From Palace to Exile: “Dürrüşehvar Sultan’ın Anıları”
VakıfBank Kültür Yayınları (VBKY) brings readers “Dürrüşehvar Sultan’ın Anıları” (The Memoirs of Dürrüşehvar Sultan), written by Lale Uçan. The author offers a fresh interpretation of Doğan, the work written by Dürrüşehvar Sultan, beloved daughter of the last Caliph Abdülmecid Efendi, during different periods of a life that began with exile.
The literature list of VakıfBank Kültür Yayınları (VBKY) continues to grow with Lale Uçan’s “Dürrüşehvar Sultan’ın Anıları”. Dürrüşehvar Sultan, beloved daughter of the last Caliph Abdülmecid Efendi, was born at Bağlarbaşı Pavilion on a cold winter’s day, 27 January 1914. With her large blue eyes and a beauty like a painting fresh from the artist’s brush, her elegance on everyone’s lips, Dürrüşehvar was her father’s most precious treasure. When Abdülmecid Efendi was informed of the decision to abolish the Caliphate, the ten-year-old Dürrüşehvar witnessed the extraordinary commotion at Dolmabahçe Palace. The author reinterprets for today’s readers the text called Doğan, written during different periods of this life that began in exile. In meeting Dürrüşehvar in this book, readers will hold on to her truths and set off on a subtle journey between reality and imagination, memory and reverie.
From the book:
“In explaining her ‘state of mind’ on the road to exile, Dürrüşehvar speaks of two Dürrüşehvars. On one side is the moderate person who acts with reason; on the other, one whose feelings have overtaken her reason, ‘a sensitive, fragile, weeping child.’ She sets this work down on paper ‘by mixing the true legends of the years, finding truth in dreams and dreams in truth.’ In this work, which in her own words ‘consists of depictions’ and spans many years, we as readers witness Dürrüşehvar in many different periods of her life. Simply transcribing the work called Doğan into the transcription alphabet would have done an injustice both to Dürrüşehvar and to the work. For this reason, my primary aim in this study, Bir Prensesin Anıları: Hayal ve Hakikat Arasında Dürrüşehvar Sultan (Memoirs of a Princess: Dürrüşehvar Sultan Between Dream and Reality), was to hold on to Dürrüşehvar’s truth while wandering the corridors of her world of dreams, and to try to reinterpret the book Doğan through close reading. In other words, this study is my attempt, as an outside eye, to describe the world Dürrüşehvar Sultan built between truth and dream. As you will appreciate, this approach is not easy; inevitably one needs a branch to hold on to, and my starting point has been Dürrüşehvar’s truth.”
About the Author
Born in Istanbul, she studied History at Istanbul University’s Faculty of Letters, then completed her master’s degree in the History Department of Boğaziçi University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. She began her doctorate in the History Department of Istanbul University’s Institute of Social Sciences. Her doctoral thesis, supervised by Prof. Dr. Arzu Terzi, was published under the title Halife Abdülmecid Efendi: Zamanın Ruhunun Peşinde Bir Hanedan Mensubu (Caliph Abdülmecid Efendi: A Member of the Dynasty in Pursuit of the Spirit of the Age). Between 2015 and 2024 she taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the History Department of the Faculty of Letters at Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf University. Her research interests centre on Ottoman civilisation and institutions, modern history, the economic, social and cultural history of the late Ottoman period, Ottoman women’s and children’s studies, and biographical writing.
BOOK DETAILS
Publisher: VBKY
Category: Literature
Author: Lale Uçan
Editor: Zeynep Kevser Şerefoğlu Danış
Title: Dürrüşehvar Sultan’ın Anıları
Proofreading: Özge Çiçek Taşkın
Page Layout: Yümna Sarıkaya
Cover: Faruk Özcan
Pages: 272
