Türk Edebiyatında Kadınların Gezi Kitapları

Abstract

Travel books have long been overshadowed by other genres in world literature, remained almost entirely under male authors’ dominion, whether deliberately or inadvertently. Across nearly every region of the globe, the constraints on women’s public engagement also limited their freedom to travel. As a result, female travellers encountered substantial hurdles when documenting their journeys, leading to the publication of only a few works. A similar pattern appears in Turkish travel literature: Women’s travel writings were often neglected, dismissed as outside the realm of legitimate travel texts, and faded into the background. This thesis aims to reveal the historical and literary significance of works that, even when acknowledged within the travel literature, have largely been minimised in academic studies. Although frequently categorised as a memoir, biographies, or correspondence, these texts fundamentally depict Turkish women’s travel experiences and, in essence, function as any other travel book. Focusing on the period from the 19th century to the 1950s, this research examines seventeen travel books covering the travels of twelve women writers to various parts of the world in the context of the period, geography and social gender roles. In the introduction of the thesis, the transformation of the term "travel" throughout history and the definition of travel literature are emphasized. The first chapter, titled "The History of Travel Literature," discusses the history of world travel literature and Turkish travel literature. The second chapter, titled "The History of Women Travelers," explores the history of women's travel literature worldwide. In the sections "Domestic Travel Books by Turkish Women" and "International Travel Books by Turkish Women," travel books written by Turkish women until 1950 are examined. Listed in chronological order, the examined works include: Fatma Fahrünnisa Hanım, 1896 Baharında Bursa (1896), Zeynep Hanım, Bir Türk Kadınının Avrupa İzlenimleri (2001), Emine Semiye (Önasya), Kalem Tecrübeleri (1908), Halide Edib Adıvar, Mor Salkımlı Ev (1963), Şaziye Berin, Bir Osmanlı Kızının Almanya Günlüğü (2020), Halide Edib Adıvar, Türk’ün Ateşle İmtihanı (1962), Selma Ekrem, Peçeye İsyan (1930), Halide Edib Adıvar, “Yolculuk Notları” (1924) and Hindistan’a Dair (1935), Lütfiye Duran, Bir Türk Kızının Amerika Yolculuğu (1935), Şükûfe Nihal Başar, Finlandiya (1935), Suat Derviş, Anlar Paramparça (1937), Rebia Tevfik Başokçu, Paris Cehenneminden Nasıl Kurtuldum? (1941), Avrupa’da Yirmi Senem Nasıl Geçti? (1942) and Hür Yunanistan ve Bulgaristan’da Gördüklerim (1944), Süreyya Ağaoğlu, Londra’da Gördüklerim (1946) and II. Dünya Savaşı Sonrası Amerika Günlüğü (1946), Şükûfe Nihal Başar, Domaniç Dağları’nın Yolcusu (1946), Hasene Ilgaz, Kıbrıs Notları (1949), Nermin Abadan, Yeşil Göller Diyarı (1950). At the end of the thesis, travel books published by Turkish women between 1896 and 202 5 are presented in a table, arranged in chronological order.