Une Approche Géocritique Des Images De l'Anatolie Chez Les Écrivains Français Du Xvıe Au Xıxe Siècle

Abstract

The intimate relations between the Ottoman Empire and France, which started in the 16th century, became a turning point in terms of the two communities getting to know each other. From this century onwards, France sent both ambassadors and important scientists and travellers to the Ottoman lands. Many of them travelled in Anatolian geography and wrote down their impressions and observations of this geography in their works. On the other hand, the exoticism, which has become a trend in art, has opened the doors of different worlds to artists. Writers and poets have used the images of the Orient in their works. In the first part of this study, we will examine the relationship of geographical space with literature and travel writings. We will reveal the general lines of Bertrand Westphal's space-centred literary theory "Geocriticism" and touch on which methods we will use for such an approach. In the second part, we will analyse how Anatolia is perceived and reflected as a geographical space in the travel writings of French travellers and scientists. In the third part, we will focus on the traces of Anatolian geography in the fictional world of French literature and examine how Anatolian spaces are handled in works of novel, poetry and play of writers such as Rabelais, Joachim du Bellay, Étienne Jodelle, François Malherbe, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Alfred de Musset and Jules Verne. As a result of all our work, by using the analysis methods suggested by Geocriticism, we will try to reveal how the Anatolian geography is reflected in the literary works of French writers and what kind of Anatolian space is manifested in travel writings.