Ottoman Empire
Many of the writers in the Tanzimat period wrote in several different genres simultaneously: for instance, the poet Namik Kemal also wrote the important 1876 novel Intibah ("Awakening"), while the journalist Ibrahim Sinasi is noted for writing, in 1860, the first modern Turkish play, the one-act comedy "Sair Evlenmesi" ("The Poet's Marriage"). An earlier play, a farce entitled "Vakayi'-i 'Acibe ve Havadis-i Garibe-yi Kefsger Ahmed" ("The Strange Events and Bizarre Occurrences of the Cobbler Ahmed"), dates from the beginning of the 19th century, but there remains some doubt about its authenticity. In a similar vein, the novelist Ahmed Midhat Efendi wrote important novels in each of the major movements: Romanticism (Hasan Mellah yahud Sirr Icinde Esrar, 1873; "Hasan the Sailor, or The Mystery Within the Mystery"), Realism (Henuz On Yedi Yasinda, 1881; "Just Seventeen Years Old"), and Naturalism (Musahedat, 1891; "Observations"). This diversity was, in part, due to the Tanzimat writers' wish to disseminate as much of the new literature as possible, in the hopes that it would contribute to a revitalization of Ottoman social structures.
What did Ibrahim Sinasi write in 1860?
the one-act comedy "Sair Evlenmesi" ("The Poet's Marriage").
Many of the writers in the Tanzimat period wrote in several different genres simultaneously: for instance, the poet Namik Kemal also wrote the important 1876 novel Intibah ("Awakening"), while the journalist Ibrahim Sinasi is noted for writing, in 1860, the first modern Turkish play, the one-act comedy "Sair Evlenmesi" ("The Poet's Marriage"). An earlier play, a farce entitled "Vakayi'-i 'Acibe ve Havadis-i Garibe-yi Kefsger Ahmed" ("The Strange Events and Bizarre Occurrences of the Cobbler Ahmed"), dates from the beginning of the 19th century, but there remains some doubt about its authenticity.
Ibrahim Sinasi