The Ottoman Empire and Its Heritage, an Ottoman Mentality: The World of Evliya Gelebi

In his huge travel account, Evliya Celebi provides materials for getting at Ottoman perceptions of the world, not only in areas like geography, topography, administration, urban institutions, and social and economic systems, but also in such domains as religion, folklore, sexual relations, dream interpretation, and conceptions of the self. In six chapters the author examines: Evliya's treatment of Istanbul and Cairo as the two capital cities of the Ottoman world; his geographical horizons and notions of tolerance; his attitudes toward government, justice and specific Ottoman institutions; his social status as gentleman, character type as dervish, office as caller-to-prayer and avocation as traveller; his use of various narrative styles; and his relation with his audience in the two registers of persuasion and amusement. An Afterword situates Evliya in relation to other intellectual trends in the Ottoman world of the seventeenth century. Turkish writer Evliya (1611-82), born on the Golden Horn and raised in the sultan's palace, spent some 40 years traveling throughout the extensive territory of the Ottoman empire and into the surrounding regions, and left an huge account of his travels, the Seyahatname divided into ten books. A Latin translation is in process, now on the eighth book; no plans are afoot for a complete English edition. Dankoff combines his writings with other contemporary sources to profile Evliya as a man of Istanbul, a man of the world, servitor of the sultan, gentleman and dervish, raconteur, and reporter and entertainer. He includes a glossary with brief hints on pronunciation. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR