {atazzs/ise)the obscenity of whose mudi srr heal (Droeres of re the ester, Bter Known a als Sr ws ened by €-) WbtoRabelas™ 224 95/1546 s known fr his eta, coletion of satel sto- "isin prose, many of whowe puch lines are inverse” a with Nef and Sir here again emul penetration soten a metaphor fr social damita- tion Zt wasalt oneof the fistto wees lenge term aptly rendered 26. cf Jn Sch, "Sibi Webbs Sea an Ottoman Pornepapic Por Trea (18%): 8-7 Sela FatzRowitl,"Wale ad Fanale Dox bed Spd Copare t Honera Clad Ltr ed) Jee] W- Weg Sl eet Rowton (ew Yrs Columb aiesy Pes 199) 2-54. 1 For ahhly emilee wal reser nek ne 2 yb Dn gir Sn So ced ede ip Bry Mayan, 198) 17-7 ENetei Shist a e n {B.Ed Gn ay amen Py, 6 oe inh owe ees OL at 0 hcbred era ity bl Onbrste ee ae ‘ke ia Deg 8 70 bh Relate bt nan age ifort contest se Richard Tee Sx spice cee ie ie odoin comer rae (thas: Corel ivory es, 198) ryby Gib as “city theiler"—though Mesih (.918/1512) is usually credited wth inventing the genre with his ehrengz dr medi canon dime City thriller on the Prase ofthe Handsome Youths of Edirne A serena was a poem in the style ofa mesnei in which the beautiful boys ofa particu- larcity were catalogued and described ~"the idea being” Gibb writes, “that through the description of the besutes which it gives, he poem wll ceate a furore in the ety Sometimes the poems desrised members of par= ticular profession, o, a inthe case of one of the most frau, Enderunla Fla Bey's 1228/1810) Hime (B00k of wale] Beaute) representae tives af diverse nations” These poems were often quite ero, describing ‘ith elish youths who were wel known for thelr beauty~and ne might ‘ssume, their sexual svalability. tis iteresting, though not entirely sr- prising. that nly a handful ofthese works described womer:Taci-zide afer {eleb's (20/1514) Heresndme Book of Passion) tells ofan excursion dur ing which the poet encourtereda boatload of beautifl wemen: Fil Bey's ‘Zenirnme (Book of Women) Isa sequel to Hubdnndme In which th poet, ‘reluctantly ifhis preface is to be believed, describes the characterstis of the women f variousnations” most importantly, Yedikull Mustafa Aza’. {€.993/1585) sehrnai istanbul der hab znd alo known a5 Nigiméme'| zed deri selrengi (City-thler of istanbul on Beautiful Wore, ‘or Plesurable Book of Besifl Women in the Sve of Cy- tile ithe ‘nly true hrengi that describes women” The reason such poems Seldom *Inadditiontozeninndne zi Bey'sHubinndne,Defear-lAgt(BookofLove, and Gagindme (Book of [le] Dancers) were printed several times, a were ‘SUnbal-zide Vebbi's Sevkenl (1258/1637), Shr’ Hezlbyat (undated), 4 collection ofthe most obscene satirical poetry entitled Meemu't Di ‘ebb (1288/1871) the humorous Murayyehdes Tvkve (Peasants of Turkey) (undated) by Abdalhaimn Calf Pasa (1293/1876), ané numereus other erotie works. OF these, Mureyebir Tle is of particlar Inter fest writen by an Ottoman bureaucrat who had spent many years in the ‘countryside, if is inthe dialect spoken in Kastamonw and pokes fu athe peasant ofthe region, depicting them as simple, crude, and very lustful {snoteworthy that, lke many ofits antecedents, this sexually explicit book too was dedicated fo a sultan this time Abdul (1881-78). ‘Under the authoritarian reign of Sultan Abdulhamid 1 (1876-1903), state licensing end censorship increasingly restricted publising within the ‘toman Empire. Stil, som popular erotic works did manage to appear, notably AhmotRasin’s jc (ater Hamam Of, or Olfet the Bathkeeper) (G316/1898), which focused on the theme of lesbianism, With the Second Constitutional Period (beginning in 1908) and pariclary afer the Young “Turk takeover of 1908, however there was a vital explosion i publishing ‘Women figured prominently among the many