A Subtle Crtique Of Westernization by Şinasi Hisar: Ali Nizami Bey’in Alafrangalığı ve Şeyhliği

One of the popular issue in Turkish novel since Tanzimat years is the Westernization of upper class men. This issue that named as “Bihruz Bey syndrome” by Şerif Mardin in his article, “Excessive Westarnization After Tanzimat” brings a prototype: Western Style dandy. There are many examples to this prototype, like Felatun Bey in Felatun Bey ve Rakım Efendi by Ahmet Mithat Efendi, Meftun Bey in Şıpsevdi by Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar and of course Bihruz Bey in Araba Sevdası by Recaizade Mahmut Ekrem. Also Abdülhak Şinasi Hisar’s novel, Ali Nizami Bey’in Alafrangalığı ve Şeyhliği includes the same problem. As a story, we read a man who likes luxury and comfartable life. During the novel he gets poor for his generous and lost his capitals and becames a Bektaşi sheikh by changing his going on. This novel is completely based on a man’s perception of life and struggle to structure his life in modernitiy-tradition clash. In this article, it is analyzing that how the reader looks Turkish Westernization and how the main character, Ali Nizami Bey shows an example of Westernization. The essential question is what the thesis of this novel: To show a correctly sample with a character who coverted to Islam or to show a tragicomic results of endless ambiguity that has being since Tanzimat? It is studying to find an answer to this problem in this article.

Keywords

Period of Tanzimat, Westernization, Dandy, Turkish Novel