Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Love, Marriage, And Motherhood: Changing Expectations Of Women In Late Ottomanistanbul, Pelin Basci

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines the early work of famous novelist Halide Edip Adıvar against the background of public discussions on women and gender in late-Ottoman society. Gender relations and women's issues constituted a fertile ground for the debate about social transformation. Edip and her feminist peers wrote about passionate love, companionship in marriage, the significance of motherhood, and women's legal rights in their works. This reflects women's vision of new gender relations and provides evidence for their contributions to the forging of Turkish modernity prior to the founding of the Turkish Republic. It also illustrates the hybrid nature of culture, which …