topis covered In books and perlodlals, spactung ister a vere ss women’s right, good heasekonp- Ing, work and ereployment, fly, and sexuality. Tratic literature also enjoyed a major surge during the Second constitutional Period and into the war years (1914-28), armistice, and early Republic (proclaimed in 1923), as did popular and mass culture more gon cally: Dime novels, pseudo scientific treatises on sexuality, and books on feminine beauty, love, and many other themes proliferate, some adorned with arose drawings or photographs" Many were published anonymous |y,pseudonymously, or with just the authors initils—for example Fahige (Whore) (1228 1/1912) and 2p Haurant (Memento ofthe Wedding Night) (0330 1/1818) with its expict, orgasmic conclusion. Some were tae work Of popular authors like "Sava Hasan Baht, who wrote such books as, ‘Kallen Sfehat (Disoluteness ofthe Kings) (undated) end Niswor+ Zarfe (Glegant Women) (1327 1/1911), and Avanaide Mehmed Soleyman, whose "snide panda Vb oe Aye Gant de ve sie] {wes et aja ve Curves ve Hoc ide Yaya lel lar, ‘daha tal vege vara cen lunar seve 1277" The vulgar of thstootis tly something beta vee atid there nee thence fel 56 2aer Topak"epajeten Conary Matec vam debits Tod vip 38987 2-2 Bae Osan Sb 178-203, os662637 HAL G22 ydetl Galen hE Uillae Fae GAFg, Spaipabe Gab waldo Clara es, pera shaatel S8T1z € ps Dpalster dal «ead Ai ob a zabagb Qttaoy g, sl + pace & polish Cp agde ebro Bye COLT eps eggs — se paghsl ees Gage y 6 GI epEh Gals» porte cies gh xe! Sy eb3 SOUT. Gayl — 1 PAT Sole selas GEST bs Hz ee pagdal eps, se Be Be ee Ga Gab HE aT Tf eal ogo rps 2 ran Neto WdlngNet aab Coates re sneymeca oe ced‘many works inclede eer ianelt ee (Gato Marta Relations) {30 e/a uefa (predic) (995 1/1919, and Kain Exe {ts nsteny of Woman] (2st 1/194), ttee were writen by ls prom ethos ke ain (oman and Love) 152191) Meine Gals The nan cl Kans St of etyyara wa ated Khe Sahib rm the 169 Tench ein of Pee cagbe amare, ap isheoremet Sonate hr of ving nthe volumes in 53, Erotic noes appear by the doves ring this peg soc 38 Br ‘ablated k Moments Viginty) (390 fs) ane Kayla Th Ball by Set omentsn eh 1581/2912) by Sige, Dae ‘eu ght of Baring) (920) and Gol Sama veo te ear) Cis /st) by Sel zet (eds), fk Yr Love Hes) (390/910) by M. Neg'et, and many others. Some erotic novels were written by serious ‘mainstream authors, such as Zaniyeler (The Fornicatoresses) (1339/1923) by Stay one 9) eel ote exec pe aa eb iy ondted 920) aswel te entry expt Kaa abe (ite of cream) (onsted by Mehmed Rau. The later, 3 wel-espected ovelst who was charged wi cacy and sentenced fo piso for “aaj sie alo aparently plished hort ived rte magi, mar dune hele 01K Mos ays ost Say Stren (ne-10s/ise-20)-a conacnticlection thor orien ek Cartoon nich mes ond men ely intermingled exrmartal sor Sd adultery were routine, and women were ety bt as eden sen Inconrstnootoman ot ear repbcen novel wn te ari Re 45 canon as ever vewedetenaral etion sympateicay™ "ward the end of he atm athe ne eplcangoverent nage to conolaespower popular etic was gaduly suppesied an = ‘oa ekoppseed om sation. Tha slone might apes ht the iterate guestion wa from devo of plc ite, ad ine Asedtharbeensaithet bac nthese wks win arte expression ofa yearning redo, particulaty wh regardto changing gener fons inthe cllasing empire. cereal the republican eine ao aimed retrcturng gone bt wished oo so or ison terns rom abo: hele lato that ee trate ets would have ven consid tre reat fo the easton pritenam ashore nb the new oer: Giving vole ta log-sppresed longing fore interacton Between the ste Aten neni nt, rT re somhiag ia eee aie shir i coe es St ki mdasesh popular rc hel twee cnr represented people ‘Sid endowed wth agency and hwo peesues x