Giritli Ali Aziz Efendi (1749, in Kandiye (Heraklion) – 29 October 1798, in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

) was a late-18th century Ottoman ambassador and author. He is best known for his novel "Muhayyelât" (''Imaginations''), a unique work of fiction blending personal and fantastic themes, well in the current of the traditional Ottoman prose, but also exhibiting influences from

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

literature.

Biography

Ali Aziz Efendi was born in 1749 in Kandiye (

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

) as the son of ''Tahmisçi'' Mehmed Efendi, who was the defterdar of the

Crete Eyalet The island of Crete () was declared an Ottoman province (eyalet) in 1646, after the Ottomans managed to conquer the western part of the island as part of the Cretan War, but the Venetians maintained their hold on the capital Candia, until 1669 ...

.Zeynep Uysal, ''Olağanüstü Masaldan Çağdaş Anlatıya: Muhayyelat-ı Aziz Efendi'', Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Yayınevi, 2006,
p. 1.
The details on his life are rather sparse and scattered. He rose through the Ottoman hierarchy and was sent as ambassador to

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

in 1796 and he died in

in 1798. His burial marked also the opening of the first Turkish or Muslim cemetery in Berlin.

Muhayyelât

Consisting in three parts and written in a laconical style contrasting with its content, where djinns and

fairies A fairy (also called fay, fae, fae folk, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Cel ...

surge from within contexts drawn from ordinary real life situations, Ali Aziz Efendi often pursues by pulling the reader towards description of

magic Magic or magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces ** ''Magick'' (with ''-ck'') can specifically refer to ceremonial magic * Magic (illusion), also known as sta ...

and to extraordinary occurrences. Inspired by a much older story written both in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and Assyrian, the author also displays in his work his deep knowledge of

sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

hurufism Hurufism ( ''ḥurūfiyyah'', Persian: حُروفیان ''horūfiyān'') was a Sufi movement based on the mysticism of letters (''ḥurūf''), which originated in Astrabad and spread to areas of western Iran ( Persia) and Anatolia in the late ...

and

Bektashi Bektashism (, ) is a tariqa, Sufi order of Islam that evolved in 13th-century western Anatolia and became widespread in the Ottoman Empire. It is named after the wali, ''walī'' "saint" Haji Bektash Veli, with adherents called Bektashis. The ...

traditions. Muhayyelât is considered to be an early precursor of the new

Turkish literature Turkish literature () comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Turkish language. The Ottoman form of Turkish, which forms the basis of much of the written corpus, was highly influenced by Persian and Arabic literature,Bertold Sp ...

to emerge in the

Tanzimat The (, , lit. 'Reorganization') was a period of liberal reforms in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Edict of Gülhane of 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. Driven by reformist statesmen such as Mustafa Reşid Pash ...

period of the 19th century. It also influenced Tanzimat literature directly when the manuscript was printed in 1867 and became a very popular book of the time. His work is re-discovered by

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

's reading public rather recently and is increasingly admitted as a classic. Ali Aziz Efendi also wrote further and shorter works of prose, which present as complementary extensions to Muhayyelât, as well as some poetry, and kept a correspondence with a number of notable figures of his time, both Ottoman and Western. He is also cited for a short

sefâretnâme Sefāret-nāme (سفارت نامه), literally ''the book of embassy'', was a genre in the Turkish literature which was closely related to seyahatname (''the book of travels''), but was specific to the recounting of journeys and experiences of a ...

he wrote relating his introduction to his mission as the ambassador of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

Works

* Muhayyelât (''Imaginations''), 312p.,

Sources

References

'Aziz efendis Muhayyelat
by Andreas Tietze, Oriens, 1948. (in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

)
The five works of the beginnings of the Turkish novel: "Muhayyelat" of Aziz Efendi (1796), "Akabi" of Vartan Pasha (''Hovsep Vartanian'') (1851), "Hayalat-ı Dil" of Hasan Tevfik (1868), "Temaşa" of Evangelinos Misailidis (1872), "Müsameretname" of Emin Nihat Bey (1875)
by Dr. Gonca Gökalp,

Hacettepe University Hacettepe University () is a public research university in Ankara, Turkey. It was established on 8 July 1967. It is ranked first among the Turkish universities by University Ranking by Academic Performance in 2021. The university has two main c ...

(in

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

, the abstract also in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Aziz Efendi, Giritli Ali 1749 births 1798 deaths Writers from Heraklion Cretan Turks Ambassadors of the Ottoman Empire to Prussia 18th-century writers from the Ottoman Empire 18th-century diplomats

Biography

Muhayyelât

Works

See also

Sources

References