About the Project
The project will apply new digital tools and methods now under development at the University of Washington to the creation of a digital edition of the original 1546 version of the Tezkere (poet biographies) of Laṭīfī; The only modern edition of the Tezkere is based on a substantially rewritten version that appears in finished form only in 1574, some 8 years; the appearance of Āşıḳ Çelebi’s tezkere, Meşā’irü’ş-Şu’arā. In this context, the edition will fill a serious gap in published sources for the history of Ottoman literature and the development of Ottoman prose style. The project is also preparing for publication digital stylistics studies and visualizations based on the manuscript history of the Latifi Tezkere.
This project is being developed with the assistance of Newbook Digital Texts directors Prof. Walter G. Andrews and Prof. Sarah Ketchley.
Principal Investigator Assoc. Prof. Ayse Tarhan
Project Goals
The Latifi Tezkere is a significant resource for Ottoman literary history, criticism and literature. Latifi’s Tezkere has two different recensions: the original version which appears in 1546 and a extensively revised and rewritten version represented by two manuscripts dated 1574 and 1575. Currently there is no edition of the 1546 version of the original tezkere and the development of style and content differences between the two versions has not been adequately studied. The only modern critical edition of the Tezkere, which combines the two recensions and nearly 30 years of development, is treated as if it were the original 1546 version by scholars and has taken its place as a primary source in the study of Ottoman literature. However, this is the source of significant misconceptions. As a result, research conducted based on this edition of the Latifi Tezkere, including articles and theses, has led to incorrect conclusions. The two different recensions, from two different eras are actually two key sources that represent changes in life style, entertainment, pleasures, aesthetics perception and human profiles of Ottomon social life within a 28 year period.. The goals of this project are to shed light on the development of prose style of the tezkere (poet biographies) genre by examining the history of the Latifi Tezkere and to provide researchers with a digital transcription of the 1546 recension that will serve as primary source for future work on 16th century Ottoman literature.
In the first phase of the project, the H.953/1546 dated Latifi Tezkere will be transcribed into a digital text that researchers can use as a reliable primary source. This transcription will be published digitally on-line in both the Arabic/Ottoman and Latin alphabets.
The second phase of the Latifi Project will be a computer-assisted stylistic analysis of the Ottoman prose tradition as exemplified by the two recensions of the Latifi tezkere. Although digital tools for stylistic analysis exist in several languages, especially English, no such tools have been developed for Turkish. This is a major shortcoming for Turkish and Ottoman literary studies. The Latifi Project will take a major step toward closing this gap.
The 16th Century Ottoman Prose Style and a Latifi Stylistic Analysis Tool
A study of stylistic variation in the two major versions of the Latifi Tezkere and their relation to Âşık Çelebi’s Meşâ‘irü’ş-Şuarâ
A computer-assisted comprehensive study focused on the second half of the 16th century is planned for the second phase. It will demonstrate historical changes in style based on the extension and development of the preliminary work done during the first phase of the project. This study will feature a comparison and evaluation of literary styles in both recensions of Latifi’s tezkere and Âşık Çelebi’s Meşâ‘irü’ş-Şuarâ employing existing stylistic analysis programs.
The Latifi Project will use the Kâtib/Scribe reversible transcription tool developed at the University of Washington by the Newbook Digital Texts group for its Ottoman Turkish-related projects (which include the Baki Project and the Latifi Project). Kâtib/Scribe produces Arabic/Ottoman script output and Latin transcription simultaneously from Latin transcription alphabet input. The sample texts in two alphabets created by Kâtib/Scribe are standardized and fundamentally linked so that they can be used to generate a digital index, contextual index, analyses, and visualizations.
The prose tradition stylistics tool to be developed within the scope of Latifi Project will be composed of two different options under four main sections. The fist section will be the “Word Review Option”, the second section will be “Phrase Review Option”, the third section will be “Morphological Review Option” and finally the last section will consist of a “Phonological Review Option (Assonance, Alteration etc.)”. These options will be capable of application to both single and and multiple text formats. Using our model, we will be able to measure the number of letters in the words of the text, the group the words by origin, categorize the words based on their roots, group related words, and conduct structural analyses based on semantic associations revealed by suffixes.
The Tezkere Writer Latifi
Laṭīfī in Âşık Çelebi’s Meşâ’irü’ş-Şuarâ, Meşâ’irü’ş-Şuarâ İstanbul Millet Kütüphanesi Ali Emîrî Tarih 34 Ae Tarih 772, 42a.
Laṭīfī (1491-1582) was an Ottoman bureaucrat and intellectual who lived in the 16th century, considered by many as the golden age of the Ottoman Empire. There is a dearth of information about Laṭīfī’s life. He is said have been an adherent of the family of Hamdi Çelebi, one of the poets of the age of Mehmet the Conqueror. He is also thought to be from the city of Kastomonu in Anatolia, and was descended from the Hatipzade family which is well-known in Kastomonu. There is no record of his education. According to his own account, he was well educated. At the age of 35, thanks to a treatise (risale) he wrote about Istanbul, he was promoted to a position as a government clerk in the European provinces and later served as a clerk in Belgrade at the Endowment of Ebū Ensārī, and in Rhodes in the chancery of the Lawgiver (Sultan Süleyman) Social Welfare Institution. Approaching the age of 80, Laṭīfī was living in Egypt employed in the Imperial bureaucracy. He appears to have returned to Istanbul in the last years of his life but planned to journey to Egypt again and thence to Yemen. Then, in his 90s, on the voyage to Yemen, he drowned, when his ship was sunk in a storm.
The Latifi Tezkeres
A genre of Islamic culture, the biographies of poets (tezkeres) provide information about the poets’ lives and works. The first tezkere in Anatolia is Sehî Bey’s tezkere (1538). This first tezkere was followed by Latifi’s Tezkere written eight years later. The tezkere tradition started by Sehî Bey continued until the 19th Century. The most significant representative and pioneer of the early tradition is Latifi. Latifi wrote the first recension of his tezkere in 1546. He dedicated the Tezkere to Sultan Suleiman. In the Epilogue (Hatime) to this manuscript it is stated that 300 poets are included in the Tezkere but entries were added to the text throughout the MS tradition, some of them clearly derived from marginal notes. The 1574 and 1575 manuscripts (Nur-u Osmaniye and Halet Efendi) should be regarded as a single unique text in draft and final form. New poet entries are added and existing entries and sections are expanded. Moreover, it appears that there are significant differences in language and style.
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