worthy 2 para, Women in these bss were prayed a veld, wey mich Sao tie bods ni sesaly, and merch of pero! alin ‘Thine insbonaritenresiadltanieraion Popular ert in th testo prod dot stightfowarly“re- Aether ore dy ween pt ards a onceton of ssa and they eesed ast of shred apptton a fiat that went along ay tvaréreconstrtg seal acourse-and tence seul tal ais eps, te term lone tna ove) that screed Sb to many ofthese boo nd as ber tacked ty ations) wasn fact sing ep nbn Anderson on, {hi highly commercial pling eotrpie created cole vcabu: ley and et of fess ht parol in anal elfrepresetatcn a therascent Republic of Terk partly intheare of ender. Republican iterture “After an initial period of lence, erotic themes returned, alongwith po- litical iberaliation. Perhaps the most salient characterise of iterature during much of the republican period is that sexuality, when present, has most always heen atthe serine af = rtcal message: Thi or sear, like’ Seishaddin Enls's 2anyeler, Yakup Kadri Karaosmanogi’s Sodom ve ‘Somare Sodom and Gomerrah) (878) dicted the Ottoman elite of stanbul Inthe days immediately following World War Las decadent and hedonistic, in particular stressing the immorality of those elite wemen who thought nothing of throwing themselves into the foreign occupies’ beds. Peyamt Safa, Hlseyin Ralmt Girpinar, Halide Edip Adar, and other wel-etown writers also wsed sexual motifs in support of moral or political theses in ‘heir works, Such inetrrmentalzation of xual often pays an portent tle in the construction of gender and its enforcement for example, de- Dieting women asthe yardstick af a society's virtue and morality inevitably Invites social and even legal measures to contol them and olinit womens {oedom to do wth their bodies as they please, The essentially desexualized ideal woman of many revolutionary movements, notably the Kemalist in Turkey, sa consequonce of such thinking ati literature inthe Republic of Turkey has taken several forms. One is popular history, starting with Ahmet Resim’ ul tik (Prostitution i the (ld Days) (140/922) ard Refik Ahmet (Seven) istanbul Nei lenyor ‘5. Topa,"Meneten canbe seen Avan Cebit 1-2 ‘boi andi, Sows teres Coos rages ona Che eric ott GH) 3-50(om tabu had Fu) (1527) and conning some decades ater wth the ‘more rl lating book of Gata Uta, Rega hen Kap, and ers Ths gene is very much lve today in the works of Ergun Higa, Meal Adal, em Ok, Sema Nigun Edo, se smal Metin ani thediferene that thes authors are mich urter removed ro hr > Jectmatter than vere thei pragscesors, and this distance shows et) in thelr writings. The extceaton ofthe Ottoman pas in republican orks of popular history bolster relatively egltarin gender reatlons ty rep reset the world of harem, conestines, and polygamy a foreign snd Strange An intersting subcategory ofthis genre is stork cote com ics lite Sut Vals Karna tng in 196) snd Seagin Barak's Tarkan (eating i 967), n wh steamy love scenes with sly non Tukah womenare part ofthe tore dstinlly nationale bent” Turan Segue ‘Ahdieanba arin in 1957) iso Both historel and ue sx, ee ‘lly in ater incarnations, but ttl veveretndee, the observe rudy of ts feral caracters tenet a declaration of feed. ‘nother inportant genre isthe republican period is the sale “vi lage literature which typically represents the cash between rich but Inrlss landlords and poor bo nble peas exalts 3 como ‘manifestation ofthis socio-economic struggle, inthe shape ofthe powerful Inyclon'sefors toposes aviruous peas lwo in ve wih oe ther low villagers. nation, however some work of vlog eeratre fre self consciously ere, notaiy Neca Gamal Ay Byte pana {cannot lep when the Moons Waxing) (1989) andNevaat Ost pla (aed (70 lke cl Paes tet Tare the peasants depicted bere