The Traces of Turkish Culture in Lord Byron's The Giaour

SEBER H.

BILIG, sa.74, ss.199-218, 2015 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Basım Tarihi: 2015
  • Dergi Adı: BILIG
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.199-218
  • Hacettepe Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Between 1809-1811 Lord Byron visited Albania and Greece that were under the Ottoman rule, and also a vast territory of western Turkey including Istanbul, Izmir and the Dardanelles. He had a firsthand knowledge of our culture and employed it in his works. The Giaour, A Fragment of a Turkish Tale, the first one among Byron's "Turkish Tales", is a significant work due to its rich Turkish cultural elements. The main story of this long dramatic poem is based on a story that Byron heard from a story teller in a coffee house, and also an event that he is said to have been personally involved in. The narration consists of four different points of view, one of which belongs to a fisherman who tells most of the story reflecting the values and beliefs of his society. This study, therefore, aims to illustrate and discuss the traces of Turkish culture in The Giaour for an assessment of the aspects of the Ottoman-Turkish society observed by Byron.