The Sentimental Education of the Young Ottoman Man: Aşıkane

Abstract

Mehmet Rauf’s 1909 work Âşıkane is a gateway to the sentimental education of that period’s young, educated Ottoman man. It comprises three stories: “A Dance Competition at Summer Palas” (Summer Palas’ta Bir Müsamere-i Raksiye), “Serap” (Mirage), and “Youth Love” (Garam-ı Şebab). Similar to Mehmet Rauf’s previous works, these stories revolve around love and passion. By giving the title Âşıkane, Mehmet Rauf has invented the Ottoman equivalent of the concept of sentimental education. The three stories of Âşıkane present the position of men in relation to women and the ways in which their position transforms them into “lovers.” They are not just in love but are bodies embodying emotions that speak, think, dream, and write about love. These lovers use a language that prioritizes their actions to describe passion and desire. This language exists through desire and is expressed through an implied relationship between desire and youth. Consequently, these lovers demonstrate the relation of sentimental education to that which is spiritual/poetic and bodily while conveying the ways for the youth’s sentimental education.