Ahmet Mithat (1844 – 28 December 1912) was an Ottoman journalist, author, translator and publisher during the

Tanzimat The Tanzimat (; ota, تنظيمات, translit=Tanzimāt, lit=Reorganization, ''see'' nizām) was a period of reform in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Gülhane Hatt-ı Şerif in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 187 ...

period. In his works, he was known as Ahmet Mithat Efendi, to distinguish him from the contemporary politician

Midhat Pasha Ahmed Şefik Midhat Pasha ( ota , احمد شفيق مدحت پاشا, 18 October 1822 – 26 April 1883) was an Ottoman democrat, kingmaker and one of the leading statesmen during the late Tanzimat period. He is most famous for leading the O ...

. Ahmet Mithat Efendi took his name from Ahmed Şefik Midhat Pasha, as he worked for a time as an official and newspaper editor in Midhat Pasha's Vilayet of the Danube. Politically, his orientation was more conservative, compared to writers such as

Namık Kemal Namık Kemal (21 December 1840 – 2 December 1888) was an Ottoman democrat, writer, intellectual, reformer, journalist, playwright, and political activist who was influential in the formation of the Young Ottomans and their struggle for go ...

. He was a prolific writer, more than 250 of his works have survived. From 1878 he published a newspaper entitled ''

Tercüman-ı Hakikat ''Tercüman-ı Hakikat'' ( en, Interpreter of Truth) was a daily newspaper published in Constantinople (today-Istanbul), Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * an ...

'' (Interpreter of Truth). Before that he was one of the contributors of ''

Basiret ''Basiret'' (Ottoman Turkish: ''Insightfulness'') was an Ottoman daily newspaper which was published in Constantinople in the period 1869–1879. It was one of the most read newspapers of that period and had a pan-Islamist approach. History and ...

'', a newspaper published between 1870 and 1879. His editorship and publication of

Olga Lebedeva Olga Lebedeva (née Barshcheva; russian: Ольга Сергеевна Лебедева; 1852 — 193?) was a Russian translator, linguist and Orientalist. She was a founder of the Society of Oriental Studies in St Petersburg. Writing as Madame G� ...

's translations of Russian literature into Turkish served as an introduction of

Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (; russian: Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjurʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲɛrməntəf; – ) was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucas ...

and

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

to Turkey's readership. In addition, he was a patron and teacher to

Fatma Aliye Fatma Aliye Topuz (9 October 1862 – 13 July 1936), often known simply as Fatma Aliye or Fatma Aliye Hanım, was a Turkish novelist, columnist, essayist, women's rights activist and humanitarian. Although there was an earlier published nov ...

, one of the most famous female Ottoman authors. Ahmet Mithat Efendi2

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Hasan Mellâh yâhud Sır İçinde Esrar'' (1874) * ''Dünyaya İkinci Geliş yâhut İstanbul’da Neler Olmuş'' (1875) * ''Hüseyin Fellah'' (1875) * ''Felâtun Bey ile Râkım Efendi'' (1875) * ''Karı-Koca Masalı'' (1875) * ''Paris'de Bir Türk'' (1876) * ''Çengi'' (1877, oyun) * ''Süleyman Musûlî'' (1877) * ''Yeryüzünde Bir Melek'' (1879) * ''Henüz On Yedi Yaşında'' (1881) * ''Karnaval'' (1881) * ''Amiral Bing'' (1881) * ''Vah!'' (1882) * ''Acâib-i Âlem'' (1882) * ''Dürdâne Hanım'' (1882) * ''Esrâr-ı Cinâyât'' (1884) * ''Cellâd'' (1884) * ''Volter Yirmi Yaşında'' (1884) * ''Hayret'' (1885) * ''Cinli Han'' (1885) * ''Çingene'' (1886) * ''Demir Bey yâhud İnkişâf-ı Esrâr'' (1887) * ''Fennî Bir Roman Yâhud Amerika Doktorları'' (1888) * ''Haydut Montari'' (1888) * ''Arnavutlar-Solyotlar'' (1888) * ''Gürcü Kızı yâhud İntikam'' (1888) * ''Nedâmet mi? Heyhât'' (1889) * ''Rikalda yâhut Amerika'da Vahşet Âlemi'' (1889) * ''Aleksandr Stradella'' (1889) * ''Şeytankaya Tılsımı'' (1889) * ''Müşâhedât'' (1890) * ''Ahmed Metin ve Şîrzât'' (1891) * ''Bir Acîbe-i Saydiyye'' (1894) * ''Taaffüf'' (1895) * ''Gönüllü'' (1896) * ''Eski Mektûblar'' (1897) * ''Mesâil-i Muğlaka'' (1898) * ''Altın Âşıkları'' (1899) * ''Hikmet-i Peder'' (1900) * ''Jön Türkler'' (1910)

Stories

* Kıssadan Hisse (1870) * Letâif-i rivayat (Notes: The first story in Turkish literature.)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmet Mithat 1844 births 1912 deaths 19th-century writers from the Ottoman Empire Turkish novelists