Description of the visual art objects in Evliyâ Çelebi‘s book of travels: an ekphrastic approach
Author
Kaya, Nilay
Advisor
Tezcan, Nuran
Date
2016-06Publisher
Bilkent University
Language
English
Type
ThesisItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
As a part of the ancient Greek and Roman rhetorical practices, ekphrasis
basically means the verbalisation of a visual object, and it has become a literary tool
in time. Since the description of Achilles‘ shield in Homer‘s İlliad, ekphrasis has
been a frequently used literary practice which writers, historians, art critics apply.
Ekphrasis can be applied as the description of visual art objects through the fictional
forms such as poetry and novel as well as it occurs in the prose concerning history,
art criticism and travelogues; it is studied in order to analyse writer's handling with
the description of the object. Ekphrasis studies enable to capture the writer's
relationship between objectivity and subjectivity, the elements of his/her expressed
subjectivity, through literary tools. This study will examine Evliyâ Çelebi's
"ekphrastic" approach in describing mosques, churches and monasteries, paintings
and sculptures in Seyahatnâme (The Book of Travels), especially focusing on how
the subjective factors determining the writer‘s aesthetic appreciation occur in his
literary practice. What kind of a fictive language does ekphrasis, which is essentially
the act of making the silent image talk, show in Evliyâ Çelebi's representation? What
are the characters of the new images created by this language, which is independent
from the original objects, in other sense the images which Evliyâ created on his own
way? How does the reflection of personal taste and cultural positioning affect
aesthetic view of Evliyâ Çelebi‘s "ekphrastic" narrative? This questioning aims to
observe how the aesthetic view of Seyahatnâme's author takes shape and to be a
model of an approach to put forth the new literary qualities of Seyahatnâme's in the
light of ekphrasis study. The problem of "ekphrasis" enables Seyahatnâme which has
been already a study topic for various social sciences, to be evaluated in the
discipline of fiction more widely. As the issue concerns basically the relationship
between visuality and writing, it would bring a new interdisciplinary approach to
Seyahatnâme studies.
Keywords
Evliyâ ÇelebiSeyahatnâme (The Book of Travels)
Ekphrasis
Aesthetic view
Visuality and literature