Register for a CSMC lecture

Thursday, 27 June 2024, 2:15 pm – 4:00 pm CEST

Warburgstraße 26, 20354 Hamburg, room 0001, and online

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Written by the Folks: A Material Exploration of Popular Storybooks from the Last Ottoman Manuscript Age

Elif Sezer (Koç University)

The materiality of Ottoman manuscripts has mostly been investigated through patron-based produced, professionally copied, and lavishly illustrated manuscripts. The huge bulk of manuscripts with popular content that circulated among the reading circles of urban folks -such as mosque visitors, Sufi dervishes, or coffeehouse customers - is still waiting to be explored with a material approach. Addressing this research gap, this talk discusses the materiality of storybook manuscripts written and circulated in 18th and 19th-century Ottoman Istanbul. With their characteristically obsolete bindings, torn-out pages, and modest-looking scripts, this corpus reflects the social-cultural context in which they were produced. For example, the reused fragments while rebinding, or the excessive use of any space outside the text block by the readers reflect the collectivity and interactivity in the composition of these manuscripts. The dominant reading practice around this corpus -reading aloud in front of an audience- is evident in the use of colored ink, decipherable script, and lack of embellishments. Therefore, through a close examination of the material aspects of these manuscripts, this lecture will illuminate the reading and writing culture of urban common people in Ottoman Istanbul and contribute thus to the studies on manuscript cultures.

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