ASP Lecture. "The Language of One, the Script of the Other: Early Armeno-Turkish Novels and Ottoman/Turkish Literary Historiography."

Co-sponsored by CMENAS. Part of the Fall 2012 LSA Translation Theme Semester.

In this talk Cankara will focus on three early Turkish novels in the Armenian script. These novels, written between 1851 and 1868 by Ottoman Armenians, have so far been ignored in Ottoman/Turkish literary historiography. In order to make a critique of historiography and to place these Armeno-Turkish novels into a historical and literary context Cankara will cover the following topics: the issue of cultural encounter between Ottoman Armenians and Muslim/Turks with special emphasis on script and historiography of the late Ottoman Empire; an introduction to some basic features of Armeno-Turkish novels; a literary comparison between these three novels and early Turkish novels written by Muslim/Turks with special emphasis on the appropriation of romanticism; a brief overview on some major problems and theoretical tools for students of Armeno-Turkish.