Research Article

A STUDY OF NOVEL READING IN MUHÂDARÂT

Volume: 8 Number: 4 December 31, 2025
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A STUDY OF NOVEL READING IN MUHÂDARÂT

Abstract

This study examines the impact of novel reading to understand how literacy shaped cultural norms, considering the institutions that promoted reading in late Ottoman society. As opportunities for women's education expanded and the Ottoman elite's awareness of its importance grew, a larger female readership emerged. This shift brought both an increased literary presence for women and concerns about the influence of novel-reading on women. In this article, I aim to explore how novel reading was viewed in late Ottoman society and the role that fictional portrayals of women readers played in both reinforcing and challenging perceptions of novel reading. First, the perception of women’s engagement with novels in the late nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire is examined. Next, how Fatma Aliye Hanım addresses concerns about women reading novels in Muhâdarât (1891) is discussed. Muhâdarât is the first text written by a female writer that openly engages with the perception of the dangerous effects of reading, particularly novel reading, on women. It is argued that, by providing positive fictional representations of the woman reader, Muhâdarât encodes women’s education and the reading of novels as means of empowerment.

Keywords

References

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  6. Berkes, N. (1964). The Development of Secularism in Turkey. McGill University Press.
  7. Bratlinger, P. (1998). The Reading Lesson: The Threat of Mass Literacy in Nineteenth-Century British Fiction. Indiana University Press.
  8. Davidson, C. N. (1986). Revolution and the Word: The Rise of the Novel in America. Oxford University Press.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Literary Studies (Other)

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

December 31, 2025

Submission Date

August 7, 2025

Acceptance Date

December 20, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 2025 Volume: 8 Number: 4

APA
Yıldız Bağçe, H. (2025). A STUDY OF NOVEL READING IN MUHÂDARÂT. Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat Ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi, 8(4), 1927-1938. https://doi.org/10.37999/udekad.1760118
AMA
1.Yıldız Bağçe H. A STUDY OF NOVEL READING IN MUHÂDARÂT. Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi. 2025;8(4):1927-1938. doi:10.37999/udekad.1760118
Chicago
Yıldız Bağçe, Hülya. 2025. “A STUDY OF NOVEL READING IN MUHÂDARÂT”. Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat Ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi 8 (4): 1927-38. https://doi.org/10.37999/udekad.1760118.
EndNote
Yıldız Bağçe H (December 1, 2025) A STUDY OF NOVEL READING IN MUHÂDARÂT. Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi 8 4 1927–1938.
IEEE
[1]H. Yıldız Bağçe, “A STUDY OF NOVEL READING IN MUHÂDARÂT”, Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 1927–1938, Dec. 2025, doi: 10.37999/udekad.1760118.
ISNAD
Yıldız Bağçe, Hülya. “A STUDY OF NOVEL READING IN MUHÂDARÂT”. Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi 8/4 (December 1, 2025): 1927-1938. https://doi.org/10.37999/udekad.1760118.
JAMA
1.Yıldız Bağçe H. A STUDY OF NOVEL READING IN MUHÂDARÂT. Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi. 2025;8:1927–1938.
MLA
Yıldız Bağçe, Hülya. “A STUDY OF NOVEL READING IN MUHÂDARÂT”. Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat Ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi, vol. 8, no. 4, Dec. 2025, pp. 1927-38, doi:10.37999/udekad.1760118.
Vancouver
1.Hülya Yıldız Bağçe. A STUDY OF NOVEL READING IN MUHÂDARÂT. Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi. 2025 Dec. 1;8(4):1927-38. doi:10.37999/udekad.1760118

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