Felatun Bay ile Rakim Efendi
Citation: Ahmet, Mithat, Melih Levi, and Monica M. Ringer. Felâtun Bey and Râkım Efendi: An Ottoman Novel. , 2016. Internet resource.
Author: Ahmet Mithat Efendi / The newspaper Tercüman-ı Hakikat was owned by an archetypical print capitalist, Ahmed Midhat Efendi.44 An interesting (and prodigiously prolific) late Ottoman intellectual, he was a correspondent and impassioned promoter of Fatma Aliye and one of the first Ottomans to write consistently about gender.45 In novels, short stories, and opinion pieces, he repeatedly called for measures to improve the condition of Ottoman women.
Context: “Felatun Bey and Rakım Efendi” by Ahmet Mithat is one of the earliest examples of the Ottoman novel and it is today seen as the representative work of the era. First published in 1875, this didactic book contrasts the lives of the two eponymous central characters to explore possible models of social change. Felatun Bey and Rakım Efendi are young men in Istanbul, both comfortable in the Ottoman capital’s fashionable European milieu.
Summary:
Characters:
Felatun Bay - philanderer, attempts to do everything alafranga but makes slip-ups since he hasn't committed adequate time to his education.
Rakim Efendi - paragon of gentlemanly intellect. All of the women in the novel become, at some point or another, enamored with him.
Canan - Rakim's concubine who originally has a sisterly relationship with him, but they eventually fall in love. "Let me be a servant at your house, a piece of ash in your oven ... Let me be your slave ..."
Themes:
The book is usually held up as exhibiting the cliche western/Eastern foil characters, but the majority of the text is taken up with the amorous twists of Rakim's many lady friends, who all think he is amazing, because he is really polite and learned.
Quotes:
