TANZİMAT VE SERVET-İ FÜNUN EDEBİYATINDA FRANSIZCANIN ETKİSİ

The Turkish and French relations began in the 17th century and developing especially in literature and cultural domain, have continued well in 18th and 19th centuries. The first ambassadors who were sent to France played the most important role to appear in newspapers, magazines and books which were being translated into Turkish through the first reports “Sefaret-Name”s of the first ambassadors who had been sent abroad. In the reports written by ambassadors, during Ottoman Empire, described events of social life, diplomatic meetings, the places where they visited, the military, cultural, scientific discoveries. In addition to this, the intellectuals who were sent to France were under the influence of French literature, and they were impressed with the new kinds of theatre, novel and criticism. The effect of French on Turkish increased more with the translation of works into Turkish. The density of translation which began in Tanzimat literature continued in Servet-i Fünun (The Whealth of Knowledge) literature. Most of the writers of this movement continued to write their works when they were under the influence of French. We frequently come across the use of French words in the works of Ahmet Mithat Efendi and Recaizade Mahmut Ekrem, who were the writers of Tanzimat literature. There were so many French words in the novel called Araba Sevdası at the end of which the author added a French-Turkish glossary. The aim of using numerous French words was to criticize the dandified types of people who are used to French and Turkish words a lot at that time mixing them with each other. Ahmet Mithat Efendi criticizes Felatun Bey in his novel called Felatun Bey and Rakım Efendi because Felatun Bey, the hero in the novel, used the French words while speaking Turkish. It is possible to see the interaction between the domains of both literature and education. The dictionary studies from Turkish to French, from French to Turkish were done in the 18th century. Education in both French and Turkish was given in navigation schools, in medicals schools and engineering schools which were opened during the time of Ahmet III; they were rearranged again and were supported by Mahmut III. In the process of arranging books, similar books from Europe were taken as an example. Besides books, encyclopedias were speedily published. The negative influence of French newspapers published in İzmir and Istanbul continued to affect the Turkish language. It is possible to see the words such as madam, museum, operas, committee, modern, fabricator, economics, political and democrat in the first issue of the newspaper called Basiret in 1870. Nouns like restaurant, café, hotel, school, cinema, theatre and patisserie began to appear in commercial and economical domains in the 19th century as well. Lots of new commercial companies in Beyoğlu in Istanbul preferred some French names. It is worth pointing out that French was the most recognized foreign language spoken in those times. The officials of those times were trying to encourage everyone to learn a foreign language keeping in mind the proverb “A man who speaks a language is a man, a man who speaks two languages is worth two men, a man who speaks three is worth all mankind.” For example, the newspaper Mecmua-i Lisan(1898-1900) taught its readers French through translation. During the Tanzimat Period of the Ottoman Empire, when “western literature” was mentioned, French literature was the most acknowledged among all. Almost all of our writers were influenced by French writers when writing their first books. For this reason, most of our writers knew French. For example, Şinasi learned French while working as a secretary at Reşat Bey’s office. Later on, when he went to France, he started to be well known in literature by translating Lamartine’s books. Another example is Ziya Paşa, who knew French and Arabic. He learned French while working at the Palace as a secretary; Ethem Pacha helped him to learn it. When he was in Switzerland, he translated J.J. Rousseau’s “Emile”and “les Confessions”. Namık Kemal learned French with some encouragement from Şinasi, and worked in the “translation office” as a translator. Later on, when he was abroad, he received his education on Law and Sociology. Recai Zade Mahmut Ekrem knew Arabic, Persian and French; he became a teacher at the Galatasaray High School from 1880 to 1888. He was influenced by Hugo and Lamartine. According to Ahmet Mithat Efendi’s son Kamil, his father learned French in 17 months and soon after that he learned Arabic, Persian, English, Italian, Latin and Greek in succession. Other writers of the Tanzimat Period who knew French very well were Sami Pacha Sezai, Abdulhak Hamit Tarhan, Münif Paşa and Şemseddin Sami Bey. The writers of Servet-i Fünun also knew French as the writers of the Tanzimat Period did. For example the founder of modern poetry Tevfik Fikret graduated from the Galatasary High School (in 1867-1915). Cenap Şahabettin was sent to France to complete his education in medicine. Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil finished the French Catholic High School and later went to France. Mehmet Rauf, Hüseyin Cahid Yalçın, Süleyman Nazif, Ahmet Hikmet Müftüoğlu also knew French very well. Besides national literature, in novels and stories, it is possible to see a tendency from personal life to social life. After the Second World War, with the development of national literature, French began to leave its place to English. It must be emphasized that French, in contrast to English, has lost its importance in Europe and countries (Francophones) where French is spoken as a second language nowadays. The first reason for this is because of the bad foreign policy applied by French politicians and the second one is that English is accepted as a means for common communication around the world.