Czygan, Christiane – Aynur, Hatice (ed.). Challenging Conventions. Love, Lovers, and Beloveds in Early Modern Ottoman Poetry. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2025. 205 Pages
Abstract
This review examines Challenging Conventions: Love, Lovers, and Beloveds in Early Modern Ottoman Poetry, a volume that explores ʿışk as a key concept in early modern Ottoman literary culture. It discusses how the collection approaches love through social, spiritual, ontological, and poetic perspectives. The review evaluates the book’s thematic organization, interdisciplinary scope, and editorial coherence. By situating individual chapters within the book’s overall structure, it highlights how the volume treats love not only as a literary theme but also as a broader field of intellectual inquiry.
Keywords
Ottoman Literature, Ottoman Poetry, Classical Age, Poetics of Love, Lovers, Beloveds
References
- Andrews, Walter G. Poetry’s Voice, Society’s Song: Ottoman Lyric Poetry. Seattle-London: University of Washington Press, 1985.
- Badiou, Alain. In Praise of Love. interviewed by Nicolas Truong. translated by Peter Bush. New York: The New Press, 2012.
- Czygan, Christiane–Hatice Aynur (ed.). Challenging Conventions: Love, Lovers, and Beloveds in Early Modern Ottoman Poetry. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2025.
- Holbrook, Victoria Rowe, “The Architecture of Mimesis in Plato and in the Quran.” Nesir: Journal of Literary Studies 9 (2025): 29-45.