aresimple and lustful but rather han beng cade they are oppressed, Indeed, theundeiying theme in Caals ad Ustus works the vlence af est: both women and men are sensuous and desirous ofeach ther, tnd they ar ling arable to expres therelves both emctonaly and Pilly, bt they Ineitably ron fl of he “prin” societal noms that oppress ther ndvdual men smetines resort unspeskable ra tality wheter in he frm of ape or boner ling, they aes much the victims ofestom asthe women they maim and murder. swith popular bistory,hee toe the oppression of women ie dspace onto an "othe this tme the peasantryand thst is a mite Bessing! onthe ne band sxkinap street les eeu bt on ke ‘ter feminism soa degre demobilized by making women oprerion someone else's problem. . tre cath ote arn sb OY, 100tn contrat to Comal and Uta some contemporary authors hie fo- cused on urban hfe and the seal sllenstion that characterises ray Felitonhips there: iis not castor that stands nthe way of seca all Inert yout anorysty and ierperonal distance, Yost Aga = ‘nayre Ol Tne Homeland Hotel (97) deserbes the deadening ex tence of sal tv hotel lr whoa sex fe ied in evestoplng, on botel gusts compulsive masturbation, an oecasinal romps wi he ‘lemigranchambermalé—iho however seeps through tote sessions, or tea retest do son Gan alan on ol (a Hera of Si) (97) the protagonist sin miner danger of bing mpi for some pola offese and experiences leaking this mires. Munya 4 metaphor or the freedom hes bout ose the aoa and Chimy sexe a nthe wifes on the other handsets an ap meta- thor forthe enon ner Iie he less even outide of przon Ahmet tans sadl eh rac onthe Water 989) reson groupes Talents who, while sexual sce, have austaed Iaeclogel comm mene end pital ation for sentiment and whom peer presi within the ‘organisation and torture at the hands of ecry forces have combined > turn nto emotional cripples in adn Ka Tbe Book of Women (98), Ned Gil eltesin risa deal th sexe akeningf erat Mvestoing anit ng sel n Kaa complote thts recalecton this mother and drunken vats olavest-rangerothes he theme of putrefactionpermete is accourt whather he desrising the yor spoilt, intentionally or not, he reliions between en ard ‘women in these books emg a they do between unsating and patho- Tegal arate biter esique of genderetions in soc st ge “hemes of geder-bending and fuldserlty dominate ag Has Foal oman ely aly Lerman) (96) an Hao ann Va adame ‘co, Wow (nt). ae ler apearacesin suber tbe n= is. The mow important msnstream writer to give extensive coverage 1 Sevualy, an has argued In such Books of ean ng See? (which Sex) (1976), a ar, Yes eter (False Women False Me) (185), ana (Womes Wa) (952) thatthe ie octal and co fuer society ae eroding sexual dmerphism and incening)y lending to fn indeterminacy of ender and sexuality However, focsing primary on female transite at lsbans, hear ot gne ey fr bjod the tad ‘onal bute femme stereotypes Pare, Rest tren Koga desrbed with ‘elth male nd female inpersontos during the Otoman pid In Bek ela (scline ir) (0962) ad Et lone Weyhanelr Ye Mekane gn (ove an Taveon Dancers nO ietanbl) Go4) expose For is part Murathan Monga hat wellten on homoerotic theme Sch‘THE TURKISH STUDIES ASSOCIATION JOURNAL / 2-2 2000) rmasterfl story and novella collections ae Son ston (the Last eter (G5e5) and on vel (War trl) (0988). ‘An interesting development during the last few decades has ben the emergence of 2 signifcart umber of women authors whose writings artain an inpotat erotic dimension. Sac books the enormous in fuel adn Aas Yt (rhe Woman as No Name 99) and Aside A da Yok Fact There I No Lave iter (358) by Duygu Azona, Beye. A (tye Lave That Would Not End 196) by Par Ka ep Agia (Love ‘Mis Corespondence) (988) by Leyla ri Ek tulr Dead Male