Review of Ottomania by Elif Batuman

Elif Batuman is from Turkish parents born in New York in 1977, she is at the same time a Writer, an academic, and an journalist.

Alumnus of Harvard, Butuman join Stanford's University to expolre her passion for russian literature and language where she obtained her doctorate in the department of literature. She studied the ouzbèke literature to Samarcande, in Uzbekistan. In 2007, she received  the writers Whiting Rona Jaffe Writers Prize Foundation. In 2010, The Persons possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and people who read them published summer. The first book that she published is The Possessed, how became finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award 2010, and obtained the Second place for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award. She was a writer at Koç University for 3 Years from 2010 to 2013.  In 2011, she received the Prize Terry Southern Pour the humor. The first book that she published is The Possessed, how became finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award 2010, and obtained the Second place for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award. She was a writer at Koç University for 3 Years from 2010 to 2013.  And she is also a staff writer since 2010 for the New Yorker, she wrote the article Ottomania in 2014 Batuma speaks about own experiences and historical facts as a review of a hit TV Show how reimagines Turkey’s imperial past.

Ottomania article make it hard for you too understand at first that it is a review about the TV show of “Magnificent Century” hugely successful in Turkey and internationally. Ottomania as a title combine two words to explain a phenomenon coming from the etymology of „Ottoman“ : Empire created by Turkish tribes in Anatolia at the end of the 13th century how became one of the largest and longest lasting Empires in history, with the word „mania“ who mean „madness“ in Latin from the word„mainesthai "be mad".

Ottomania" is going very popular since the end of the 1990’s in Turkey. After decades during which modern Turkey lost interest this reversal is rather unexpected in Turkey: during of long decades, the Turks observed suspiciously all which was a matter of the Ottoman inheritance. If he was popular to preserve a certain nostalgia for the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the excesses of the sultans were considered on no account as a model for modern Turkey. " It is the subject of real contesting: that represents Ottoman Empire for Turkey ", explains Donald Quataert, author of " Ottoman Empire, on 1700-1922 ". "They discuss it for 100 years ". Ottoman Empire is now fashionable, with an exhibition of poetry at the airport of Istanbul, a show how take place near the palace of Topkapi or the fashion of the "Ottoman" Cusine.  And the best to explain this phenomenon is the historical fiction television series ‘The Magnificent Century’. Batuman tell us the about the position of “Magnificent Century” is taking as a social and political influence witch causes some political debates regarding the way the countries history is pictured. The show is "The Tudors" Turkish version.

 

The series tells The Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent's history which carried his power and the magnificence of the Ottoman Empire in its peak while Rennaissance was going full swing in Europe. Here is the everyday life of the Ottoman court, the intrigues of palace, the conquests. In spite of the inevitable shortcuts and the clichés, the series remains rather faithful to the history: Soliman reigns since Istanbul over a powerful empire in the prosperous civilization, helped by Ibrahim, his faithful vizier, inseparable friend who will become even his brother-in-law by marrying the sister of its master to impose his son as the successor.

 

The Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent represented in the turkish Art 

Elif Batuman explain in the the text that that Erdoğan’s main goals is achieve through the show  making a powerful, religious involved version of Turkey. In the text Batuman also makes caricatures academic figures of the domain of the literature. By organizing the experiment of the reader with texts, her vision to create a fanciful dream. She take us with humor and a slightly simple writen but educated text inside her vision of popular culture in turkey. Batuman connects its narrative with one or several books and and article, witch gives it quotations, and compares it with other papers which is the best for me the best way to write. I got out of it more intelligent and with the smile. I learn about the Westernisation of Turkey how started in 1923 to go give a turn back to the old regime with Ottomania as a trend how is nowadays a with implications on domestic politics. I also understood better the Republic of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the Nationalist Identity character of it.