eds) (1993) bye el Gen tim amon Che Novel of Te Young Gir) (2002) by Perinan age, Onis inl ie Beutlwitsn)(991) by Bend tat Mere Privat Forbidden) (200) by Ef SalakHanene iy ja che Moon Wl Rise Over Your Dwelling) (333) by ebnem gaze, 2 well as certa work by Maltem Akan, Ash ErdoBa, Fran alg), Sevgs Soya, Adalat Afsoghs, Tenor a, Ltfe Tekin and Nal Ey Cn” tain sometines exp sexs mater "Not al these writers can be si to ave yoled a specially “female point o view but some have done so, and their works cfr sgniicary From those oftheirmale counterparts nthe works of many male authors irs’ Reinke Rab-fonaecharacersar constructed in terms of “thoes and funciona afllto te male characters by contrast some ‘women authors have crested fomalechracters that not ony stand on tele {n but deseribe such recogrzabe experiences as cilhod seal suse, iit love afar, violent relationships, semua desire for other women, sxhnued of thom ed Ths sin ote ore ‘ecesaly autobiographical in Haene Ay Dap (vhich was ba the autores wen fs publshed) for tstance, Seber sige wes {Sout incest, prsittion rape and even necrophilia, alln jst over 10 apes! Rathe these authors generally use seal dysfaetion to aiulatea Etigueofsxist society era whole. Tel taclling of themes ke the impos Silty fora woman to achieve Independence an preserve selood within tariage, the rst of socal non nd seual vlence against wornen tas ead them with avery bron readership. "Though individual poets ie Orban Vet Kak, Bedi Rahm Eytbogly, Necip Taal Ksstvek, kan Berk, Sls Bro, Metin ll, Comal Seve, ard ters have writen some sexually charged poems, ii dificult © Speak of contemporary Turkish erotic posty = dict category. Ory afew posts have consistently sought erate expression in ther works Of these, Atlan es articalted he same gander bending theres ase “Serie (Lovemaking the Forbidden Way) 96), Ble i Semnk (To Love Like This) (1577), and other collins of poems, as rn throug te novels rmentonedate As forkgkiskendrs depot, age compared 10‘of word games that stretch lnguage well eyond its limits, uses eroticism {35 jst one weapon smong many ins hic attack agaist authority in ach transparently titled books as Erika (1991) and Baka (2000), [Final Note Not long ago I wrote a preface for Kitap Yaymew's reissue ofthe early republican erotic magezine in i Suse™ Though modest in both length and Scope, my preface received a great deal of attention inthe Turkish press— Cartainlyincomparahly morethan anything had writen before. wondered hy that was so, and came tothe conclusion that a particular theme that runs through the preface had resonated with mary people living in Terkey tod: the non-existence of a deep, unbridgeable chasm betwoen their an- ‘ests sense of morally and behavior between the sheets ad thei ov, ‘Ata time when the eins of Tarkey are relentesly being tested up ‘sping pst generations an ond lacking it sem that my preface came Lay people ate often amazed to find that their generation didnt “n= vent” erotia after al that sexually explicit art and Iterature not only existed inthe past but sometimes did eo at higher levels than in te pres tent f Ottoman and Turkish erotic Iterture cannot quite compete wit, 5, Arabic French, Indian or Japanese erties in term of there vate, [stl trae thatthe works that do exst have auch to teach us, terms of pas lifestyles and aspirations, realities and fantasies, values and morality, Conceptions and misconceptions. And, ofcourse, they are so much a to read! Scholars lke Everett K, Rowson, Abdelwakab Boukdiba, Edgar Weber, Lorenzo Decich, J. Christoph Birgel, and others have writen extensively shout abi eo eratre may her es be mulped i the Tks Sein Com seek, “any in en i a 2-24 abl don rah eh, Ger rl tent tap yo, 05), 9-25 109